TEACHING
QUALITY
University of Bradford
76
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
65.8%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
83.6%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
95th=
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
54th
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
40th
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
Richmond Road, Bradford, BD7 1DP View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
October 10 and 11
University Profile
Bradford is firmly embedded in its West Yorkshire community, delivering a distinctive higher education tailored to regional, and even specific local, needs. To this end, it was the first university outside London to offer part-time degrees, and today more than a quarter of the undergraduates are mature students, many taking advantage of part-time study options that fit around work. Only one pre-1992 institution has more mature learners; Bradford’s student profile being far more typical of a modern university (created post-1992).
More than half of the undergraduates are from working-class homes – the biggest proportion at any of the older universities and a proportion beaten by just Greenwich and the University of East London. Just over 16% of the university’s students are from overseas, many of them taught in partner institutions in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan and India. Nearer home, there are alliances with a number of further education colleges to help boost higher education participation in a region where it is well below the national average.
These colleges offer Foundation degrees in areas such as public sector administration, community justice, engineering technology and enterprise in IT. Perhaps the best known is in health and
Other distinctive features include the world-renowned Peace Studies department and a pioneering record on green issues. However, Bradford is one of the lowest-ranked institutions of its peer group, despite an eight-place rise in this year’s league table. Applications dropped by more than 10% in 2013, although there was only a small decline in the numbers actually enrolling.
All of which presents something of a challenge for Professor Brian Cantor, the vice-chancellor appointed in 2013 after swapping the serenity of York for the altogether grittier environs of Bradford. Professor Cantor oversaw major expansion at York, with the establishment of a new campus and taking the university into the elite Russell Group of universities. The targets by which he will be judged a success or failure here are rather different.
Perhaps the university’s major advantage at undergraduate level is the vocational slant of the courses and the accent on work experience and placements, which regularly place Bradford well up the employment tables and where it performs strongest among our eight measures of university performance.
The relatively small, lively campus is close to the city centre. Health students moved into a new state-of-the-art facility on campus in 2011, leaving only the highly rated management school on a different site. It is two miles away in a 14-acre parkland setting. Improvements to the City Campus in recent years have included upgraded laboratories for chemical and forensic science, and new sports facilities including a gym and climbing wall and an improved sports hall. There is also a distinctive four-storey Atrium, which has brought together all student support services in a single, open-plan social space, while “Student Central”, which houses the students’ union, opened in 2010.
A separate online portal is available to applicants and new students to smooth their transition to higher education. Computer-assisted learning is increasing in many subjects, making use of unusually extensive IT provision and a new wireless network. Some courses feature online assessment and the use of laptops in lectures. The human studies programme, which combines psychology, literature and sociology with philosophy, is an imaginative construct that is proving attractive to students.
Some 80% of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was placed in the top two categories, although more than a third of the academics were not entered. Social work and social policy, politics, civil engineering and pharmacy produced the best results.
Places in halls are reasonably priced and all have internet connections. Rents for private housing are among the lowest in any university city, averaging £50-55 per student in 2014. The university has particularly good provision for disabled students, who account for 6% of the university population. Bradford’s senior management group includes the Director of Student Success to ensure that the student voice is heard in future developments.
The university has been a leading light in the green movement in higher education, with its “ecoversity” programme addressing issues of sustainable development in all the university’s practices, including the curriculum. The most visible sign was the opening in 2011 of The Green, a sustainable student village catering mainly for 1,000 first-year and international students. The development, which won a Green Gown award for sustainability in 2012 and the Best Student Housing prize the following year, is part of a £70m modernisation plan that includes a £7m investment in new and upgraded teaching facilities. Bradford was in the top 10 in the People and Planet Green League of universities’ environmental performance for 2013.
A major refurbishment of the library made carbon savings by maximising insulation and natural ventilation, attracting another Green Gown award, while the “edible campus” project allows gardeners to improve the inner-city site and to monitor biodiversity. Bradford has reduced its carbon footprint by 30% since 2005 and is well on the way to meeting its target of a 50% reduction by 2020.
More than half of the undergraduates are from working-class homes – the biggest proportion at any of the older universities and a proportion beaten by just Greenwich and the University of East London. Just over 16% of the university’s students are from overseas, many of them taught in partner institutions in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Pakistan and India. Nearer home, there are alliances with a number of further education colleges to help boost higher education participation in a region where it is well below the national average.
