TEACHING
QUALITY
University of Salford
105
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
64.3%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
77.6%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
119th=
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
56th
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
102nd=
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
The Crescent,
Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
October 18
University Profile
The University of Salford’s campus within MediaCityUK, in Salford Quays, has put the university and more particularly the 1,500 students based on the campus at the heart of one of Europe’s premier digital media developments.
Opened in 2011 at a cost £30m, students follow a range of 39 undergraduate and postgraduate courses spanning journalism, professional sound and video technology, media technology and television and radio. They enjoy exceptional opportunities to work with BBC staff and other media professionals using the latest equipment, studios and laboratories. The development is drawing more television and media companies to the area all the time with Coronation Street now relocated from its original home in central Manchester in new ITV studios.
The new facilities have already produced a surge in demand for Salford’s media courses. New undergraduate enrolments across the whole university were up by 500 in 2013, partially compensating for a big drop when higher fees were introduced.
Further embedding the university in its immediate area, it has just signed a partnership agreement with the Class of 92 – the five former Manchester United players including Ryan Giggs and
Salford is in the middle of a £500m, 15-year capital programme which is helping to bring about significant changes in the shape of the university. It has ceased to offer courses in modern languages, linguistics and some areas of politics and contemporary history because of low demand for places, focusing instead on its strengths in media, technology, science, engineering and health.
There are four campuses, all of them apart from Salford Quays clustered around the River Irwell and within walking distance of Manchester city centre. On the main campus, the Gateway Project, being built at a cost of £55m, will provide a new entrance from Salford Crescent railway station and more facilities for arts and media students when it opens in 2016.
There is also a £38m Arts and Media Centre on the Adelphi Campus and a £22m headquarters for the Faculty of Health and Social Care on a third site, with practice clinics, hospital ward facilities and a human performance laboratory.
The landscaped main campus is a haven of lawns and shrubberies. University House, where students go for advice and support, has seen a £3m upgrade, while a 1960s teaching building has been remodelled and extended to accommodate six lecture theatres equipped with large screen displays, a series of learning and breakout spaces, plus a café.
Salford, which has 20,000 students, has been overtaken by a number of post-1992 universities in our league table and is 12 places adrift of the nearest of the longer-established institutions. Developments such as MediaCityUK should help with Salford’s graduate prospects figures going forward and ultimately lead to an improvement in the university’s overall ranking.
It currently suffers particularly from low satisfaction scores in the National Student Survey, which left it fourth bottom on this measure this year.
However, Salford does well on the Government’s access measures: 43% of the undergraduates come from working-class homes and there is one of the highest proportions of students (22%) drawn from areas sending few into higher education. The projected dropout rate has fluctuated. The latest figures are up to almost 18%, a lot higher than the national average for the subjects and students’ qualifications.
The university’s growing involvement in health has seen the establishment of a national centre for prosthetics and orthotics, and Salford has a high reputation for the treatment of sports injuries. The School of Nursing and Midwifery, which received outstanding ratings from its regulatory body, runs Europe’s first nursing course for deaf students.
There is also a BA in journalism and war studies – the only undergraduate degree in the UK to combine the two disciplines.
Engineering is the university’s traditional strength, attracting many of the 3,000 overseas students. The university opened the world’s first Energy House in 2011 – a full-size traditional terraced house built in a laboratory for students, researchers and industry to study domestic energy consumption.
Two-thirds of all courses offer work placements, half of them abroad and almost all counting towards degree classifications. The university has partnerships which provide research and work experience with the BBC, Adobe and Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, and the Salford China partnership programme among others. There is a particular focus on the Middle East, where the University of Salford Abu Dhabi works with a number of universities in the region.
The Enterprise Academy scheme was commended by the EU after it helped 32 student businesses become established. Students are offered training in entrepreneurship and business skills, as well as a business mentor, while an innovative scheme also provides professional training and work experience for unemployed and under-employed graduates. Salford led the way in formally recognising interaction with business and industry as of equal importance to teaching and research.
The university entered a relatively low proportion of its academics for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, but still had among the lowest grades of the pre-1992 universities. The university has since established nine interdisciplinary research centres and a graduate school.
Salford’s location is one of its main selling points. There are 2,400 residential places within 10 minutes’ walk of the main campus, owned either by the university or a partner organisation.New student apartments will be ready in time for the 2015 entry, adding 1,367 bedrooms in a new complex costing £81m. It will include a cinema, gym, television and games room, group study lounges and a launderette.
Opened in 2011 at a cost £30m, students follow a range of 39 undergraduate and postgraduate courses spanning journalism, professional sound and video technology, media technology and television and radio. They enjoy exceptional opportunities to work with BBC staff and other media professionals using the latest equipment, studios and laboratories. The development is drawing more television and media companies to the area all the time with Coronation Street now relocated from its original home in central Manchester in new ITV studios.
The new facilities have already produced a surge in demand for Salford’s media courses. New undergraduate enrolments across the whole university were up by 500 in 2013, partially compensating for a big drop when higher fees were introduced.
