TEACHING
QUALITY
Lancaster University
12
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
77.6%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
93.9%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
22nd
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
12th
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
23rd
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YW View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
contact the university
University Profile
It’s 50 years next month since the first students were admitted to Lancaster University and in that short space of time it has earned a global reputation and student admiration in equal measure.
Combining traditions from longer established institutions – the collegiate structure – with a modern approach to studying – flexible degrees allowing the study of two or even three subjects in year one before making a final choice – Lancaster happily fused old and new.
And the ethos that stood it in good stead in the 1960s still survives today on the eve of the institution’s 50th birthday. Today, it stands on the threshold of our elite top 10 off the back of consistently high student satisfaction, a strong graduate jobs record, high entry standards and outstanding research.
Lancaster has also been at the forefront of pioneering links with overseas universities, first by way of a series of partnership and exchange arrangements that allow many of its students to spend a period studying abroad, and latterly through a series of alliances that are spreading the Lancaster brand abroad.
Travelling in the opposite direction, hundreds of Lancaster students spend part of their courses in America, Asia, Australia or Europe, the latter through the extensive Erasmus exchange programme. For many students, there is a full year abroad on offer, although for some it is just one term.
Its student satisfaction rates are consistently high (up again this year to 84.2% under our analysis of the National Student Survey), but Lancaster’s greatest strength is in research, with more than 60% of its submission to the last Research Assessment Exercise rated as world-leading or internationally excellent.
Lancaster is more successful than most research universities in widening participation among under-represented groups. Nine out of ten undergraduates are state educated and a quarter come from the four lowest socio-economic classes.
Outreach activity includes summer schools for 600 sixth-formers and college students, masterclasses for 2,000 and mentoring for 250 students. The projected dropout rate of 6% matches the national average for the subjects on offer.
The university has completed a £500m makeover for its campus, with much of the money going on eco-friendly student residences. Lancaster has held the title of Best University Halls since 2010 in the National Student Housing Survey, and is one of only three UK universities to be awarded an International Accommodation Quality Mark based on more than 90% positive feedback from international students.
A new 24-hour student learning space at the centre of the campus provides flexible learning environments and social space with up-to-date technology. Infolab 21, the £15m centre of excellence in information communication technology, acts as a technology transfer and incubation facility and houses a training facility for high-tech businesses.
Other recent developments include a leadership centre for the highly rated Management School – the 2012 Business School of the Year in Times Higher Education magazine – and the establishment of a Confucius Institute as a hub for Chinese language teaching and culture.
Lancaster has also invested heavily in new facilities for engineering, which has doubled its undergraduate numbers in the last five years.
A £10m building for the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts has brought together art, design and theatre studies with the university’s public art gallery, concerts and theatre.
Combined degree programmes, with 200 courses to choose from, are especially popular. The degree portfolio now includes medicine, with Lancaster awarding its own degrees in the subject, having previously collaborated with the University of Liverpool.
The university has established a new Department of Chemistry, which offers an undergraduate degree in the subject, while another partnership with Liverpool has seen the opening of the £9.8m Centre for Global Eco-Innovation.
Other recent developments have included a research centre specialising in bipolar disorder and a new Centre for Organisational Health and Wellbeing. Lancaster is well known for research into ageing, cyber security and energy.
In an unusual move, the university has also acquired the London-based think tank, the Work Foundation.
Students join one of eight residential colleges on campus, which become the centre of most students’ social life. Most house between 800 and 900 students in self-catering accommodation and each has its own bar and social facilities. Cartmel and Lonsdale colleges have transferred to the New Alexandra Park area of the campus with enhanced social facilities. The pioneering 800-room Eco Residence, which opened in 2008, has won an environmental award.
Lancaster itself is a ten-minute bus ride away. Both the campus and city have been rated among the safest in the UK. The university hosts a thriving live arts scene for the campus, the city and the wider region, putting on professional theatre, dance, exhibitions and concerts.
Sports facilities are good and conveniently placed, with £20m sports centre on campus, while for the outdoor life, the Lake District is within easy reach. The annual War of the Roses sports match with the University of York is the highlight of the sporting year and proof that the rivalry between the red and the white roses is still very much alive. As with the earlier battle for the throne of England, Lancaster were this year’s victors.
Combining traditions from longer established institutions – the collegiate structure – with a modern approach to studying – flexible degrees allowing the study of two or even three subjects in year one before making a final choice – Lancaster happily fused old and new.
And the ethos that stood it in good stead in the 1960s still survives today on the eve of the institution’s 50th birthday. Today, it stands on the threshold of our elite top 10 off the back of consistently high student satisfaction, a strong graduate jobs record, high entry standards and outstanding research.
