More than £100 million of investment at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) is improving its facilities for hands-on teaching and learning. The flagship Dove development, named after the women’s rights campaigner and founder of Wycombe Abbey Dame Frances Dove, hosts simulated environments for practical tuition, including an X-ray room for radiography support and an A&E set-up with an ambulance bay. A new engineering school has launched courses designed to meet skills needs and BNU is growing its stable of degree apprenticeships by adding programmes for civil engineers, psychological wellbeing practitioners and machine learning engineers from 2025.
What is Buckinghamshire New University’s reputation?
Originally founded as the School of Science and Art in 1891, BNU gained university status in 2007. The institution climbed five places in our research quality rankings to 118th following the results of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), with some of the best performances from art and design, history of art, geology, and sports sciences. Overall, 44 per cent of BNU research was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent.
The university achieved triple silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), for student experience, student outcomes and its overall assessment. The panel commended BNU for its “effective practice-based teaching approach using industry-standard resources and environments to support learning”. For example, students on film and television degree courses are taught on location at the nearby Pinewood Studios; those taking travel and aviation courses have the chance to study for a pilot’s licence; and BNU has worked with Thames Valley police for more than 15 years to deliver policing programmes including a BA in police studies with criminal investigation, a police constable degree apprenticeship and a new pre-join professional policing programme.
BNU has enjoyed upbeat rates of student satisfaction with teaching quality ranked 8th and the wider undergraduate experience up 31 places to 15= in our latest National Student Survey analysis.
A new vice-chancellor, Professor Damien Page, joined in 2025. Once, BNU had the most students on franchised courses in the country, but it has been reducing its partnership agreements with other colleges recently. This follows a 2024 report by the Office for Students (OfS) raising concerns about business and management courses at BNU. The findings of the investigation were at odds with outcomes of TEF 2023 and the National Student Survey 2023. BNU’s business and management courses ranked 99th out of the 119 universities listed in the subject area’s dedicated table.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
BNU is shaking up its course provision. From September 2025 closing degrees include: textile design, aviation management for professionals, security and resilience management, business and human resource management, engineering design, psychological studies, sport and exercise psychology, criminology (part time), psychology and criminology, sports coaching with community health and physical activity, sports coaching with business, and criminology and forensic studies.
Degrees in computer science (blended), and mechanical engineering are launching, along with a degree apprenticeship in civil engineering.
What are Buckinghamshire New University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
With a strong commitment to widen participation, BNU makes contextual offers to students whose circumstances meet the criteria. Entry requirements start at 88 Ucas tariff points, rising to 144. About 3,000 students enrolled in 2024, more than a fifth of them through clearing. There is a large population of mature students aged over 35 (nearly a third of entrants in 2024).
What are the graduate prospects?
Despite its proactive industry links and practical slant to courses, BNU remains in the bottom 30 in our analysis of the Graduate Outcomes survey (105=) with 69 per cent of leavers finding highly skilled work or returning to study within 15 months of graduating.
What is Buckinghamshire New University’s campus like?
The main High Wycombe campus’s Gateway Building is a focal point in the town. As well as new healthcare facilities and the Dove building is the historic Brunel Engine Shed, opposite the railway station, which is being converted into a community space and public art gallery. A second base in Uxbridge, west London, hosts most of BNU’s healthcare students, and a third (the newest) in Aylesbury, is home to nursing, business, law and apprenticeship courses.
When can I visit?
bucks.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about Buckinghamshire New University’s student life and wellbeing support
BNU funds free sports and recreational activities through the students’ union’s Big Deal programme. Facilities include one of only five swimming performance centres approved by Swim England, and the Human Performance, Exercise and Wellbeing Centre has a three-lane running track with 3D motion-capture technology as well as sports injury and physiotherapy clinics.
Students can self-refer to the counselling service to access integrative or cognitive therapy, mental health advisory sessions, and psychoeducational groups.
What do the students say?
“The Big Deal, run by the students’ union, gave me free access to skills development events, socials and sports activities. Joining the Leadership Academy boosted my confidence, communication and problem-solving skills.”
Jean Marc Amagoua, BA sports business management and students’ union president
What about student accommodation at Buckinghamshire New University?
Most BNU students live at home, allowing the university to guarantee a space for all first-years who want a room in one of the three halls of residence. There are nearly 1,000 bedrooms and almost half cost the minimum rate of £99 a week.
How diverse and inclusive is Buckinghamshire New University?
BNU performs well in our social inclusion table but it has seen a dip in the past year, down 16 places to 37th. The university has the fifth-highest proportion of mature students at 79.9 per cent.
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Buckinghamshire New University
More than 10 per cent of entrants received an award this autumn. These include the Thrive Bursary, worth up to £500 a year for those from low-income households, and the £1,100-a-year bursary for gypsy, traveller, Roma, showmen and boaters — a rarity in higher education and offered with the guarantee of accommodation and support from a mentor.
