Bedfordshire Formed from the merger of Luton University and De
Montfort’s Bedford campus, the university recently spent £60 million on the
two main campuses, adding a media arts centre, a student union building, a
280-seat auditorium and a 500-bed accommodation block. Courses are mostly
vocational.
Bedfordshire offers the largest portfolio of two-year foundation degrees in
the country. Nearly two thirds of entrants are mature students.
Bolton Three quarters of the students come from northwest England but
the rest are from 70 different countries. Last year the university opened a
campus in Dubai, which has 150 students and will take 700 within five years.
Engineering, architecture and social work are highly rated and design
students work on live briefs for companies. Bolton does well in the national
student satisfaction survey but the drop-out rate is almost 40 per cent —
the highest in England.
Bradford Bradford calls itself an “ecoversity” and addresses green
issues in its curriculum.
It opens a sustainable student village next year as part of a £70 million
modernisation. Bradford is Britain’s cheapest student city and has 1,700
places in self-catering halls. The university achieves one of the best rates
of graduate employment, possibly because many courses are vocational.
Nursing, pharmacy and other health studies did well in teaching assessments.
Good provision for the disabled means that they account for 6 per cent of
students.
Brighton It is one of the first new universities to be awarded a
medical school, run jointly with Sussex University. This trains 128 doctors
a year and has provided a new base for applied social science subjects such
as criminology. It was one of the top new universities in the latest
research assessment exercise. Art and design, business management, sports
studies and engineering did well. Facilities include a flight simulator and
a newsroom for the university’s sports journalists.
Brunel A £250 million programme to upgrade and centralise teaching,
research and sporting facilities was recently completed on the main Uxbridge
campus. It has a new indoor athletics centre and accommodation complex.
About a third of undergraduates take four-year sandwich degrees with work
placements but there has been significant growth in courses specialising in
new technologies. They include aviation engineering and pilot studies,
motorsport engineering, screenwriting and games design. The university has
won an award for its provision for disabled students.
Buckinghamshire New Redevelopment will allow most students to be based
at the main campus in High Wycombe. The new Gateway Building will include a
sports hall, gym, treatment rooms and sports laboratory. Sport is an
important part of life at the new university, which sponsors the London
Wasps rugby union team. One disappointment has been consistently low scores
in the National Student Survey.
Central Lancashire (UCLan) A total of £60 million has been spent on the
modern campus in the centre of Preston. An extended and refurbished student
union boasts one of the largest student venues in the country. Scores in the
National Student Survey have been steady, with sports science and tourism,
transport and travel doing particularly well last year. The social scene
does not compare with Manchester or Liverpool, which are close, but the cost
of living is low. Rents are among the lowest in Britain.
City University London It markets itself as the “international
university in the heart of London” and its location in fashionable Islington
is a big asset. The university has consistently good graduate employment
figures. It has struggled , however, to make an impression in the National
Student Survey, although 80 per cent of undergraduates were satisfied
overall.
Coventry Coventry is investing £160 million over ten years in its
33-acre campus close to the city centre, much of it on student facilities.
The main buildings open out from the ruins of the bombed cathedral . Student
residences are within easy walking distance of the campus and centre of the
city, which enjoys a relatively low cost of living. The university focuses
on employment, which is reflected in a predominantly vocational curriculum.
Cumbria The main base remains in Lancaster, a ten-minute walk from the
town centre. It has a modern library and a £2.5 million sports complex,
gymnastics centre and fitness centre. The Ambleside campus has an outdoor
studies centre, and another site, a mile outside Penrith, caters mainly for
agriculture and forestry. Courses include outdoor education and leadership,
geography, business, tourism, sport and computing. The creative arts are a
growth area. They are concentrated in Carlisle, where two campuses share an
innovative multimedia learning resource centre.
De Montfort The university is now concentrating its efforts on two
campuses in Leicester after departing Milton Keynes, Lincoln and Bedford
following the relocation of health and life sciences to its headquarters. It
has set up an employment agency to help graduates to find careers. Its £35
million building for business and law students, due to open next month, has
a remodelled 24-hour library. Recent additions include a BSc in green energy
technology and one in public community health. Applications rose by more
than 14 per cent at the start of 2009.
