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Bishop Grosseteste University

102

nd=

NATIONAL
RANK

57%

FIRSTS
2:1s

92%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

26th=

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

117th=

RESEARCH
QUALITY

57th=

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

Lincoln, LN1 3DY View on map >

Telephone

01522 527 347

admissions@bishopg.ac.uk

Website

www.bishopg.ac.uk

Open days

September 28; October 19; November 12

University Profile

Bishop Grosseteste (BGU) made its debut in our league table last year ranking below all the other institutions gaining university status in 2013. But with rankings for student satisfaction and graduate prospects among the top half of all universities, there are firm foundations for the future. A low dropout rate of 8% also puts BGU in good company with many fewer students falling by the wayside than both BGU’s course profile and its students’ low entry qualifications would suggest. BGU maintained the size of its intake in 2013, despite a 9% fall in applications, and is planning “controlled expansion” and a more international outlook. Almost 100 courses cover a range of arts and social sciences, but teacher training still dominates. BGU was originally known as the Diocesan Training School for Mistresses, and after more than 150 years of teacher training Ofsted today rates the courses for primary teachers as “Excellent” and those for secondary as “Good”. The university has been allocated 50 places to train teachers of children aged up

to nine years old on programmes leading to the new Early Years Teacher Status introduced by the Government to raise the status and quality of the early years workforce. The new courses will mean that, for the first time, Bishop Grosseteste will train teachers of every age group, including adults. Based on an attractive, leafy and secluded campus in central Lincoln, not far from the gothic cathedral and castle, Bishop Grosseteste celebrated 150 years of teacher training in 2012. With only 2,000 students, the former university college used to be too small to become a university, but a change of rules allowed it to take the title. Named after a theologian and scholar who was bishop of Lincoln in the 13th century, it is still proudly associated with the Church of England, although it welcomes students of all faiths and none. It describes itself as a Church university within the Anglican tradition. The campus has a friendly, welcoming feel. The campus entrance and reception area has been remodelled at a cost of £250,000. Other recent developments have seen the campus theatre equipped with a new digital projection system, surround sound and fully refurbished seating to double as a cinema which can also stage theatrical productions. The Venue is now home to the Lincoln Film Society and is open to staff, students and the public. The library has been extended and given a new name: the Cornerstone Building is now home to the Student Support and Learning Advice teams, as well as Library Services. The students’ union building has had a major reﬁt and new teaching and learning spaces added. The university spent another £6.5m in 2013 upgrading accommodation and learning spaces, and providing a new restaurant. A new complex of flats has replaced an older hall of residence, and together with the extensive refurbishment of an existing hall, has brought the number of campus rooms to more than 200. More than a third of the undergraduates are from working-class families and more than one fifth come from areas of low participation in higher education – one of the largest proportions at any university and comfortably ahead of BGU’s benchmark recruitment level. The university is divided into two schools. The School of Teacher Development offers undergraduate and postgraduate training courses, as well as conducting research. The School of Culture, Education and Innovation covers a dozen disciplines and offers courses as diverse as sport with mathematics and applied drama with music. A popular new psychology degree, which attracted twice the target enrolment when it was introduced in 2013, has been awarded accreditation by the British Psychological Society. In 2015, students will be able to study the visual arts in combination with a number of subjects, including drama, English or education. Archaeology with history will be another new offering. Business development is among the priorities identified in the new university’s strategic plan. A business start-up centre has opened on campus and is proving popular with new businesses and entrepreneurs. BG Futures emphasises the university’s values of equality and diversity. The university generally produces good graduate employment figures – in part due to the large contingent of sought-after teacher trainees – and has secured European funding to support 50 paid graduate internships for small and medium-sized businesses based within the city boundaries. Students starting this month will pay £8,500 a year (a £1,000 rise on last year) for BA and BSc programmes, with foundation degrees costing less at £6,375 a year. One-year primary and secondary PGCE students will pay the full £9,000 fee this year, which from next year will be the norm for all bar foundation degree students. The university took on a purpose-built student accommodation with 77 additional rooms close to the campus in 2013, in addition to the 200+ on-campus rooms. The Sport and Fitness Centre has a sports hall which can cater for a variety of different sporting activities and fitness classes and a well-appointed fitness suite. Ten acres of sports fields are close by. The city of Lincoln is one of the fastest-growing in the UK, with relatively low living costs. It may not compete with the big conurbations for youth culture, but it has a growing student population (there is also the University of Lincoln in town) and a range of bars and nightclubs to serve it.

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Detailed Statistics

PERFORMANCE