TEACHING
QUALITY
University of South Wales
114
th
NATIONAL
RANK
RANK
59.9%
FIRSTS
2:1s
2:1s
80.8%
COMPLETION
RATE
RATE
Key Stats
n/a
117th
STUDENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
76th=
RESEARCH
QUALITY
QUALITY
108th
GRADUATE
PROSPECTS
PROSPECTS
Contact details
University Profile
South Wales (USW), the product of a merger between Glamorgan and the University of Wales Newport universities, makes its debut in our league table this year. The two partners came together in 2013 after several years of on/off negotiations and no little political intervention.
They formed the largest university in Wales and one of the 10 largest in the UK, with over 30,000 students across five – but soon to be four – campuses in Wales. The university recently announced the closure of the Caerleon campus in Newport, but a further site is to be added with a London Centre for postgraduate and executive education, in Docklands.
The University of South Wales Group also includes the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Merthyr Tydfil College, and a new strategic alliance with the remaining further education colleges in South East Wales will spread the network even further. The alliance covers 38 campuses, providing 98,000 learners with advice and structured progression routes from further education to university.
Even before the merger, Glamorgan and Newport were working together on the Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute,
About half of USW’s students are full-time undergraduates and two-thirds are at least 21 years old. Three-quarters are from Wales and receive grants to reduce the cost of tuition; undergraduates from other parts of the UK will pay fees of £9,000 for all degrees in 2015-16.
The degrees include the full range of science and engineering subjects, from aircraft engineering and mathematics to computing and surveying. The university is also an experienced provider of teacher training.
There is a focus on employability and simulated learning to ensure that students learn how their future profession works in real life. There are partnerships with industry leaders and major employers, from British Airways to the National Health Service.
Teaching facilities include the university’s own aircraft, moot court room, TV studios, stock exchange trading room, hospital wards, and scenes-of-crime house. Sport students train and play on facilities used by Olympic athletes and the All Blacks.
The university is also a significant player in the arts, with an internationally acclaimed film school, industry-standard animation facilities, one of the UK’s oldest photography schools and a strong reputation for theatre design.
The main research strengths are in applied projects, and it is a member of the St David’s Day Group, which brings together all of the Principality’s universities to focus on research and innovation.
Two of USW’s campuses are 10 miles outside Cardiff, near Pontypridd, while a third is in the city itself. Around £28m is being spent on improvements, more than half of it on an expansion of the university’s campus in the heart of Cardiff. The £35m ATRiuM building houses the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, in the city centre, along with new premises for law and accounting and finance courses. Other recent developments include expanded facilities for health, science and sport, as well as new halls of residence. There has also been a new home for the Law School on the Treforest campus and new laboratories at nearby Glyntaff.
Amenities on the Treforest campus have been developing more generally, with a modern recreation centre and a new students’ union. A £6m Learning Resource Centre opened in February 2014.
The high-quality sports facilities have continued to improve: a £4m sports park opened in 2011. The university also hosts one of six centres of excellence in cricket. USW has been successful in student competitions, especially in rugby, and offers a number of sports bursaries for students with international potential.
The £35m Newport City Campus opened in 2011 and won an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects for its striking design. It is at the heart of Newport’s new Cultural Quarter, designed to attract inward investment and strengthen the local economy.
Newport was rated the top university in Wales for enterprise education by the Knowledge Exploitation Fund for three years in a row, helping more than 70 new start-up businesses. The Newport campus is also well-known for photography and film, hosting the International Film School Wales, whose graduates include double-BAFTA winner Asif Kapadia, and Justin Kerrigan, director of the cult movie Human Traffic.
The Caerleon Campus, a few miles from Newport, currently caters for humanities, education, health and social sciences and photography. There is a student village of 661 self-catered study bedrooms and a well-equipped sports centre.
The city of Newport is undergoing a £2bn regeneration programme and has plenty of clubs and entertainment venues, but students in search of serious cultural or clubbing activity head for Cardiff.
They formed the largest university in Wales and one of the 10 largest in the UK, with over 30,000 students across five – but soon to be four – campuses in Wales. The university recently announced the closure of the Caerleon campus in Newport, but a further site is to be added with a London Centre for postgraduate and executive education, in Docklands.
The University of South Wales Group also includes the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Merthyr Tydfil College, and a new strategic alliance with the remaining further education colleges in South East Wales will spread the network even further. The alliance covers 38 campuses, providing 98,000 learners with advice and structured progression routes from further education to university.
