They're a modern university with a long and proud history, dating from the opening of two 19th century schools which would later become the foundations for Sheffield Polytechnic.

Collegiate Campus

• > 1836 – Sheffield Collegiate School opened
• > 1885 – Grammar School moved in
• > 1903 – merged with Wesley College
• > 1905 – became City of Sheffield Training College
• > 1966 – renamed Sheffield City College of Education
• > 1976 – absorbed by Sheffield Polytechnic

City Campus

• > 1843 – Sheffield School of Design opened (Glossop Road)
• > 1855 – expanded onto Arundel Street, shortly followed by a purpose-built School of Art
• > 1950 – Sheffield College of Technology built (Pond Street)
• > 1969 – merged with Sheffield College of Art and Design (as it was then known) to form Sheffield Polytechnic

Their campuses have seen two World Wars – Collegiate Crescent was used as a military hospital from 1915–19, and when Collegiate Hall and the main building on Arundel Street were bombed during the Sheffield Blitz (1940), students rallied round to help wherever possible.

After World War Two, major educational reforms including the

• - Education Act (1944), which increased demand for university places as more funding was available and more people were qualifying to enter higher education
• - new Council for National Academic Awards (1963), allowing other institutions to award qualifications across a range of subjects
• - invitation and submission of local education authority plans (1966–7) for college mergers led to the designation of three polytechnics – a new type of higher education institution – in 1969.