With seven education institutions and a student population of about 70,000, Leeds is well geared for undergraduate life, but Leeds Trinity aims to be where you’re “a name, not a number”. The new academic year is bringing more than a fresh intake of students to Leeds Trinity — a second campus in the city centre at Trevelyan Square, near the train station. It marks a significant development for the university, which for more than 50 years has occupied a single site in Horsforth, six miles northwest of Leeds.
The university was the first in Yorkshire to receive the Race Equality Charter bronze award in recognition of its work to improve representation, progression and success of black, Asian and minority ethnic students.
What is Leeds Trinity University’s reputation?
The university has its roots in two Catholic teacher-training colleges established in the 1960s, and teacher training remains the university’s strongest suit even as the curriculum is changing shape. It was theology that produced the best results for the university in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). Sport and exercise sciences and leisure and tourism also fared well. Leeds Trinity research takes 122nd place in our research quality rankings.
Rated triple silver in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023) — overall and for both student experience and student outcomes — Leeds Trinity drew praise for its “content and delivery that effectively encourage students to engage in their learning, and stretch them to develop their knowledge and skills”. Rates of continuation and completion for students and courses were found to be a “very high quality feature” and the university was found to provide “effective support of students to succeed in and progress beyond their studies”.
Since the time of the TEF assessment, however, rates of student satisfaction have nose-dived, with our analysis of the National Student Survey 2024 ranking Leeds Trinity 85th for teaching quality and 108th for the wider experience — down 61 places and 90 places respectively and at odds with the university’s selling point of offering a personalised approach to study thanks to its relatively small size.
The university is subject to an investigation by the Office for Students (OfS), England’s higher education regulator, into its franchised course provision. Early in 2024 the OfS said in a statement that “potential concerns” had been identified at the institution that “require further scrutiny”, in relation to whether courses delivered by Leeds Trinity’s subcontracted partners are high quality. At the time of writing no outcomes had been published. The university’s portfolio of nine degree apprenticeships include a police constable programme run in partnership with the West Yorkshire force.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
Courses ending from September 2024 are: psychology with criminology; psychology with sociology; international business; sociology; and sports coaching. And from next year accounting and business, and television production will finish.
Recent launches include computer science with artificial intelligence; computer science with games development; computer science with cybersecurity; broadcast and digital journalism; and policing and investigation. From September 2025 the university is launching degrees in building surveying, and digital media production. Nursing (child) has a January 2026 start date.
What are Leeds Trinity University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?Degrees demand from 96-144 Ucas tariff points. Students who are eligible for a contextual offer may have their entry requirements undercut by up to two A-level grades. The number of students accepted on to courses have returned to pre-Covid levels and are more than double that of a decade before. Thirty per cent entered through clearing.
What are the graduate prospects?
The majority of degrees include professional work placements, and volunteering at home or abroad is also credited. The university jumped eight places to be ranked 87= this year based on the proportion in highly skilled work or postgraduate study 15 months on from finishing a degree course.
What is Leeds Trinity University’s campus like?
At the main campus, in Horsforth, a new Health and Life Sciences building has opened, joining other developments such as psychology-teaching facilities and a 3G football pitch. Fitness and sports therapy suites and a motion-capture analysis lab for use by students on sport and media courses are also among its facilities. The city campus includes a trading room, boardroom and business engagement centre, a law court and custody suite, specialist labs for computer science, and construction and built-environment courses.
Everything you need to know about Leeds Trinity University's student life and wellbeing support
The university’s Media Centre is its main hub of cultural and creative life on campus. Sport facilities at Horsforth include a spin studio and two floors of gym equipment, free weights and a training rig. Outdoors there are 3G and grass pitches, an athletics track and hard courts for netball and tennis.
An in-house mental health and wellbeing service has a dedicated space on campus and provides assessments and further therapeutic treatment as necessary. A wide range of supports are provided, such as eye movement desensitisation reprogramming, webinars on relaxation, and placement worry workshops. The myLTU app signposts support services and allows students to book appointments.
What do the students say?
“Leeds Trinity is filled with opportunities to create lifelong friendships through clubs and society communities and student halls. The new City campus will place our students at the heart of Leeds while keeping the close-knit feel that Horsforth offers, giving students the best of both worlds.”
Caitlin Fieldhouse, Leeds Trinity students’ union vice-president, and a forensic psychology graduate
What about student accommodation at Leeds Trinity University?
Halls of residence on the Horsforth campus have space for about all students who apply by the Ucas deadline date, though Leeds Trinity stops short of making an accommodation guarantee. The majority of students live at home and commute to university.
How diverse and inclusive is Leeds Trinity university?
Students with no family history of university make up 57.9 per cent of undergraduates and Leeds Trinity is 14th overall in our social inclusion index. Initiatives to widen participation include foundation years, pre-16 support and, for local Year 12 students, taster days and a summer school; most successful course graduates enrol the following year.
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Leeds Trinity university
Students entering with AAB or the equivalent qualify for £1,000 academic achievement awards in their first year. The Leeds Trinity Bursary (£500) is awarded to students from low-income backgrounds in the second year of their undergraduate degree. The university also extends financial support to students who have been in care or are estranged from their families. Students who take a two-year foundation degree course may be eligible for a tuition fee reduction if they progress to a top-up course.
There are up to five sanctuary scholarships per year, providing scholars with a full tuition fee waiver for the duration of their undergraduate course.
