Good University Guide 2023

Middlesex University

National rank

115
th=
72.6
%
Firsts / 2:1s
76
%
Completion rate

Key stats

91
st
Teaching quality
83
rd=
Student experience
82
nd=
Research quality
67
th
Graduate prospects
Middlesex University

Contact details

Address

The Burroughs, Hendon, London , NW4 4BT,

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Telephone

Website

Middlesex is adopting a pioneering approach to mental health, making it “foundational” to all aspects of university life. By 2023 the university aims to be the first to incorporate University UK’s Stepchange programme into all operations for its 44,000 students — most at its main campus in Hendon, northwest London, and the rest at satellite campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The programme encourages self-belief and open discussion of mental health issues.  

The university is moving towards an inclusive curriculum that is co-led, co-designed and co-created with students — a move likely to boost its scores further in the National Student Survey. Our analysis of the latest outcomes, published in summer 2022, show year-on-year improvements in student satisfaction, especially for teaching quality (up 19 places to 91st). 

The biggest factor in its eight-place rise in our main academic league table is improving graduate outcomes. A rise of 13 percentage points in the proportion of students going on to highly skilled jobs or further study within 15 months has helped Middlesex to vault 54 places up our graduate employment index into 67th place. A branch of the recruitment service Unitemps is located on campus.

Applications dropped by almost 9 per cent in the latest admissions round, following a similar decline in 2021. As a popular destination for European students for many years, the university blames Brexit, but is also feeling the effects of a revised curriculum aimed at better-prepared students.

The main campus has benefited from £200 million of recent investment, including the consolidation of library services and two new academic buildings at the business school. Although the university’s campus in Malta closes in September 2022, a Dubai outpost has opened for 4,500 students and there are 1,000 studying through Middlesex in Mauritius. A global strategy for the period up to 2031 aims to improve health and wellbeing and reduce inequality, use culture and creativity to enrich the lives of individuals and communities and help to protect the environment. 

Middlesex has invested heavily in technology to facilitate its “learning through doing” approach, delivering practical courses with personalised support. The £24 million Stone X Stadium in Hendon, opening in September 2022, will provide access to virtual and augmented reality technology. It will house purpose-built facilities for the London Sport Institute, in partnership with Saracens Rugby Club, whose grounds will house the latest technology for motion capture, force sensing plates and full-body scanning. 

New facilities for the natural sciences on the main campus will include diagnostic suites and laboratories, while nursing and midwifery students will have new clinical skills facilities including wards, consulting rooms, birthing and sensory rooms, and skills labs to develop the confidence they need to practise safely during clinical placements. Middlesex led a project to develop an electronic practice assessment document (ePAD), introduced in nursing courses across London in 2021.

The university offers 14 apprenticeship programmes, with 1,800 students training for careers from broadcast and media engineer, sports coach and social worker to environmental health practitioner, police constable or risk and safety management professional. It expects to add 1,000 places by 2023.

Almost all British students at Middlesex are from non-selective state schools and the university has climbed six places to 21st in our overall social inclusion index. Nearly three-quarters are from black, Asian or ethnic minority backgrounds and more than half are the first in their family to go to university. A contextual admissions policy — taken up by about 3 per cent of students in its year of introduction in 2021 — provides offers on average one grade lower than standard requirements for candidates facing the greatest barriers to study at Middlesex. The university offers a variety of schemes for students from low-income backgrounds, including a Summer Support Fund for those who need money urgently to cover living costs, and technology costs for online learning over the long vacation. 

Middlesex submitted work in a dozen subject areas to the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), a broader range than the previous assessment in 2014. Business and management was the strongest area in the university's submission. But although REF 2021 recorded  improvement, rival institutions did even better and the university has slipped more than 20 places down our research quality ranking to 88=. 

The university has 1,140 residential places on or close to campus, including 630 in a privately run development near Wembley Stadium. New entrants are guaranteed accommodation if they meet the summer deadline for applications.

Sports facilities are extensive and most are conveniently located. They include a bouldering wall and fitness pod and a real tennis court, although the latter is scheduled to close in four years’ time because student usage is considered too low to justify the space it occupies. The West End and central London’s many attractions are a Tube journey away.

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Performance

Category Score Rank
Ranking - 115= (123)
Teaching quality 73.5 91st
Student experience 70.2 83rd=
Research quality 30.4 82nd=
Ucas entry points 107 119th=
Graduate prospects 72.7 67th
Firsts and 2:1s 72.6 102nd
Completion rate 76 123rd
Student-staff ratio 17.1 79th=
World ranking - 751= (701=)

Vital statistics

Undergraduates

Full-time

14,172

Part-time

834

Postgraduates

Full-time

2,444

Part-time

2,707

Applications/places 18,805/3,275
Applications/places ratio 5.7:1
Overall offer rate 66.3%

Accommodation

Places in accommodation 1,140
Accommodation costs £156 - £196
Accommodation contact https://www.mdx.ac.uk/student-life/accommodation

Finance

UK/EU fees £9,250
Fees (placement year) £0
Fees (overseas year) £1,385
Fees (international) £14,700
Finance website https://www.mdx.ac.uk/study-with-us/fees-and-funding
Graduate salaries £24,907

Sport

Sport points/rank 77, 103rd
Sport website https://www.mdx.ac.uk/student-life/sport-and-fitness

Social inclusion and student mix

Social Inclusion Ranking 21
State schools (non-grammar) admissions 97.8%
Grammar school admissions 0.6%
Independent school admissions 1.6%
Ethnic minority students (all) 73.5%
Black achievement gap -10%
White working class males 2.5%
First generation students 57.1%
Low participation areas 4.5%
Working class dropout gap 1.9%
Mature 46.2%
EU students 10.2%
Other overseas students 11.5%

Student satisfaction with teaching quality

Music 82.7%
Sports science 81.2%
Art and design 80.8%
Information systems and management 76.4%
Communication and media studies 76.1%
Computer science 75.7%
Education 74.8%
Nursing 74.5%
Business, management and marketing 73%
Hospitality, leisure, recreation and tourism 72.9%
Accounting and finance 72.2%
Drama, dance and cinematics 71%
Economics 70.5%
Subjects allied to medicine 70.3%
Sociology 70%
Criminology 69.4%
Biological sciences 69.2%
Social work 69.2%
Law 65.6%
Psychology 64%
Animal science 56.4%