The institution was formed in 1970 as merger of higher education colleges, including the West Ham Technical Institute in Stratford, and the South East Essex Technical College in Barking. It was initially known as the North East London Polytechnic, and changed its name to the Polytechnic of East London in 1989. In 1992, the polytechnic was granted university status and became the University of East London. Though a "New University", UEL's long and rich history of founding institutions exemplify the radical developments that took place in British further and higher education policy throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The university is located on two main campuses in east London. These are:

The Stratford Campus, at Stratford

The Docklands Campus, in London's redeveloped Docklands area
In addition, UEL delivers a range of programmes and short courses at the Barking Learning Centre in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

UEL's Docklands Campus has become one of the most instantly recognisable locations in London with its waterfront on Royal Albert Dock and directly overlooking the London City Airport runway. The campus boasts innovative architecture and colourful halls of residence, which is connected directly to Cyprus DLR station.

Today, Docklands serves over 7,500 students and researchers. Docklands was London's first new university campus to be built in over half a century and was opened by the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. UEL's new Business School and Knowledge Dock centre were opened by HM The Queen in February 2007. The Business School will incorporate the Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship, named in honour of its benefactor, entrepreneur Jack Petchey.

Stratford Campus, located in the heart of Stratford and on the doorstep of the 2012 Olympic Park, is centred around University House, a 19th Century listed building. The campus is home to the School of Distance and E-Learning, the Sir John Cass School of Education, and the Schools of Health & Bioscience, Psychology and Law (the last being based at nearby Duncan House). It houses modern laboratories, workshops and teaching spaces and a 24/7 multimedia library. In January 2008 the Centre for Clinical Education in Podiatry, Physiotherapy and Sports Science was opened by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Operating in partnership with the NHS, the state-of-the-art facility centre is London's only provider of podiatric education. In 2009 the Cass School of Education moved into its new centre, equipped with mock classrooms, kitchens, music rooms and more.

A new, £18 million sports and leisure complex is scheduled to open at the Docklands Campus in late 2011/early 2012, and the Campus has been selected by the United States Olympic team as their base before and during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Off-campus, over 2,000 students are registered on programmes with UK collaborative partners, principally London's Tavistock Clinic, and 1,240 on programmes with partners located overseas, such as the Centro Studi Martha Harris in Florence

1. UEL web site

http://www.uel.ac.uk/