[2] Sunderland has been an important centre for education since 674 AD, when Benedict Biscop built St Peter's Church and monastery.

The oldest existing Latin version of the Bible – the Codex Amiatinus – was written at St Peter's Church.

This area has been developed as the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's of the University of Sunderland.

A new complex of buildings, including a new Students' union and Hall of Residence facilities, on nearby Chester Road was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1964.

[9][10] On 23 May 2008 the university announced that former Olympic athlete Steve Cram had been appointed as Chancellor and would be officially installed at a ceremony on 27 June 2008.

[12] In 2018, it was announced that Sunderland was to host one of five new medical schools established under a UK government initiative to increase the number of training places for doctors.

[14] As Sir David Bell began his new role as Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland on 24 September 2018, he announced the closure of history, politics, modern languages and public health courses, and of research in those fields, on 13 January 2020.

[15] It was announced in an email from Sir David Bell on 18 September 2024 that St Mary's Childcare Centre based at City Campus will close permanently on 23 July 2025.

[16] Sir David Bell announced on 12 January 2023 that the National Glass Centre building would be closed (and probably demolished) within 3 years.

[18] Bell says that due to the cost of the relocation estimated at £9.4million, it has instead decided to close the course in summer 2026, with recruitment stopping from September [2024].

[19] This is despite a £250million capital development budget for the University[20] and will shutter the centre, which is a heritage and history of glassmaking at Sunderland since the 7th century.

[21] As a consequence, the University announced on 22 March 2024 that its glass and ceramics academic programme will close in summer 2026.

[24][25] On 30 September 2024, the University and Colleges Union (UCU) warned the institution is considering 76 redundancies, including 60 out of 549, more than one in ten, of its academic staff.

"[28] It is of note that during this period of layoffs and restructuring, a new executive member of staff was appointed, for the position of Pro Vice Chancellor of Learning and Teaching.

[35] The University of Sunderland has four halls of residence: Scotia Quay, Panns Bank, Clanny House, and The Forge U-Student Village.

Scotia Quay and Panns Bank are based across the River Wear from St Peter's Campus, across the road from The Bonded Warehouse.

The North East England Mining Archive and Resource Centre (NEEMARC) is a major archive for mining related data and includes health and safety information, legal records, technical reports and trade union records.

In 2005 it was named by The Times Higher Education Supplement as the top university in England for providing the best student experience.

[47] The University of Sunderland entered 13 "units of assessment" (subject areas) into the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).

The subjects, and the fraction of research graded 4* and 3* were: Pharmacy (7%, 44%); Computer Science (0%, 14%); Engineering (2%, 22%); Business (2%, 2%); Law (0%, 5%); Social Work (3%, 27%); Education (5%, 11%); Sports and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism (3%, 16%); English (7%, 25%); History (6%, 28%); Art and Design (5%, 36%); Music, Dance, and Performing Arts (0%, 32%); and Media (25%, 38%).

[53] Launched in September 2011, SportsByte is a journalism, news, and multimedia publication dedicated to covering a wide range of sports at all levels of competition across the City of Sunderland, the North East, and Globally.

With a press team of over 150 student and community reporters, SportsByte is the largest sports-dedicated news and media publication in the North East of England, and is among the biggest in the UK.

The station launched in October 2009 and broadcasts 24/7 from its base, The David Puttnam Media Centre, located at the St. Peter's University campus.