East London The original campus in Stratford is being upgraded with a
new library and learning centre, student residences and other facilities. It
was among the bottom ten in the national student survey in 2008. Its £40
million student village project provided another 800 beds in 2007 and
student numbers have increased from 12,000 to 20,000, since 2001. Many of
its degrees are vocational. It has pioneered a work-based learning
initiative, offering accredited placements with local employers. It provides
accommodation for all first-year students.
Essex The university has a reputation for research in social sciences.
It was in the top 20 in the national student survey last year. A quarter of
its 9,000 full-time students are postgraduates, many of them mature and
overseas students. The newly formed Essex Business School is ranked second
in the UK for accounting and finance. In each of the four faculties,
students follow a common first year before specialising. A third campus
opened in Southend in 2007, offering business, health education and arts
courses.
Glamorgan Offering sports bursaries for students with international
potential, the university is one of six Centres of Cricketing Excellence.
Sport-related courses include football and rugby coaching. Glamorgan
attracted the biggest rise in applications in Wales at the start of this
year. A new £35 million campus was opened in the centre of Cardiff in 2007,
following a merger with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. The
business school is the largest in Wales and students in the school
registered more than 80 per cent satisfaction.
Glasgow Caledonian The university has spent more than £70 million
upgrading most of its buildings. The health building brings together
teaching and research facilities and includes a virtual hospital, where
students can perfect their clinical skills. The projected drop-out rate has
come down and the university introduced measures to improve retention. It
has pioneered subjects such as entrepreneurial studies and risk, and offers
specialist degrees such as tourism management, fashion marketing, leisure
management and consumer protection.
Glyndwr University Nearly a third of students are from overseas. Sports
science produced the most satisfied students in the national student survey
in 2008 but the university still came in the bottom 20. Fewer than half the
undergraduates are recent school-leavers. Among courses are a foundation
degree in floristry and degrees in mobile computing and therapeutic
childcare. Bursaries are available to all UK students, depending on family
income, and there are scholarships for those with more than 300 Ucas points.
Greenwich Christopher Wren’s Royal Naval College buildings provide an
impressive campus. New student accommodation opened in 2008. A £14 million
sports and teaching centre with a new gym opened in 2006. The Avery Hill
television studio has also been refurbished. Results in the national student
survey have improved dramatically in the past two years. The downside is a
projected drop-out rate of more than 20 per cent. Greenwich is one of few
universities to charge top-up tuition fees of less than the maximum £3,225 a
year.
Keele Keele has set itself the goal of becoming the “ultimate
21st-century campus university” and is investing more than £70 million to
provide new facilities. Students have a choice of more than 500 degree
courses. Most provide the opportunity of a semester abroad. Keele has a good
record in the national student survey. The attractive 617-acre campus is the
largest in England. Nearly 70 per cent of undergraduates live on campus. The
university’s sports facilities include a new all-weather pitch, and the
leisure centre has recently refurbished its fitness suite.
Kent Styling itself “the UK’s European university”, Kent gives many
undergraduates the option of a year spent elsewhere in Europe or in the
United States. The campus is set in 300 acres of parkland overlooking
Canterbury. The student centre has a nightclub that attracts big-name bands,
as well as a theatre, cinema and bars. Graduates fare well in the employment
market. It is also in the top ten for student satisfaction. Accommodation is
provided for all first-years.
Kingston Having established itself as one of the fastest-growing new
universities, with more than 22,000 students, Kingston is developing a
learning environment to match. Results in the national student survey have
improved, after disruptive building work depressed initial satisfaction
levels. The university markets itself as in "lively, leafy London",
making a virtue of its suburban location as well as its proximity to the
bright lights. Students can take advantage of 24-hour opening in some of the
main learning resources centres. Around a quarter of Kingston’s places go to
mature students.
Leeds Metropolitan Leeds Met is by far the cheapest university at which
to take a full-time degree this year but fees are likely to rise for
2010-11. Two fifths of students come from the Yorkshire and Humberside
region, and more than half are over 21 on entry. Outstanding sports
facilities led the university to be named a UK Centre for Coaching
Excellence. Leeds Met was among the bottom group in last year’s national
student survey but students are included on the committees that design and
manage courses.