Further embedding the university in its immediate area, it has just signed a partnership agreement with the Class of 92 – the five former Manchester United players including Ryan Giggs and
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Paul Scholes – who have just bought Salford City football club and are investing heavily in the area through a new hotel and other business ventures. Students will benefit from internships and work experience in areas as diverse as sports science, journalism, digital marketing and event management.Salford is in the middle of a £500m, 15-year capital programme which is helping to bring about significant changes in the shape of the university. It has ceased to offer courses in modern languages, linguistics and some areas of politics and contemporary history because of low demand for places, focusing instead on its strengths in media, technology, science, engineering and health.
There are four campuses, all of them apart from Salford Quays clustered around the River Irwell and within walking distance of Manchester city centre. On the main campus, the Gateway Project, being built at a cost of £55m, will provide a new entrance from Salford Crescent railway station and more facilities for arts and media students when it opens in 2016.
There is also a £38m Arts and Media Centre on the Adelphi Campus and a £22m headquarters for the Faculty of Health and Social Care on a third site, with practice clinics, hospital ward facilities and a human performance laboratory.
The landscaped main campus is a haven of lawns and shrubberies. University House, where students go for advice and support, has seen a £3m upgrade, while a 1960s teaching building has been remodelled and extended to accommodate six lecture theatres equipped with large screen displays, a series of learning and breakout spaces, plus a café.
Salford, which has 20,000 students, has been overtaken by a number of post-1992 universities in our league table and is 12 places adrift of the nearest of the longer-established institutions. Developments such as MediaCityUK should help with Salford’s graduate prospects figures going forward and ultimately lead to an improvement in the university’s overall ranking.
However, Salford does well on the Government’s access measures: 43% of the undergraduates come from working-class homes and there is one of the highest proportions of students (22%) drawn from areas sending few into higher education. The projected dropout rate has fluctuated. The latest figures are up to almost 18%, a lot higher than the national average for the subjects and students’ qualifications.
The university’s growing involvement in health has seen the establishment of a national centre for prosthetics and orthotics, and Salford has a high reputation for the treatment of sports injuries. The School of Nursing and Midwifery, which received outstanding ratings from its regulatory body, runs Europe’s first nursing course for deaf students.
There is also a BA in journalism and war studies – the only undergraduate degree in the UK to combine the two disciplines.
Engineering is the university’s traditional strength, attracting many of the 3,000 overseas students. The university opened the world’s first Energy House in 2011 – a full-size traditional terraced house built in a laboratory for students, researchers and industry to study domestic energy consumption.
Two-thirds of all courses offer work placements, half of them abroad and almost all counting towards degree classifications. The university has partnerships which provide research and work experience with the BBC, Adobe and Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, and the Salford China partnership programme among others. There is a particular focus on the Middle East, where the University of Salford Abu Dhabi works with a number of universities in the region.
The Enterprise Academy scheme was commended by the EU after it helped 32 student businesses become established. Students are offered training in entrepreneurship and business skills, as well as a business mentor, while an innovative scheme also provides professional training and work experience for unemployed and under-employed graduates. Salford led the way in formally recognising interaction with business and industry as of equal importance to teaching and research.
The university entered a relatively low proportion of its academics for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, but still had among the lowest grades of the pre-1992 universities. The university has since established nine interdisciplinary research centres and a graduate school.
Salford’s location is one of its main selling points. There are 2,400 residential places within 10 minutes’ walk of the main campus, owned either by the university or a partner organisation.New student apartments will be ready in time for the 2015 entry, adding 1,367 bedrooms in a new complex costing £81m. It will include a cinema, gym, television and games room, group study lounges and a launderette.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
105 (98)
Student experience
76.4
119th=
Research quality
9.3
56th
Ucas entry points
341
57th=
Graduate prospects
56.8
102nd=
Firsts and 2:1s
64.3
72nd=
Completion rate
77.6
111th=
Student-staff ratio
17:1
58th
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,481
66th
World ranking
-
701= (651=)
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
13,760
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
1,750
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
1,765
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
1,885
Applications/places
20,800/4,410
Applications/places ratio
4.7:1
STUDENT CITIES
Fiza Ikram, students’ union president
Overwhelming and exciting at the same time, it felt like a whole new challenge in life.
I commuted for three years, so 9am lectures were torturous.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
Places in accommodation
2,435
Accommodation costs
£68-£93
Accommodation contact
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
Free
Fees (overseas year)
Free
Fees (international)
£11,090-£12,800
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£19,023
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
For students with at least ABB at A Level or equivalent, £2,000 cash scholarship in year 1.
>
Sports and asylum seekers' scholarships.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
213.5, 86th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
95.4%
89.5%
87.8%
87.8%
87.5%
84.7%
84.4%
82.7%
81.8%
81.1%
81.0%
80.5%
78.2%
78.0%
75.9%
75.4%
75.3%
74.2%
74.0%
73.9%
73.2%
72.4%
71.5%
71.5%
71.2%
68.5%
66.0%