TEACHING
QUALITY
University of the West of England
68
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
70%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
84.7%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
93rd
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
67th=
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
52nd
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
Frenchay Campus,
Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
October 4, November 8 (Bristol/Gloucester); November 22 (Bower Ashton only)
University Profile
The University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) is the biggest higher education institution in southwest England, and is implementing a £250m campus masterplan to ensure that it is competitive in teaching, research and student facilities.
Applications rose both in 2014 and 2013, following a big drop when higher fees were introduced. A new students’ union will be open on the main Frenchay campus by the time the new intake of students arrive next September and there are new specialist drama facilities on the Bower Ashton campus. Eventually, there will even be a 20,000-seat stadium shared with Bristol Rovers on land bought by the university to extend the main campus.
UWE currently has three sites in Bristol, mainly in the north of the city, and regional centres near hospitals in Gloucester and Bath that concentrate on nursing and allied health professions. The attractive Glenside campus, which houses health subjects, has been refurbished and a computer learning zone added.
The main campus, four miles out of the city centre, has already doubled in size and seen a number of improvements, including the opening of the
More than half of the students come from the West Country and there are close links with business and industry. These provide guest lecturers and professors involved in practice, as well as a wide range of work placements, including one of the largest internship schemes at any university. Recently formalised business tie-ups involve Aardman, Cern in Geneva, Hewlett Packard and the BBC, joining about 6,700 smaller organisations.
UWE’s careers and employment service was rated the best in the country at the 2014 National Undergraduate Employability awards, partly for an innovative web-based jobs and placement service it runs with the local chamber of commerce. The university also runs the UWE Bristol Futures Award to certificate extracurricular activities and encourage students to acquire leadership qualities and other skills that will help in the employment market. A tradition of vocational education regularly helps the university to a healthy graduate employment record, for which UWE ranks just outside the top 50.
Law received a commendation from the Legal Practice Board and UWE is one of just four universities recognised by the Forensic Science Society for the quality of courses in the subject. There are some 85 undergraduate and postgraduate courses with professional accreditation and the Team Entrepreneurship degree has a ground-breaking course structure where students learn through the day-to-day management of their own business.
UWE radiography students have won Radiographer of the Year in five of the last six years, while there have also been successes at the British Book Awards. Only two new universities entered more academics than UWE in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. More than a third of the work was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Physiotherapy and other health subjects, media studies and general engineering produced the best results.
UWE has broadened its intake considerably in recent years. The proportion of independent school entrants has dropped to less than 8%, while the share of places going to students from working-class homes is more than 31%. The dropout rate had been coming down significantly, but the latest projection of 14.5% is above the national average for the university’s subjects and entry qualifications.
A network of 15 colleges stretches into Somerset and Wiltshire, offering UWE programmes. Hartpury College, near Gloucester, is an associate faculty of the university, specialising in agriculture, equine studies and other land-based courses.
There is also an expanding international network, with institutions in a number of countries offering UWE degrees and the university’s own international college, run in partnership with the Kaplan group, providing preparatory courses for a growing number of students from outside the UK coming to Bristol. International students also have their own online careers information resource.
Bristol is a hugely popular student centre: an attractive and lively city, but not cheap. University accommodation has become more plentiful in recent years, with more than 4,000 places available, including nearly 2,000 in a student village on the Frenchay campus, which has more rooms opening this month. There is also accommodation for nearly 300 students on the Glenside campus.
The Frenchay sports complex has a 70-station fitness suite, while the separate Wallscourt Farm gym is designed for elite athletes.
Applications rose both in 2014 and 2013, following a big drop when higher fees were introduced. A new students’ union will be open on the main Frenchay campus by the time the new intake of students arrive next September and there are new specialist drama facilities on the Bower Ashton campus. Eventually, there will even be a 20,000-seat stadium shared with Bristol Rovers on land bought by the university to extend the main campus.
