At the edge of the sand — with its own seafront promenade — Swansea’s £450 million Bay campus marks the eastern end of the five-mile sweep of Swansea Bay. Singleton Park, the main campus, established in 1920, is at the other end. Our Runner-Up Welsh University of the Year 2026 is only nine places behind Cardiff, although the gap has widened by four places in a year. The university’s three faculties — medicine, health anCardiff was 32nd last year, Swansea 37th (same as this year).d life sciences; humanities and social sciences; and science and engineering — maintain strong links with industry. Partners include Tata Steel, which is a research collaborator and graduate employer for the university, and Fujitsu, which has an education innovation hub on the Bay campus. Modern facilities opened in 2015 at the Bay campus, and the original Singleton base has added extra spaces where students can chill out. The lively social scene in Wales’s second-biggest city includes the popular pubs and bars of Wind Street (learning to pronounce it correctly — "Wine Street" — is lesson No 1 for first-years). No wonder the university is equally popular with students from either side of the Severn Bridge.
What is Swansea University’s reputation?
In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), 86 per cent of the university’s work was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, with some of the best results produced by medicine and life science subjects, mathematics and geography (45th). Swansea is on the march in the global rankings. Since 2021 it has advanced 183 places, reaching 292nd in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
Rates of student satisfaction are on the way up, too. In our analysis of the latest National Student Survey the university ranks 56= for satisfaction with teaching quality (up 20 places) and 32= (up 32 places) for positive feedback on the wider undergraduate experience.
Swansea has already reduced staff costs through a voluntary redundancy scheme and in February 2025 it announced plans to cut a further £30 million from its budget.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
New courses in 2025 offer a degree pathway with and without a foundation year in applied medical science; medical pharmacology; microbiology and immunology; and population health and medical sciences. There are also four new degrees with a year abroad (psychology; criminology and psychology; education and psychology; and sociology and psychology) and astrophysics with a foundation year. The university has no courses earmarked for closure.
What are Swansea University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
Entry requirements range from AAB to CCC at A-level. Under Swansea’s guaranteed offer policy, there is flexibility on grades for applicants who have firmly accepted a conditional offer.
What are the graduate prospects?
Swansea ranks 35= for graduate prospects with more than four in five graduates (81 per cent) employed in high-skilled jobs or further study 15 months after earning their degree. The Swansea Employability Academy helps students to secure paid internships and co-ordinates programmes for career development. Entrepreneurship is encouraged and Swansea’s Enterprise team provides opportunities for students to put their ideas into action through business bootcamps, start-up competitions, placements, mentorship and research projects. Swansea also offers many of its degrees as four-year courses with a year spent in industry or abroad.
What is Swansea University campus like?
The 65-acre Bay campus doubled the size of the university. It has accommodation for 2,000 — with direct access to the beach — and hosts the £32.5 million Computational Foundry, as well as the School of Management and the Great Hall.
Research facilities are being developed all the time and Swansea is proud of creating an inspiring and imaginative environment for centres of excellence across Stem subjects and the humanities. The university hosts the Morgan Advanced Studies Institute, which opened in 2021, to promote transformative interdisciplinary research.
A 20-minute bus trip takes students to the Singleton Park campus, where King George V laid the university's foundation stone. It has facilities for social sciences; health and social care; medicine; geography; and physics, and is the base for the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, which has a courtroom and law clinic.
When can I visit?
swansea.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about Swansea University’s student life and wellbeing support
The £20 million Sports Park, beside the original Singleton Park campus, has an indoor athletics and hockey centre as well as an outdoor athletics track, grass and all-weather pitches, tennis courts and gym. In addition, there are 50m and 25m swimming pools at the Wales National Pool on site. A new floodlit World Rugby and Fifa-quality 3G pitch joins a sports hall, a gym and outdoor multi-use areas. Swansea has links with the Scarlets professional rugby team, and the Ospreys. Its own university teams compete successfully in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs), where Swansea ranks 26th in the latest overall points table.
Welfare services include the SafeZone app, which gives students immediate access to the security team. Residence Life co-ordinators and faculty-based student experience officers are also on hand to ease the transition to student life. The wellbeing and disability service offers cognitive behavioural therapy and emotional freedom techniques, and a 24/7 digital mental health service with trained clinicians. Students diagnosed with autism can access specialist assistance.
The Cove nightclub is a recent addition to the Singleton Park campus and the Mumbles seaside resort is nearby, famed for its mile of pubs. While the local beaches are lovely, the Gower Peninsula, further west, has some of the UK’s finest.
What do the students say?
“Being metres from the beach, while on a state-of-the-art campus, keeps me productive and engaged with my work, but offers an unparalleled way to unwind. My experience has been enriched by lectures from renowned academics and opportunities to undertake lab and engineering work.”
Tom Richards, materials science and engineering student
What about student accommodation at Swansea University?
The university has more than 4,200 residential spaces — enough to guarantee accommodation to all first-years who apply by the deadline.
How diverse and inclusive is Swansea University?
The university is in 75th place overall in our social inclusion index for England and Wales. It is not among the most diverse universities, although the proportion of students from ethnic minorities has risen from 17 per cent (82nd) to 23 per cent (70th) in a year. However, the degree awarding gap between black and white students (-18 per cent) ranks Swansea 35th. More than 92 per cent of students went to non-selective state schools (55=).
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Swansea University
Swansea scholarships reward academic, musical and sporting merit and are not means-tested. Excellence Scholarships of £3,000 are paid over three years and are awarded automatically to all UK students who achieve AAA at A-level, or equivalent results. Merit scholarships of £2,000 are awarded to entrants with AAB grades, or equivalent. Students studying in the Welsh language also qualify for funding.
