The University of Cumbria was formed on 1st August 2007 formally, from an amalgamation of St Martin's College, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire. The University has campuses in Carlisle, Newton Rigg, Penrith and Lancaster and a specialist teacher-education centre in London. The University also has strong links and close partnership working with the four FE Colleges in Cumbria (Lakes Colleges, Furness College, Carlisle College and Kendal College) to enable HE delivery locally across the county. In addition, the University is the lead institution of Cumbria Higher Learning, a Distributed Learning Network for Cumbria.