The Times and The Sunday Times | Education - University UniversityGuide

University of Sheffield

NATIONAL
RANK

78.5%

FIRSTS
2:1s

93.9%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

42nd=

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

16th

RESEARCH
QUALITY

27th

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN View on map >

Telephone

0114 222 8030

ask@sheffield.ac.uk

Website

www.sheffield.ac.uk

Open days

October 18

University Profile

The accolades keep rolling in for Sheffield from its students. They voted it into top place in Times Higher Education magazine’s 2014 student experience survey, giving it the highest scores in the UK for the students’ union, social life, facilities and accommodation.

The students’ union is the most popular in the National Student Survey – topping the poll of final year students with 94% this year, three percentage points clearer of its nearest rival – and the overseas students placed Sheffield top for facilities, student services, accommodation and social activities in the International Student Barometer.

Our analysis of Sheffield’s overall results this year in the National Student Survey, while good, does not put Sheffield in quite in the same league; our 83% score ranks Sheffield just outside the top 40 nationally, which contributes to the university slipping out of our elite top 20-ranked universities.

Both applications and enrolments grew substantially in 2013: an additional 900 undergraduates were taken more, more than compensating for a dip in 2012. But there is more to Sheffield than social life: it is in the top 100 universities in the

world, according to the QS rankings, and attracts more than 5,000 students from outside the European Union. Its UK students are more diverse than those in most other Russell Group universities: more than 85% of the undergraduates come from state schools or colleges and one in five comes from a working-class home.

The main university precinct now stretches into an almost unbroken mile-long “campus” that ends not far from the city centre. Most university flats and halls of residence are within walking distance, in the suburbs on the affluent west side of Sheffield.

There has been sustained investment in new buildings and facilities over recent years – notably the conversion of the former Jessop Hospital into a new centre for the arts and humanities. Recent developments have seen the renovation of the original University Library and the refurbishment of the Arts Tower, still the tallest university building in the country after more than 40 years.

Student City

Yael Shafritz, students’ union president

The university is expanding the highly-rated Faculty of Engineering, which has 4,000 students, with the opening of the £21m Pam Liversidge Building, named after one of UK’s leading female engineers. It includes an eye-catching atrium and a Graduate School, but will be overshadowed by the £81m Diamond, the first phase of which is due to open in 2015 with a range of specialist engineering features.

Sheffield is the lead institution for systems engineering, smart materials and stem-cell technology in a research network of European, American and Chinese universities. There is a separate technology park centred on an advanced manufacturing research centre, in which Boeing is the senior partner.

The students’ union was extended for the second time in three years in 2013, creating more facilities for students and staff. A new employability strategy includes two internship schemes offering 75 placements within the university.

A high-tech library and learning centre adds to the student experience. The £23m Information Commons operates 24 hours a day throughout the year, providing 1,300 study spaces and 500 computers linked to the campus network, as well as 110,000 books and periodicals.

Sheffield academics performed well in the last Research Assessment Exercise, when more than 60% of their work was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Former Home Secretary David Blunkett is a visiting professor in the Politics Department, where he was an undergraduate, helping to establish the world’s first Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics.

The growing School of Management, which is one of 57 in the world to receive accreditation from all three leading agencies, moved into new premises in 2013, following an £11m refurbishment of the former School of Law.

Residential accommodation is plentiful and first-years from outside Sheffield are guaranteed a room. Private housing is reasonably priced in student areas close to the university. The Endcliffe student village caters for 3,500 students in a mix of refurbished Victorian houses and new flats, while the Ranmoor Village houses over 1,000 students in self-catering apartments, which include some family apartments and studios.

The excellent sports facilities close to the main university precinct include five floodlit synthetic pitches, a large fitness centre with more than 150 pieces of equipment, swimming pool with sauna and steam rooms, sports hall, fitness studio, multipurpose activity room, four squash courts and a bouldering wall. The 45 acres of grass pitches for rugby, football and cricket are a bus ride away. Sheffield has one of the biggest programmes of internal leagues at any university.

The famously lively social scene is based on the students’ union, but also takes full advantage of the city’s burgeoning club life. It’s a winning combination with the university recording its best results in our league table for its high completion rate. Few students drop out enjoying both their studies and the social life afforded by Britain’s safest big city.

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Detailed Statistics

PERFORMANCE