These colleges offer Foundation degrees in areas such as public sector administration, community justice, engineering technology and enterprise in IT. Perhaps the best known is in health and
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social care, where the university was already expanding opportunities locally, bringing about a fourfold increase in enrolments by young women from South Asian families, a group hugely underrepresented in universities.Other distinctive features include the world-renowned Peace Studies department and a pioneering record on green issues. However, Bradford is one of the lowest-ranked institutions of its peer group, despite an eight-place rise in this year’s league table. Applications dropped by more than 10% in 2013, although there was only a small decline in the numbers actually enrolling.
All of which presents something of a challenge for Professor Brian Cantor, the vice-chancellor appointed in 2013 after swapping the serenity of York for the altogether grittier environs of Bradford. Professor Cantor oversaw major expansion at York, with the establishment of a new campus and taking the university into the elite Russell Group of universities. The targets by which he will be judged a success or failure here are rather different.
Perhaps the university’s major advantage at undergraduate level is the vocational slant of the courses and the accent on work experience and placements, which regularly place Bradford well up the employment tables and where it performs strongest among our eight measures of university performance.
The relatively small, lively campus is close to the city centre. Health students moved into a new state-of-the-art facility on campus in 2011, leaving only the highly rated management school on a different site. It is two miles away in a 14-acre parkland setting. Improvements to the City Campus in recent years have included upgraded laboratories for chemical and forensic science, and new sports facilities including a gym and climbing wall and an improved sports hall. There is also a distinctive four-storey Atrium, which has brought together all student support services in a single, open-plan social space, while “Student Central”, which houses the students’ union, opened in 2010.
A separate online portal is available to applicants and new students to smooth their transition to higher education. Computer-assisted learning is increasing in many subjects, making use of unusually extensive IT provision and a new wireless network. Some courses feature online assessment and the use of laptops in lectures. The human studies programme, which combines psychology, literature and sociology with philosophy, is an imaginative construct that is proving attractive to students.
Some 80% of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was placed in the top two categories, although more than a third of the academics were not entered. Social work and social policy, politics, civil engineering and pharmacy produced the best results.
Places in halls are reasonably priced and all have internet connections. Rents for private housing are among the lowest in any university city, averaging £50-55 per student in 2014. The university has particularly good provision for disabled students, who account for 6% of the university population. Bradford’s senior management group includes the Director of Student Success to ensure that the student voice is heard in future developments.
The university has been a leading light in the green movement in higher education, with its “ecoversity” programme addressing issues of sustainable development in all the university’s practices, including the curriculum. The most visible sign was the opening in 2011 of The Green, a sustainable student village catering mainly for 1,000 first-year and international students. The development, which won a Green Gown award for sustainability in 2012 and the Best Student Housing prize the following year, is part of a £70m modernisation plan that includes a £7m investment in new and upgraded teaching facilities. Bradford was in the top 10 in the People and Planet Green League of universities’ environmental performance for 2013.
A major refurbishment of the library made carbon savings by maximising insulation and natural ventilation, attracting another Green Gown award, while the “edible campus” project allows gardeners to improve the inner-city site and to monitor biodiversity. Bradford has reduced its carbon footprint by 30% since 2005 and is well on the way to meeting its target of a 50% reduction by 2020.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
76 (84=)
Student experience
79.3
95th=
Research quality
10
54th
Ucas entry points
320
77th=
Graduate prospects
72.4
40th
Firsts and 2:1s
65.8
66th=
Completion rate
83.6
78th
Student-staff ratio
18.6:1
76th=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,426
75th
World ranking
-
601= (501=)
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
9,160
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
1,260
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
1,040
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
1,735
Applications/places
14,085/2,870
Applications/places ratio
4.9:1
STUDENT CITIES
Sam Butterworth, students’ union officer
There is a warm ethos of students and staff collaborating, we call it team Bradford.
It’s not a bustling city but Bradford is undergoing regeneration, so exciting times ahead.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
£900
Fees (international)
£11,000-£13,100
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£19,144
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Household income below £30K, £500 each year with conditions.
>
Academic scholarship of £2,000, year 1; £1,500 years 2 and 3, with conditions.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
219.67, 84th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
93.6%
88.4%
88.3%
86.9%
82.2%
81.7%
81.0%
80.0%
78.8%
78.7%
77.9%
76.5%
76.4%
75.7%
74.6%
73.0%
71.6%
68.2%