TEACHING
QUALITY
University of Westminster
112
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
64.1%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
79.1%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
112th=
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
63rd=
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
116th
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
ADDRESS
309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2HW View on map >
Telephone
Email
Website
Open days
October 11; November 5
University Profile
Westminster’s Broad Vision initiative goes further than many of the programmes at other universities designed to encourage students to range beyond their specialist subject.Undergraduates are given opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and collaborative research that straddle the arts and sciences as an optional module on many courses.
The programme has produced exhibitions, published books and articles, and presentations at conferences, festivals and symposiums. The university changed its undergraduate structure to promote deeper learning through year-long modules and weaves work-related skills into degree programmes.
The initiatives are among a number of features that distinguish the university from similar institutions. Almost a third of the students are part-timers, for example, at a time when part-time numbers have been dropping sharply elsewhere.
There are more than 5,000 students from outside the UK – among the most at any post-1992 institution – and the largest numbers at any UK university from ethnic minorities. Westminster’s courses are taught in nine overseas countries, from Sri Lanka to Uzbekistan, a characteristic which won the university a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
The university was one of many to be
The university has continued to invest heavily in its buildings and facilities, with major refurbishment taking place at three of its campuses. A £20m project at the Marylebone Campus was completed in the autumn of 2012, providing a new social and learning hub for the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment and Westminster Business School.
Significant progress has also been made on the redevelopment of the Harrow site, home to the highly rated Faculty of Media, Arts and Design. Students there are already benefiting from new library and resource centres, and bigger open spaces and better natural light for the fashion and fine art learning areas. The £38m project, to be completed this year, will also include spaces for a gallery and catwalk, flexible performance areas, a café, reception and multimedia newsroom. Major refurbishment work at the Regent Campus and Little Titchfield site was completed in 2013, while the School of Life Sciences has recently invested £2m in modernising its laboratories.
Restoration of theRegent Street Cinema, which is considered to be the birthplace of British cinema and is now housed within the Regent Campus, will be completed in 2015. The headquarters building, near the BBC’s Broadcasting House, houses social sciences, humanities and languages.
Westminster offers one of the widest ranges of language teaching of any British university – including Arabic and Chinese – and partners Soas in leading the Routes into Languages programme to encourage more people to learn a language.
The Architecture Department is rated joint second in the UK by architects in practice in the Architects Journal: students and staff have collected more than 20 Riba and professional prizes in a year. The Business School has been selected as a Centre of Excellence by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment – one of only 12 centres worldwide.Westminster hit the headlines in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, when it was rated top in the UK for media studies with one of the highest proportions of world-leading research (60%) in any subject. More than a third of all the work submitted by the university was rated in the top two categories.
Almost half of the UK undergraduates are from working-class homes – a much higher proportion than the national average for the subjects offered – and the university also exceeds its benchmark for the admission of students from state schools and colleges. The projected dropout rate has been improving – now standing at about one in six students – which is close to the expected level for a university with Westminster’s course and student profile.
Westminster has added considerably to its stock of residential accommodation in recent years. The latest development saw theopening of a student village for first-years close to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Park tube station, with speedy links to all the university’s campuses. The university had already addeda £6m block of halls in Harrow and refurbished its Marylebone halls, but there is no way round the capital’s inflated housing market at some stage.
The Harrow campus is lively socially, but those based on the other campuses tend to be spread around the capital. Sports facilities are also dispersed, with playing fields and a boathouse in Chiswick, west London. Smoke Radio, Westminster’s student radio station, has won several awards and has now spawned Smoke Television.
The programme has produced exhibitions, published books and articles, and presentations at conferences, festivals and symposiums. The university changed its undergraduate structure to promote deeper learning through year-long modules and weaves work-related skills into degree programmes.
The initiatives are among a number of features that distinguish the university from similar institutions. Almost a third of the students are part-timers, for example, at a time when part-time numbers have been dropping sharply elsewhere.