Lincoln The opening of a purpose-built campus alongside a marina in the
centre of Lincoln made a dramatic change. There are new science
laboratories, sports facilities, an architecture school, a library and a
student union and entertainment venue in a converted railway engine shed.
The latest developments are a performing arts centre and a regional facility
for excellence in sport, coaching and exercise science. Results in the
national student survey have improved. The city is adapting to its new
student population with the opening of more bars and clubs.
Liverpool John Moores LJMU is focusing on giving graduates the skills
to succeed in the employment market. Work-related learning is included in
every degree. Many lectures have been replaced by computer-based teaching,
freeing academic staff for face-to-face tutorials. The university is now one
of Britain's biggest. A number of residential projects have allowed it to
guarantee accommodation for young entrants, including those who enter
through clearing.
London South Bank The university’s mission statement emphasises wealth
creation and the labour market. It was in the top ten in the last survey of
graduate starting salaries. More than 70 per cent of students are from the
capital, many from a wide range of ethnic minorities. More than a third of
the 17,000 students are part-time and half are on sandwich courses. The
proportion of mature entrants is among the highest in Britain, and the
university offers a summer school for local people to upgrade
qualifications. Diploma and degree courses run in parallel so that students
can move up or down.
Middlesex A £100-million building programme will concentrate the
university on three sites in North London. A recent revival in recruitment
among home students has brought the student population to 22,000 and there
was an 8.5 per cent increase in applications at the start of this year .
Overseas recruitment is strong and the university’s strengths are in
business, computing and the arts. It has opened its own campus in Dubai.
There are two scholarships of £30,000 for potential Olympic champions at the
2012 Games.
Napier The university is in the middle of a £100 million redevelopment
programme. Demand for places has remained buoyant at a time when it has
faltered elsewhere in Scotland. Napier has two new libraries, a
purpose-built music centre and Scotland’s biggest business school. The
university uses its students to mentor newcomers and offers pre-term
introductions to staff, as well as summer top-up courses. Students are
taught employability skills and personal development.
Newport Students have been attracted by a range of new courses at
Newport in areas such as creative sound and music, cinema studies and
scriptwriting and internet technologies. A futuristic riverside campus has
begun to take shape. There are currently two campuses, with free buses
linking the sites, which are officially among the safest in Britain. A
well-equipped sports centre is another bonus. However, Newport has slipped
down the national student satisfaction survey table and was close to the
bottom last year. The city has plenty of clubs and entertainment venues but
those in search of serious clubbing or culture gravitate to nearby Cardiff.
Northampton Northampton registered good results in the National Student
Survey, finishing in the top half of the table last year. The university has
two sites: an 80-acre campus on the edge of Northampton and the smaller,
more central Avenue campus. Both have new halls of residence. The university
has added a £100,000 gym to its sports facilities. Northampton has a number
of student-oriented bars but the union bars are the hub of the social scene.
Nottingham Trent Consistently among the leading new universities in The
Times League Table, Nottingham Trent has demonstrated high quality in an
unusually wide range of disciplines and has one of the best employment
records. The extensive main city site incorporates a mix of Victorian and
modern buildings. The Brackenhurst campus, devoted to animal, rural and
environmental studies includes an equestrian centre. Both campuses have
access to the city’s lively cultural and clubbing scene and a late-night bus
service links the main campuses.
Portsmouth Portsmouth has always been among the leaders of its
generation of universities, but a wider portfolio of courses, a modernised
campus and new facilities in the city are proving a powerful draw.
Portsmouth has one of the best records of the new universities in the
National Student Survey and graduate employment is healthy. The city has a
vibrant student pub and club scene to supplement a popular student union.
The cost of living is not as high as at many southern universities and the
sea is close at hand.
Reading Reading is ranked among the top 200 universities in the world
and has a large number of international students, helping to add vibrancy.
