The University of Sunderland's roots can be traced back to 1860, when the School of Science and Art was established. In 1901, Sunderland gained a pioneering Municipal Technical College, which launched the first sandwich course in England and Wales two years later. Sunderland Polytechnic, one of the first, was formed from a merger of the technical and art colleges in 1969. Sunderland's Teacher Training College became part of the Polytechnic in 1975. Sunderland University gained university status in 1992, the same year that Sunderland became a city.
In recent years the University of Sunderland has developed an award-winning campus at St Peter's, on the north bank of the River Wear, close to the site of the seventh century St Peter's monastery, one of Britain's earliest and greatest centres of learning.