[4] By the late 1930s the Staffordshire towns of Longton, Fenton, Burslem, Hanley had grown into the largest conurbation in the UK without some form of university provision.

Stoke, in particular, demanded highly qualified graduates for the regional pottery and mining industries and also additional social workers, teachers and administrators.

Lindsay believed technological excesses sponsored by the state without a review of the social and political consequences had been a major contributor to Germany's downfall.

[9] On 13 March 1946, Lindsay wrote to Sir Walter Moberly, chair of the University Grants Committee (UGC), suggesting the creation of a college "on new lines".

Lindsay wanted to "get rid of the London external degree" and instead found a college with degree-awarding authority, as well as the power to set its own syllabus, perhaps acting under the sponsorship of an established university.

Keele's International Relations Department was founded in 1974 by Alan James and was one of the first institutions to offer a full degree in the subject.

In late 1985, after a series of cuts in university funding, Keele briefly considered merging with North Staffordshire Polytechnic, but negotiations collapsed.

[24] In September 1983, the Secretary of State, via the UGC, had encouraged the idea, asserting that the most radical way of increasing the size of departments and diminishing their number is by the merger of institutions.

[25] Keele University Science & Business Park Ltd (KUSP Ltd) opened in 1987, partly to generate and diversify alternative sources of income.

In 2009, the university was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, for 'pioneering work with the NHS in early intervention and primary care in the treatment of chronic pain and arthritis, linking research to delivery to patients through GP networks and user groups'.

Due to declining popularity and funding, the German department closed in December 2004[29] with the university retaining its physics degree despite the subject facing similar pressures.

[35] In 2017, Keele School of Management (KMS), which was at the time housed in the Darwin Building, decided to expand its offering at undergraduate level with new single honours programmes.

The new science park Mercia Centre for Innovation and Leadership (MCIL) initiative, due for completion in 2019 serve as a relocation for the school.

Apart from increasing numbers of academic and residential buildings, other facilities include an astronomical observatory, arts and cultural programme, arboretum, Islamic centre, shops, cafés and places to eat and drink.

Lindsay, first principal of the University College, was an ardent Christian preaching every Sunday in the Library Reading room of Keele Hall.

[50] The Hawthorns (1957), remnants of the Sneyd property in Keele Village, was originally a large house, two paddocks and gardens totalling 13 acres.

[51] Following student demand for accommodation on-campus, in 2018, Barnes hall of residence will be re-developed with new residential units added to cater for an additional 453 bedrooms, funded from the proceeds of the sale of the Hawthorns.

This key particularity of the Keele curriculum led Michael Brawne to remark in 1966 that the university was "the nearest thing in Britain to the small liberal arts college in the US".

The Foundation Year has never been formally discontinued, however, and remains an option for prospective students who qualify for entry into higher education, but lack subject-specific qualifications for specific degree programmes.

[75] The university has continued to invest in capital projects with the refurbishments of the Walter Moberley and Huxley buildings, an upgrade to the Sports Centre facilities and a new HR/payroll system.

Current members includes alumni who have demarcated themselves in the field of industry, media and/or public service as well as key stakeholders from in and around Staffordshire.

[95] Keele has traditionally participated in the UCAS clearing process and it has become customary for the university to lower its requirements to fill outstanding places.

In August 2023, the university reduced its academic demands to 64 UCAS points or higher equivalent to 2 A'Levels at grades C in dual and single honours degree programmes with vacancies remaining.

[98] In 2015, disciplines that scored highest included Education, Geology, Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Biochemistry, English and Mathematics.

Other notable medical pursuits includes attempts to explain the evolution of the human brain,[105] looking into links between cannabis and mental illness (cited in the 2009 reclassification debate),[106][107] as well as tumour and cancer research.

[108][109] In August 2009, university astronomers, led by David Anderson, discovered the first planet that orbits in the opposite direction to the spin of its star.

[111] In 2010 Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston won the Ig Nobel prize for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain.

The principal Students' Union building was designed by Stillman & Eastwick-Field[113] (now part of the T. P. Bennett practice), with some guidance from the university's architect, J.

In 2012, Keele University took part in the first official inter-university Muggle Quidditch match, winning and thus becoming the top ranked team in the country.

Keele University featured prominently in Marvellous, the biographical film about honorary graduate Neil Baldwin broadcast on BBC Two in September 2014.