Founded in 1852, Loyola University Maryland is the oldest Loyola institution nationally, and one of the longest-surviving Jesuit universities worldwide. Named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who founded the (Jesuit) Society of Jesus, the institution is one of four Loyola universities in the US, but the only one in the North East. It has had its current name since 2009.

LUM is primarily located in the centre of Baltimore, the state’s largest city, a port with generations of immigration, a history of fishing, a lively cultural scene and two leading sports teams: baseball’s Baltimore Orioles and American football’s Baltimore Ravens. Famous residents have included Edgar Allen Poe, Billie Holiday and John Waters.

LUM has three schools, with arts & sciences, education and business disciplines separated. Its marketing and engineering programmes are generally well-regarded. Well over half of LUM’s students study abroad, with the university offering programmes in Europe, Africa, Latin America, Asia and Australasia.

LUM also has other campuses in the state, in Columbia, 20 miles south west, and Timonium, 10 miles north, both focusing on postgraduates. The Columbia campus teaches various MA programmes, including speech-language pathology, liberal studies, business and education, and Timonium does education, business and management. LUM’s sports teams, the Greyhounds, compete at the highest level of college sport.

Author Tom Clancy, who wrote various Cold War spy thrillers, is among LUM’s alumni, while Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps has frequently trained in the university’s aquatics centre.