Even before the merger, Glamorgan and Newport were working together on the Universities Heads of the Valleys Institute,
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developing adults’ skills in the former mining area.About half of USW’s students are full-time undergraduates and two-thirds are at least 21 years old. Three-quarters are from Wales and receive grants to reduce the cost of tuition; undergraduates from other parts of the UK will pay fees of £9,000 for all degrees in 2015-16.
The degrees include the full range of science and engineering subjects, from aircraft engineering and mathematics to computing and surveying. The university is also an experienced provider of teacher training.
Teaching facilities include the university’s own aircraft, moot court room, TV studios, stock exchange trading room, hospital wards, and scenes-of-crime house. Sport students train and play on facilities used by Olympic athletes and the All Blacks.
The university is also a significant player in the arts, with an internationally acclaimed film school, industry-standard animation facilities, one of the UK’s oldest photography schools and a strong reputation for theatre design.
The main research strengths are in applied projects, and it is a member of the St David’s Day Group, which brings together all of the Principality’s universities to focus on research and innovation.
Two of USW’s campuses are 10 miles outside Cardiff, near Pontypridd, while a third is in the city itself. Around £28m is being spent on improvements, more than half of it on an expansion of the university’s campus in the heart of Cardiff. The £35m ATRiuM building houses the Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, in the city centre, along with new premises for law and accounting and finance courses. Other recent developments include expanded facilities for health, science and sport, as well as new halls of residence. There has also been a new home for the Law School on the Treforest campus and new laboratories at nearby Glyntaff.
Amenities on the Treforest campus have been developing more generally, with a modern recreation centre and a new students’ union. A £6m Learning Resource Centre opened in February 2014.
The high-quality sports facilities have continued to improve: a £4m sports park opened in 2011. The university also hosts one of six centres of excellence in cricket. USW has been successful in student competitions, especially in rugby, and offers a number of sports bursaries for students with international potential.
The £35m Newport City Campus opened in 2011 and won an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects for its striking design. It is at the heart of Newport’s new Cultural Quarter, designed to attract inward investment and strengthen the local economy.
Newport was rated the top university in Wales for enterprise education by the Knowledge Exploitation Fund for three years in a row, helping more than 70 new start-up businesses. The Newport campus is also well-known for photography and film, hosting the International Film School Wales, whose graduates include double-BAFTA winner Asif Kapadia, and Justin Kerrigan, director of the cult movie Human Traffic.
The Caerleon Campus, a few miles from Newport, currently caters for humanities, education, health and social sciences and photography. There is a student village of 661 self-catered study bedrooms and a well-equipped sports centre.
The city of Newport is undergoing a £2bn regeneration programme and has plenty of clubs and entertainment venues, but students in search of serious cultural or clubbing activity head for Cardiff.
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Detailed Statistics
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE
CATEGORY
SCORE
RANK
Ranking
-
114 (n/a)
Student experience
77
117th
Research quality
3.7
76th=
Ucas entry points
322
74th=
Graduate prospects
55.4
108th
Firsts and 2:1s
59.9
96th
Completion rate
80.8
100th=
Student-staff ratio
21.6:1
111th=
Services/facilities spend (£)
1,313
92nd
VITAL STATISTICS
Undergraduates
(Full-time)
15,835
Undergraduates
(Part-time)
8,665
Postgraduates
(Full-time)
2,475
Postgraduates
(Part-time)
3,145
Applications/places
18,205/4,555
Applications/places ratio
4:1
STUDENT CITIES
Carys Thomas, students’ union president
Daunting and new, but dive into everything and it will transform you from a high-school leaver into a get-up-and-go uni student.
It can be hard to balance seeing all your friends, working and having time to yourself.
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Cost of living
Nightlife
Transport
Culture
ACCOMMODATION
Places in accommodation
1867
Accommodation costs
£79-£160
Accommodation contact
FEES
UK/EU fees
£9,000
Fees (international)
£11,300
Finance website
Graduate salaries
£18,563
BURSARIES/SCHOLARSHIPS
>
£1,500 university accommodation discount (Treforest, Caerleon and Cardiff) for those paying full fees. Not available to those receiving Welsh Government tuition fee grant.
>
Flying Start scholarship of £750 and an iPad in year 1 for students with at least 320 UCAS points. Further general bursaries and scholarships to be announced.
SPORT
Sports points/rank
668.83, 48th
Sport website
Student satisfaction
88.6%
85.5%
84.1%
82.4%
82.2%
81.4%
81.1%
80.3%
78.9%
78.8%
77.5%
76.9%
76.7%
75.5%
75.2%
74.0%
69.3%
67.3%
56.8%
52.4%