Lancaster has also been at the forefront of pioneering links with overseas universities, first by way of a series of partnership and exchange arrangements that allow many of its students to spend a period studying abroad, and latterly through a series of alliances that are spreading the Lancaster brand abroad.
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To this end it has opened the only UK university campus in Africa. The new venture in Ghana follows partnerships with universities in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and China that mean the current total of 2,000 students taking Lancaster degrees abroad will soon rise considerably and could even outnumber those in the UK.Travelling in the opposite direction, hundreds of Lancaster students spend part of their courses in America, Asia, Australia or Europe, the latter through the extensive Erasmus exchange programme. For many students, there is a full year abroad on offer, although for some it is just one term.
Lancaster is more successful than most research universities in widening participation among under-represented groups. Nine out of ten undergraduates are state educated and a quarter come from the four lowest socio-economic classes.
Outreach activity includes summer schools for 600 sixth-formers and college students, masterclasses for 2,000 and mentoring for 250 students. The projected dropout rate of 6% matches the national average for the subjects on offer.
The university has completed a £500m makeover for its campus, with much of the money going on eco-friendly student residences. Lancaster has held the title of Best University Halls since 2010 in the National Student Housing Survey, and is one of only three UK universities to be awarded an International Accommodation Quality Mark based on more than 90% positive feedback from international students.
A new 24-hour student learning space at the centre of the campus provides flexible learning environments and social space with up-to-date technology. Infolab 21, the £15m centre of excellence in information communication technology, acts as a technology transfer and incubation facility and houses a training facility for high-tech businesses.
Other recent developments include a leadership centre for the highly rated Management School – the 2012 Business School of the Year in Times Higher Education magazine – and the establishment of a Confucius Institute as a hub for Chinese language teaching and culture.
Lancaster has also invested heavily in new facilities for engineering, which has doubled its undergraduate numbers in the last five years.
A £10m building for the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts has brought together art, design and theatre studies with the university’s public art gallery, concerts and theatre.
Combined degree programmes, with 200 courses to choose from, are especially popular. The degree portfolio now includes medicine, with Lancaster awarding its own degrees in the subject, having previously collaborated with the University of Liverpool.
The university has established a new Department of Chemistry, which offers an undergraduate degree in the subject, while another partnership with Liverpool has seen the opening of the £9.8m Centre for Global Eco-Innovation.
Other recent developments have included a research centre specialising in bipolar disorder and a new Centre for Organisational Health and Wellbeing. Lancaster is well known for research into ageing, cyber security and energy.
In an unusual move, the university has also acquired the London-based think tank, the Work Foundation.
Students join one of eight residential colleges on campus, which become the centre of most students’ social life. Most house between 800 and 900 students in self-catering accommodation and each has its own bar and social facilities. Cartmel and Lonsdale colleges have transferred to the New Alexandra Park area of the campus with enhanced social facilities. The pioneering 800-room Eco Residence, which opened in 2008, has won an environmental award.
Lancaster itself is a ten-minute bus ride away. Both the campus and city have been rated among the safest in the UK. The university hosts a thriving live arts scene for the campus, the city and the wider region, putting on professional theatre, dance, exhibitions and concerts.
Sports facilities are good and conveniently placed, with £20m sports centre on campus, while for the outdoor life, the Lake District is within easy reach. The annual War of the Roses sports match with the University of York is the highlight of the sporting year and proof that the rivalry between the red and the white roses is still very much alive. As with the earlier battle for the throne of England, Lancaster were this year’s victors.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
12 (12=)
Student experience
84.2
22nd
Research quality
28.3
12th
Ucas entry points
448
16th
Graduate prospects
78
23rd
Firsts and 2:1s
77.6
25th
Completion rate
93.9
16th=
Student-staff ratio
14.9:1
27th=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,752
43rd
World ranking
-
160 (156)
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
8,970
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
185
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
2,200
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
1,380
Applications/places
16,590/3,060
Applications/places ratio
5.4:1
STUDENT CITIES
Laura Clayson, students’ union president
I didn’t expect to be surrounded by so many sheep, though they are far outnumbered by the students on campus.
Lectures and seminars at 9am are always a struggle but it does mean you greet the day.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
Places in accommodation
7,500
Accommodation costs
£86-£147
Catered costs
£126-£162
Accommodation contact
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (international)
£13,270-£16,640
Fees (international, medical)
£22,500
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£19,902
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Household income below £42.6K, £1,000 a year cash bursary.
>
£1,000 a year for those with A*AA at A Level or equivalent and with household income below £42.6K.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
783, 41st
Sport website
Student satisfaction
94.7%
87.3%
86.5%
86.3%
86.2%
85.8%
85.1%
84.0%
83.4%
82.8%
82.1%
81.9%
81.8%
80.5%
80.4%
80.0%
78.8%
78.8%
77.8%
77.7%
76.1%
76.0%