De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in Leicester, England. The university's origins are in the Leicester School of Art, established in 1870 on a voluntary basis. It was established by the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree-awarding body. The name De Montfort University was taken from Simon de Montfort, a 13th-century Earl of Leicester, a prominent figure in establishing the Parliament of England in the 13th century.
has more than 30,000 full and part-time students and over 3,000 staff. The university has four faculties: Art, Design, and Humanities; Business and Law; Health and Life Sciences; and Computing, Engineering and Media. It is a Sustainable Development Hub focusing on peace, justice, and strong institutions, an initiative launched by the United Nations in 2018. The Department of Education awarded the university an overall Silver rating in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework. It is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
currently offers more than 135 undergraduate programs and 95 postgraduate programs and also has more than 30 research centres and institutes.
The Leicester School of Art was established in 1870 on a voluntary basis and expanded in response to the changing needs of late 19th-century industry, introducing subjects such as engineering, building and machine drawing. In 1919, further properties were rented. The Duchess of Atholl laid the foundation of Hawthorn's new west wing in 1927 when the establishment was known under the joint name of The Leicester Colleges of Art and Technology. 1948 F. Bray, Under Secretary of the Ministry of Education, opened the converted Downings Warehouse. In 1966, the new Fletcher building was opened by The Queen Mother. In the same year, a white paper, 'A Plan for Polytechnics and Other Colleges', was published, leading to the creation of the City of Leicester Polytechnic. Under the Education Reform Act 1988 provision, Leicester Polytechnic became a Higher Education Corporation, with Dame Anne Mueller appointed Chancellor in June 1991. Leicester Polytechnic became De Montfort University by the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992, establishing it as a degree-awarding body in its own right.
The Leicester campus is close to Leicester Castle and occupies what was once a religious precinct of the castle, built by the earls and dukes of Lancaster, known as the Newarke. The campus contains listed buildings, including Trinity House, rebuilt in 1901 and containing part of the original 14th-century Hospital of The Annunciation building. The campus has seen several recent developments as part of a ten-year £200 million initiative by the university, such as the £35 million Hugh Aston Building, constructed to move students from the Faculty of Business and Law closer to the centre of the university's infrastructure. In 2016, the Vijay Patel Building was opened. The Vijay Patel Building is home to art and design courses. It is the centrepiece of the £136 million Campus Transformation Project, which aims to 'provide DMU with one of the finest city centre campuses in the country'.
