In 1946 an Emergency teacher training college for the University of Birmingham was established in Worcester on the site of one of the former RAF bases used during the Second World War. Henry Hines came to Worcester from the Canterbury Technical Institute as the principal of the college. E.G. Peirson followed Hines's lead as the principal of the college from 1951 to 1978. During his time at the college, in the 1970s the Council for National Academic Awards validated the degrees for the Worcester College of Higher Education and the former Peirson Library, now The Peirson Study and Guidance Centre was opened. The third principal of the college, David Shadbolt, started his leadership in 1978 bringing a new system of organisation, based around three schools – Education and Teaching Studies, Arts and Sciences. In 1992, Dorma Urwin became the new principal and Coventry University agreed to validate the institution's degree courses.[6] The Herefordshire and Worcestershire College of Nursing and Midwifery was absorbed in 1995. In 1997 the Privy Council affirmed the institution's degree-awarding powers and it subsequently became known as University College Worcester. In 2003, David Green was appointed as Dorma Urwin's successor and later became the vice chancellor of the institution. In 2005 the Privy Council granted university status. The institution was renamed "University of Worcester" in September of that year. In 2010 the HM Privy Council conferred research degree-awarding powers on the university. In the same year, the university opened the City campus in the renovated former infirmary to create a home for the Business School. Two years later, in 2012, the university opened The Hive, a £60 million facility focused on learning resources, technology, social and study spaces. This facility is a joint venture between the university and Worcestershire County Council and was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen.[5]
In 2021, the university decided to close its archaeology department, with the change to come into effect the end of the 2021/22 academic year; this led to a petition being started, asking the vice-chancellor and executive board to reconsider the decision.[7]
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