The social scene is a big plus. The student union has been voted among the
best in Britain and, with London near by, there is always plenty to do. The
National Student Survey also reflects the popularity of the institution with
90 per cent approval among final-year undergraduates in 2008. Archaeology
achieved 100 per cent satisfaction, with architecture, building, business
studies, computer science, history and teacher training doing well.
Robert Gordon Robert Gordon has been the top new university in The
Times league table for the past two years. It has two sites in Aberdeen and
an attractive field study centre at Cromarty in the Highlands. The
university has spent £100 million on its buildings and facilities. Aberdeen
is a long way for English students but transport links are excellent. A £12
million sports and leisure centre incorporates a 25m swimming pool, three
gyms, a climbing wall and bouldering room, a café bar, three exercise
studios and a large sports hall.
Royal Holloway, University of London As the University of
London’s “campus in the country”, Royal Holloway occupies 135 acres of
woodland between Windsor Castle and Heathrow. The 600-bed Founder’s
Building, modelled on a French chateau, is one of Britain’s most remarkable
university buildings. The college has also achieved consistently good
results in the National Student Survey. More than 2,900 students are in
halls of residence. Its location 35 minutes from the centre of London by
rail means that the West End is close for those determined to seek the high
life. Sports facilities are good.
Sheffield Hallam The university has been undergoing a physical
transformation designed to alter its image and cater for more students .
There are two campuses, one in the heart of the city centre and the other
not far away in a leafy inner suburb. Sheffield Hallam is now one of the
largest of the new universities with more than 30,000 students. Sports
facilities are supplemented by those provided by the city for the World
Student Games. The impressive swimming complex, for example, is on the
university’s doorstep.
Southampton Solent There is a strong representation of non-traditional
disciplines, such as yacht and powercraft design, computer and video games,
and comedy writing and performance. The main campus is in the city centre .
Recent investment has included a new Centre for Professional Development in
Broadcasting and Multimedia Production, which includes an online editing
suite, digital television studio and gallery. Students like being close to
the city’s growing complement of bars and nightclubs.
Staffordshire The university is based on two main sites, in Stoke and
16 miles away in Stafford. Both have modern halls of residence, sports
centres and lively student union venues. There has been significant
investment at the Stafford campus, which features the Octagon Centre, in
which lecture theatres, offices and walkways surround one of the largest
university computing facilities in Europe. Stoke is not the liveliest city
of its size but the University Quarter project should attract more social
facilities to the area. There is a new £1.4 million sports centre and
all-weather pitches.
Strathclyde Strathclyde aims to offer courses that are both innovative
and relevant to industry and commerce. The main John Anderson campus is in
the centre of Glasgow. Apart from the Edwardian headquarters, the buildings
are mostly modern. The 67-acre parkland site of its second campus houses the
faculty of education. Strathclyde has a student village on the main campus,
complete with a pub. More than 1,400 students live on campus, all with
network access, and another 500 are near by. The ten-floor union building
attracts students from all over Glasgow.
Sunderland A £75 million investment will provide new sports and social
space, an hotel and conference facility. The university’s faculty of applied
sciences has 3,000 students and is said to be one of the largest in the UK .
Mature students without A levels are offered places, as long as they reach
the required levels of literacy, numeracy and other basic skills. There are
also special modules to help people with dyslexia.
Thames Valley Two thirds of the university’s 33,000 students are
part-timers, spread across its three campuses in Reading, Slough and Ealing.
Courses are concentrated in three faculties — arts, professional studies and
health and human sciences. Many further education programmes are being
extended into degrees. The London College of Music, which is part of the
university, has some of the longest established music technology courses in
the country. Only business courses achieved more than 85 per cent
satisfaction in the 2008 National Student Survey.
Westminster The university was rated top in the UK for media studies in
last year’s Research Assessment Exercise. A £130 million ten-year
modernisation plan includes the transformation of the former Harrow College,
North London, and the redevelopment of the New Cavendish Street site. The
university has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for teaching its courses
in nine overseas countries. It also says it offers the largest number of
language courses of any British university. The scholarship scheme awards
£4,000 a year in tuition fees and cash to students with three As at A level,
while three Bs secures £2,000 a year. A new £6 million halls block in Harrow
opened last year.
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