Set in a leafy 600 acres near Stoke-on-Trent, the university’s campus, known as the “Keele bubble", is home to a lively students’ union and offers a self-contained sense of security — and community.

Founded in 1949 as Britain was recovering from the Second World War, Keele University championed the then radical principles of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary scholarship, including dual honours, and it has also embraced degree apprenticeships.

A medium-sized institution with about 9,000 undergraduates, Keele continues to fly the flag for a broad-based higher education with its Global Challenge Pathways, introduced in 2022. These elective study options can be taken alongside a core degree and undergraduates engage with debates in issues such as social justice, sustainability, digital futures and global health.

What is Keele University’s reputation? 

Keele is comfortably in the upper half of our research quality index, based on outcomes of the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). Eighty per cent of the work it submitted was rated world-leading or internationally excellent. Some of the best results were in allied health; dentistry; agriculture; communication and media studies; archaeology; and general engineering. 

The university’s veterinary school, a joint venture between Keele and Harper Adams universities, is in its fifth year. 

The university was rated gold overall in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), repeating its success in the previous assessment six years earlier, underpinned by gold for the student experience and silver for student outcomes. The TEF panel praised Keele for its “supportive learning environment, where students have access to a wide and readily available range of outstanding quality academic support tailored to their needs”.

A former winner of our University of the Year for Student Experience, rates of student satisfaction tumbled at Keele during the Covid pandemic. However, results of the National Student Survey analysis show signs that the university is getting back on track, and it ranks 93rd for teaching quality (up from joint 104th in the previous edition) and 70th for the wider experience (a 20-place improvement).

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

Meanwhile, degrees in liberal arts and accounting are two of eight programmes ending in 2024 and 2025.

A degree apprenticeship in social work is a new addition from 2024. More are set to join the portfolio in 2025-26.

What are Keele University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?

Standard offers start at BBC, rising to A*AA. The university has broadened the eligibility criteria for its contextual offer scheme, which undercut the standard requirements for qualifying students on the majority of courses. Nearly a quarter (24.5 per cent) of new entrants in 2023 gained their places through clearing.

What are the graduate prospects?

Keele has jumped two places in our graduate prospects table and remains in the top 50 (47=), based on the proportion of leavers in highly skilled jobs or further study 15 months on. Companies based at the science park on campus recruit Keele students for placements and graduate roles.

What is Keele University’s campus like?

The largest campus in the country offers all the amenities of a small town — shops, a bank, a health centre and a pharmacy along with bars and restaurants — and even a 150-room Marriott hotel. The university’s low carbon energy generation park became fully operational in 2021. Featuring two wind turbines, 12,500 solar panels and an industrial-sized battery to store the generated energy, up to 50 per cent of the campus’ electricity requirements come from renewable sources.

Sir David Attenborough opened the life sciences laboratories and, elsewhere, the Keele Business School has a big-data laboratory and a business incubator. The £34 million Central Science Laboratory brings together practical teaching across a range of disciplines. 

Keele’s popular health programmes are based on campus as well as at sites including University Hospitals of North Midlands — one of the largest acute hospitals in the country.

Keele’s latest business facility, Innovation Centre 7, has opened. It focuses on digital technologies, and brings small to medium-sized enterprises together with Keele academics and a talent pipeline of students. A new mixed-use facility, Keele In Town, in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme is due to open during the 2024-25 academic year. Next on the horizon is a new Institute of Technology located in Stafford.

Everything you need to know about Keele University’s student life and wellbeing support

An active students’ union and more than 200 clubs and societies contribute to the social scene. Sports facilities are all on campus and include a 3G pitch; four tennis courts; a bouldering wall; two sports halls; a 55-station gym and 11 grass pitches. Picnics at Keele Hall, the campus’ own stately home, make for bucolic summer days. Off campus, Newcastle-under-Lyme is the main student hub.

Opportunities to discuss the benefits that good nutrition, exercise and connecting with others have on anxiety and mood are part of Keele’s “whole community” approach to supporting students’ mental health. The university has made efforts to link up its services to better help students, creating a Student Inclusion and Accessibility department to join the disability and dyslexia services with the counselling and mental health team. A 24/7 student assistance programme provides another source of help, as do out-of-hours officers within halls of residence. 

What do the students say?

“From the moment you arrive on Keele campus until the moment you leave, you become part of a close-knit community where you can pursue new opportunities and be your authentic self. There are unlimited opportunities to get involved — whether that’s academically or as part of an extracurricular activity. There is a dynamic range of assessments and interactive tasks; it’s never just lectures and PowerPoints on loop.”
Jade Cioffi, Keele students’ union development and democracy officer, and a politics and sociology graduate

What about student accommodation at Keele University?

First-years who apply by the end of June deadline are guaranteed a place in halls of residence on campus.

How diverse and inclusive is Keele University? 

Keele outperforms many other pre-1992 universities in our social inclusion index, where it places well inside the upper half of UK universities at 53rd. It is 20th for recruitment of students from deprived areas.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Keele University

Undergraduates may be eligible for up to £1,500 to support their academic and non-academic student experience designed to provide holistic support, allowing students to plan for payments such as a gym membership or subscriptions to music and film streaming services, or to fund travel or accommodation for a summer internship, or a laptop. 

Care leavers and those estranged from their families qualify for £1,000 per year, plus a £500 graduation bonus. There is a range of small school-based academic awards and prizes, as well as externally sponsored scholarships that change each year. Keele pays half of the £350 cost of diagnostic assessments through its disability support team.