The Times and The Sunday Times | Education - University UniversityGuide

Bangor University

NATIONAL
RANK

61.2%

FIRSTS
2:1s

85.1%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

11th=

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

45th=

RESEARCH
QUALITY

59th

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

College Road, Bangor, LL57 2DG View on map >

Telephone

01248 388 484

admissions@bangor.ac.uk

Website

www.bangor.ac.uk

Open days

October 11 and 25

University Profile

Bangor featured in the top 20 universities in Times Higher Education magazine’s 2014 student experience survey, scoring well for helpful staff, good security and the quality of student accommodation. The small North Wales city has been rated as among the cheapest in the UK in which to study and the standard of university accommodation has been rated in the top 10. A Peer Guiding scheme, where second and third year students mentor new students and arrange social activities for them, is one of the largest schemes of its type in the country. Such features are reflected in some of the highest student satisfaction scores, but relatively modest entry standards and low spending on student services keep Bangor’s rise to six places in this year’s Times and Sunday Times league table. The university estate has been redeveloped, with the addition of a £5m environmental sciences building, while a £3.5m Cancer Research Institute is attracting specialists of international repute. A combination of private funds and a £5m European grant was used to establish a new Business Management Centre on

a waterfront site. The £40m Pontio Arts and Innovation Centre is due to open this month, forming a bridge between the university’s upper campus and the nearby science site. The centre will focus on science, technology and the creative arts and will include a theatre, studio, cinema, lecture theatres, exhibition spaces, bar and café. Improved sports facilities such as the recently-opened Dome (an indoor tennis and netball centre) and further new student accommodation that includes studio apartments and townhouses, opening in 2015, are among developments to enhance the student experience. Bangor’s community focus dates back to a 19th-century campaign which saw local quarrymen putting part of their weekly wages towards the establishment of a college. The School of Lifelong Learning continues the tradition with courses provided across North Wales, but the university has also built a worldwide reputation in areas such as environmental studies and ocean sciences. Like Swansea and Aberystwyth, it has left the University of Wales to assert its independence, taking the title of Bangor University and awarding its own degrees. Bangor merged with a nearby teacher training college, Coleg Normal, in 1996, and that site is now part of the university. The 23 academic schools are grouped into five colleges. All schools are within walking distance of each other, apart from the School of Ocean Sciences, which is two miles away in Menai Bridge. The 2008 research assessments identified some world-leading work in all Bangor’s 19 subject areas. The outcomes for accounting and finance were excellent (the university claiming them to be the best in the UK), with electronic engineering second and both sports science and Welsh also in the top ten in their respective subjects. The university is an expanding centre for Welsh-medium teaching. Although a majority of students come from outside Wales – there is a strong link with Ireland, for example – around 20% of the students speak the language and one of the halls of residence is reserved for Welsh-speakers only. Bangor also has a flourishing international exchange programme. Undergraduate students are offered a study abroad option to give them the international experience many employers are now looking for. The International Experience Programme gives students the option of studying overseas for one extra year in a wide variety of destinations in Europe, North America, Australia and the Far East. Almost 95% of the students come from state schools or colleges, and more than a third are from working-class homes. For 2015 entry, the university is offering scholarships and bursaries worth over £3.7m, which range from merit awards based on pre-entry examinations, to sports scholarships and excellence awards in several subject areas. The university’s Talent Opportunities Programme, which operates in schools across North Wales, targets potential applicants from lower socio-economic families, who have little or no history of going on to university. There is a strong focus on student support including a pioneering dyslexia unit, which offers individual and group support throughout students’ courses. The Study Skills Centre, which opened in 2013, helps with the transition to university and provides continuing academic assistance. In addition, the Bangor Employability Award (BEA) has been introduced to enhance students’ career prospects by accrediting co-curricular and extra-curricular activities such as volunteering and part-time work that are valued by employers. The university is rated the "greenest" in Wales and is in the top 20 in an international league table of environmentally friendly institutions. The city, which is dominated by the university, is little more than a stone’s throw from Snowdonia with its attractions for sports enthusiasts. Social life for most students is concentrated on the students’ union, which has around 150 clubs and societies, covering a range of interests, activities and sports.

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