The town had a university in medieval times between 1261 and 1265 of the same name, established by royal charter after approval from King Henry III in 1261.

Eight years later, a new building for the college was formally opened by the Duke and Duchess of York.

[citation needed] In 1993, the college incorporated St. Andrew's School of Occupational Therapy and was granted undergraduate degree awarding powers.

In the graduation ceremonies in July 2006, seven students received the first doctoral degrees validated by the University of Northampton.

[10] In December 2023 under Prof Anne-Marie Kilday's tenure as Vice Chancellor, the university announced the closure of the Institute for Creative Leather Technologies.

[11] This had been based at the university due to a long tradition of leather working as the primary industry in Northampton.

[12] The Vice-Chancellor is Anne-Marie Kilday, who was preceded in the post by Nick Petford, Ann Tate (who received an honorary degree from the university in 2011) and Martin Gaskell.

They are drawn from the private, public and voluntary sectors as well as from the staff and students of the university.

In February 2013, the university received international recognition for its commitment to social innovation and entrepreneurship by being designated a 'Changemaker Campus' by Ashoka U.

[21] The Students' Union has 35 sports clubs[22] and enters 24 teams in Wednesday BUCS Leagues each week.

The Students' Union operate on a policy of free sports membership, meaning all teams are free to join with no membership fee and offers a wide variety of sports including rugby league (Gremlins RL), football, netball, basketball, hockey and lacrosse.