UWE currently has three sites in Bristol, mainly in the north of the city, and regional centres near hospitals in Gloucester and Bath that concentrate on nursing and allied health professions. The attractive Glenside campus, which houses health subjects, has been refurbished and a computer learning zone added.
The main campus, four miles out of the city centre, has already doubled in size and seen a number of improvements, including the opening of the
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country’s largest robotic laboratory and the biggest exhibition and conference centre in the region. The main library is open around the clock during termtime.More than half of the students come from the West Country and there are close links with business and industry. These provide guest lecturers and professors involved in practice, as well as a wide range of work placements, including one of the largest internship schemes at any university. Recently formalised business tie-ups involve Aardman, Cern in Geneva, Hewlett Packard and the BBC, joining about 6,700 smaller organisations.
UWE’s careers and employment service was rated the best in the country at the 2014 National Undergraduate Employability awards, partly for an innovative web-based jobs and placement service it runs with the local chamber of commerce. The university also runs the UWE Bristol Futures Award to certificate extracurricular activities and encourage students to acquire leadership qualities and other skills that will help in the employment market. A tradition of vocational education regularly helps the university to a healthy graduate employment record, for which UWE ranks just outside the top 50.
UWE radiography students have won Radiographer of the Year in five of the last six years, while there have also been successes at the British Book Awards. Only two new universities entered more academics than UWE in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise. More than a third of the work was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Physiotherapy and other health subjects, media studies and general engineering produced the best results.
UWE has broadened its intake considerably in recent years. The proportion of independent school entrants has dropped to less than 8%, while the share of places going to students from working-class homes is more than 31%. The dropout rate had been coming down significantly, but the latest projection of 14.5% is above the national average for the university’s subjects and entry qualifications.
A network of 15 colleges stretches into Somerset and Wiltshire, offering UWE programmes. Hartpury College, near Gloucester, is an associate faculty of the university, specialising in agriculture, equine studies and other land-based courses.
There is also an expanding international network, with institutions in a number of countries offering UWE degrees and the university’s own international college, run in partnership with the Kaplan group, providing preparatory courses for a growing number of students from outside the UK coming to Bristol. International students also have their own online careers information resource.
Bristol is a hugely popular student centre: an attractive and lively city, but not cheap. University accommodation has become more plentiful in recent years, with more than 4,000 places available, including nearly 2,000 in a student village on the Frenchay campus, which has more rooms opening this month. There is also accommodation for nearly 300 students on the Glenside campus.
The Frenchay sports complex has a 70-station fitness suite, while the separate Wallscourt Farm gym is designed for elite athletes.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
68 (60)
Student experience
79.7
93rd
Research quality
4.7
67th=
Ucas entry points
339
59th=
Graduate prospects
68.3
52nd
Firsts and 2:1s
70
50th=
Completion rate
84.7
71st=
Student-staff ratio
20:1
93rd=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,750
44th
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
19,230
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
2,955
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
1,485
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
3,760
Applications/places
30,355/6,795
Applications/places ratio
4.5:1
STUDENT CITIES
Charlie Roper, students’ union president
UWE was the only university I visited because I knew it was for me; the campus is modern and the halls are great.
Our new students’ union is taking for ever to be finished, but our current one is great anyway.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
£1,350
Fees (international)
£10,750-£11,750
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£19,739
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Household income below £25K and with selection criteria and (a) liable for accommodation costs, a bursary of £2,000, year 1, £1,000, years 2 and 3; or (b) living at home, £500, year 1, £250, years 2 and 3.
>
A range of sports scholarships for all students.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
1062, 29th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
97.5%
89.5%
88.9%
88.7%
88.0%
87.6%
85.7%
82.2%
81.6%
81.5%
80.8%
79.7%
79.5%
79.1%
77.9%
77.3%
76.5%
75.3%
74.7%
74.3%
73.9%
72.5%
71.8%
63.3%