There are more than 5,000 students from outside the UK – among the most at any post-1992 institution – and the largest numbers at any UK university from ethnic minorities. Westminster’s courses are taught in nine overseas countries, from Sri Lanka to Uzbekistan, a characteristic which won the university a Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
The university was one of many to be
SHOW MORE
left with empty places in the first year of higher fees, but it more than made up for the shortfall in 2013, recruiting an additional 700 undergraduates as applications increased by almost 12%.The university has continued to invest heavily in its buildings and facilities, with major refurbishment taking place at three of its campuses. A £20m project at the Marylebone Campus was completed in the autumn of 2012, providing a new social and learning hub for the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment and Westminster Business School.
Significant progress has also been made on the redevelopment of the Harrow site, home to the highly rated Faculty of Media, Arts and Design. Students there are already benefiting from new library and resource centres, and bigger open spaces and better natural light for the fashion and fine art learning areas. The £38m project, to be completed this year, will also include spaces for a gallery and catwalk, flexible performance areas, a café, reception and multimedia newsroom. Major refurbishment work at the Regent Campus and Little Titchfield site was completed in 2013, while the School of Life Sciences has recently invested £2m in modernising its laboratories.
Restoration of theRegent Street Cinema, which is considered to be the birthplace of British cinema and is now housed within the Regent Campus, will be completed in 2015. The headquarters building, near the BBC’s Broadcasting House, houses social sciences, humanities and languages.
The Architecture Department is rated joint second in the UK by architects in practice in the Architects Journal: students and staff have collected more than 20 Riba and professional prizes in a year. The Business School has been selected as a Centre of Excellence by the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment – one of only 12 centres worldwide.Westminster hit the headlines in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, when it was rated top in the UK for media studies with one of the highest proportions of world-leading research (60%) in any subject. More than a third of all the work submitted by the university was rated in the top two categories.
Almost half of the UK undergraduates are from working-class homes – a much higher proportion than the national average for the subjects offered – and the university also exceeds its benchmark for the admission of students from state schools and colleges. The projected dropout rate has been improving – now standing at about one in six students – which is close to the expected level for a university with Westminster’s course and student profile.
Westminster has added considerably to its stock of residential accommodation in recent years. The latest development saw theopening of a student village for first-years close to Wembley Stadium and Wembley Park tube station, with speedy links to all the university’s campuses. The university had already addeda £6m block of halls in Harrow and refurbished its Marylebone halls, but there is no way round the capital’s inflated housing market at some stage.
The Harrow campus is lively socially, but those based on the other campuses tend to be spread around the capital. Sports facilities are also dispersed, with playing fields and a boathouse in Chiswick, west London. Smoke Radio, Westminster’s student radio station, has won several awards and has now spawned Smoke Television.
SHOW LESS
Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
112 (106=)
Student experience
77.7
112th=
Research quality
5
63rd=
Ucas entry points
317
80th=
Graduate prospects
50.6
116th
Firsts and 2:1s
64.1
75th
Completion rate
79.1
109th
Student-staff ratio
20.3:1
98th=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,359
86th=
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
12,290
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
3,470
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
2,215
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
2,195
Applications/places
27,840/5,235
Applications/places ratio
5.3:1
STUDENT CITIES
Jayesh Gohil, students’ union officer
All freshers are given “fans” from among older trained students, who mentor them for their first two weeks.
There are so many students here it can be daunting, but it makes for an exciting, vibrant atmosphere.
SHOW MORE
Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
Places in accommodation
1,960
Accommodation costs
£105-£199
Accommodation contact
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (placement year)
£1,350
Fees (international)
£11,750
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£19,479
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
Details of scholarships and bursaries for 2015–16 not announced in August 2014. Check university website for details.
>
Fee waivers given on a course-by-course basis to local students.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
199.5, 90th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
97.6%
86.0%
84.9%
84.0%
82.1%
81.9%
81.7%
79.9%
79.2%
79.1%
79.0%
79.0%
78.8%
77.8%
77.7%
75.8%
75.6%
71.7%
70.6%
70.6%