Another recent improvement is the Yard — a £5.5 million four-storey extension to the learning space for the Faculty of Business and Law. The wing adds to the same faculty’s teaching space in the regenerated Great Hall of Leicester Castle Business School.

The pandemic spurred a large-scale overhaul of audio-visual equipment, enabling DMU to transform almost all of its classrooms and laboratories to be hybrid learning spaces whereby students can either attend in person or dial in remotely. In another development, students from September 2022 are the first to experience DMU’s Education 2030 programme, which introduces flexible block learning. The new curricular structure means modules will be delivered in 30-credit blocks run one after the other, allowing students to study and be assessed on one subject at a time.

The university intends the system to benefit students by allowing them to focus their learning, access tutor time efficiently, receive regular assessment feedback and achieve better grades. The system has been shown to improve outcomes for widening participation students in particular, DMU has found. Employability and entrepreneurial activity have been integrated into the curriculum, alongside sustainability.

The review of teaching and learning patterns may help DMU improve its rates of student satisfaction, as expressed in the National Student Survey (NSS). These have tumbled in recent years and contribute to the university dropping down our league table — having ranked as high as 53rd seven years ago. In our analysis of the latest NSS results, DMU has improved to 115th for satisfaction with teaching quality and 110th for the wider undergraduate experience. 

DMU scored much better in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), where it holds a gold rating — the highest standard. The TEF panel commended “optimum” levels of contact time between students and staff and “outstanding” support for learning.

In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) more than 60 per cent of De Montfort’s research was judged as world-leading or internationally excellent (the top two categories). The university entered the largest number of academics yet and featured more research carried out by women and ethnic minority academics than it has before. Land and property management produced the best results, followed by building, and town and country planning. 

However, DMU has fallen 29 places in our research rankings to 96th place against greater improvements across the sector. Good performance in research used to be one of DMU’s strongest contributors to its overall academic ranking.

All DMU students are guaranteed work experience. Opportunities include virtual and in-person placements, internships and mentoring with organisations including Disney, Asos, HSBC, KPMG, L’Oréal, Microsoft and the NHS. Some courses offer the chance to take part in industry showcases, such as engineering’s Formula Student competition at Silverstone motor racing circuit and Graduate Fashion Week. Under the university’s #DMUglobal banner students can spend a summer or a year abroad or learn new languages on campus. 

Graduate outcomes have improved slightly, year-on-year, according to our analysis of the proportion of students who find highly skilled work or return to study within 15 months of finishing their degree. DMU now ranks 89th on our measure for graduate prospects. 

More than half of students are from black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds at DMU, which won our first University of the Year for Social Inclusion award for 2019. Just under half of students are from families where neither parent went to university and the university remains in the top 40 overall (35th) in our social inclusion ranking for the fifth successive year.

Higher and degree apprenticeships are a growing area for DMU, which offers 13 programmes — up from 11 in 2021 — and has another six in development. Nursing, operations department managing, hearing aid dispensing, police constable, and cybersecurity technical professional are among the options already available, while chartered surveying, creative digital design professional, and data scientist will be new additions to the portfolio for those considering a degree apprenticeship. 

Applications fell by about 8 per cent in 2021, although new student numbers rose somewhat. Nine degrees have been introduced for the 2022-23 academic year, such as music production, business economics, and photography. From 2023-24 another two begin: accounting and finance, and accounting with business management. 

Buses are provided to Beaumont Park, DMU’s outdoor sports facilities which have had a £3.4 million upgrade. Here, students have access to new 3G pitches for football, rugby, American football and lacrosse and a modern clubhouse. Excellent on-campus facilities include a swimming pool, sports hall, fitness suite and dance studio. DMU’s sports clubs and societies have classroom space at Upperton Road, ten minutes from the campus, where an interactive fitness room is among the resources. 

Your DMU, the university’s pre-induction programme, contains guidance on initiatives such as No Space for Hate and the Mandala Project, which provides help for students who have experienced sexual violence, domestic abuse and sexual harassment. The university advises students to view the content before they start at university. 

Students like Leicester’s size — not too big, not too small — and affordable private-sector rents. There are more than 2,400 spaces in halls of residence and in previous years all those who wanted to live in were able to claim a place if they met application deadlines.