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Abertay University

106

NATIONAL
RANK

64.3%

FIRSTS
2:1s

73.2%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

105th

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

84th=

RESEARCH
QUALITY

81st

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

Bell Street, Dundee, DD1 1HG View on map >

Telephone

01382 308 080

sro@abertay.ac.uk

Website

www.abertay.ac.uk

Open days

September 24

University Profile

Sony chose the renamed Abertay University as the site for the largest teaching laboratory in Europe for its PlayStation consoles - such is the international reputation the university has established in computer arts and games design. The new lab opened in February and builds on Abertay’s wider partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s academic development programme. Abertay created Europe’s first research centre dedicated to computer games and digital entertainment, and more recently established a centre for research into systems pathology. It remains the only UK university with official accreditation for both computer games technology and computer arts: the university hosts the first Interactive Media Academy in the UK and also the first national Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education. Its courses hold five of only 12 degree accreditations in these areas awarded by Skillset, the Government-sponsored training council for the creative industries. The university is upgrading its own IT facilities to match, investing £3m this year in an extensive programme of software upgrades and hardware replacement across the campus, including a new wifi network. Abertay has one of the highest ratios of PC-per-student

in Britain, providing almost one computer for every four students. But the university is not just about computer games. Abertay launched Scotland's first degrees in bioinformatics, biotechnology and ethical hacking, for example, and now claims to be a leader for teaching and research in environmental science. A series of specialist research centres has been established in areas as diverse as urban water systems, bioinformatics, earth systems and environmental sciences. The latest are in Sustainability Assessment Visualisation and Enhancement and Food and Innovation. Environmental sciences, urban water engineering and intelligent systems engineering produced the best scores in the 2008 research assessments. Those for law and psychology were the best at any post-1992 Scottish university. Based in the centre of Dundee, all the university’s teaching and learning buildings are within 5 minutes’ walk of each other. They are modern and functional, with new facilities being added gradually, such as the innovative White Space facility, the university’s flagship creative learning and working environment, where students study alongside industry professionals who are working on real commercial or broadcast projects. A new graduate school provides dedicated study space for postgraduates, as well as training and professional development opportunities. The university doubled in size during the 1990s and has grown further since tuition fees were abolished for Scottish students, although there are still only about 5,500 students in total. Most are based in Dundee, but Abertay’s degrees are also taught as far away as Malaysia and China. The university enjoyed big increases in applications in the early years of this decade, but there was a 15% drop in 2013, when a number of Scottish institutions saw a similar decline. The numbers actually enrolling fell by only 120. Despite this year’s one place fall in our league table, Abertay has been gradually improving its position from a very low base. It now participates in the annual National Student Survey, dropping its resistance to the annual survey of final-year students’ opinions in 2012. Its relative success in seeing graduates into jobs has helped lift its overall standing in recent times. Occasional suggestions that it might merge with neighbouring Dundee University – most recently in 2011 – have now subsided with the university now firmly on an independent path, even dropping the name Dundee from its title in the past year. Twenty years on from gaining university status, it is no longer the University of Abertay Dundee, just Abertay University. Entrance requirements have been rising, although for most courses other than high-demand areas such as computer games, they are still modest. Well-qualified A-level students are eligible for direct entry into second year. Degrees are predominantly vocational, with more subjects being added every year. Food and consumer sciences, creative sound production, and ethical hacking and digital forensics are recent examples. All courses can be taken on a part-time basis, and new programmes aim to offer students the chance to spend at least 30% of their time in industry. Undergraduates take a maximum of eight core modules a year plus options, completing a Certificate of Higher Education after one year, a diploma after two, an ordinary degree after three, or honours in four years. The dropout rate has been improving and is now one in ten – considerably better than average for its courses and entry qualifications. Abertay is piloting problem-based and work-based approaches to learning across a wide range of courses, focusing on real-world issues and teamwork rather than sitting in conventional lectures. A 500-bed student village opened in 2010 and new premises for a £5m Business Prototyping Project to support the UK’s creative industries followed in 2011. The university hosts the Dundee Academy of Sport, which it launched in partnership with Dundee and Angus College – a unique venture using sport as a vehicle for learning across the school curriculum and throughout life. Dundee has seen considerable investment recently. The city has a large student population and the cost of living is modest. Around 30% of the undergraduates are over 21 on entry, many living locally. This lifts the pressure on university-owned beds sufficiently to allow all first-years to be given priority for accommodation.

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PERFORMANCE