Designed to be a “campus community within a building”, the Belfast site has space for more than 15,500 staff and students (equivalent to the population of Armagh) within its teaching, learning, research and operational facilities, all digitally smart and socially connected. A student-run restaurant and training kitchens feature among the latest openings at the Belfast campus, which cost nearly £400 million and is one of the biggest university capital investments in Europe. 

Ulster welcomed its first graduate entry medicine students in 2021 to the Magee campus in Londonderry. Run in partnership with St George’s, University of London, the four-year MBBS programme is open to graduates from science and non-science backgrounds and is intended to fulfil a shortfall of doctors in Northern Ireland. Specialist facilities for the new medical school have been added. They join provision for other health-related courses at Magee, including a nursing and paramedic skills suite. The School of Health Science has relocated its undergraduate programmes to Magee from Jordanstown — bringing 800 students — and Ulster has readied the path with dedicated teaching, learning and social spaces for the new arrivals.

Ulster was shortlisted for our University of the Year award last year, on the strength especially of its improved rates of student satisfaction, which held up better than most under the pandemic’s challenging conditions. Last year’s positive reviews by its students were not a flash in the pan. In our analysis of the latest National Student Survey, published in summer 2022, Ulster has entered the top 25 for teaching quality (up four places) and retained a top 25 position for the wider experience too, even after losing four places on this measure.  

Helping to drive these high rates of student satisfaction is Ulster’s history of blended learning, the university having included online recordings within every module of its courses for more than 20 years. While an in-person teaching model is the prevalent method, the curriculum is continuing to be informed by relevant and engaging digital content that helps everyone to make the best of use of face-to-face time. 

More than three-quarters of Ulster graduates were in high-skilled work or further study 15 months after finishing their degrees, according to the Graduate Outcomes survey, which positions the university comfortably in the upper half of UK universities.  

Ulster’s degree programmes often feature a work-based learning component. More than 2,000 students annually undertake a professional practice placement or a placement year, and employers are actively engaged in the design and delivery of many courses. The Go Global scheme offers students the chance to study, work or volunteer abroad during their time at Ulster. A Global Mobility team and Study Abroad Tutor network can help to match students to vacancies and academic opportunities abroad.

Thirteen degree apprenticeship programmes are offered within areas such as business technology; computing systems; and accounting and finance. The university expects to have about 600 student apprentices enrolled by September 2023. 

Building on Northern Ireland’s emergence as a leading film and television centre, Ulster opened a £6.5 million media centre in Coleraine on the Atlantic coast five years ago. A recent expansion has added a cinema screening room, virtual production studio with LED screen, green room and edit suite. It has a BBC television studio at its heart, with a multimedia newsroom and editing suites. Courses in the environment, hospitality and communication are also based at the Coleraine campus.

Eighty-seven per cent of Ulster’s research submitted to the 2021 Research Excellence Framework was judged to be either world-leading or internationally excellent, with some of the best results in allied health subjects. Connected by the themes of social renewal, sustainability, healthy communities, and creativity and culture, 97 per cent of the university’s research was assessed as having “outstanding” or “very considerable impacts” in terms of its reach and significance. 

Almost all the undergraduates are from state schools, but the university does not feature in our social inclusion ranking because the education system in Northern Ireland is radically different from the rest of the UK, with selective grammar schools making up a significant proportion of state secondary schools. Our ranking measures recruitment from nonselective state schools, a figure that is unduly depressed at Ulster and Queen’s, Belfast.

The High Performance Sports Centre, which houses the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, has cameras installed in the sports hall and three outdoor pitches, enabling performance analysis and live-streamed matches. Jordanstown’s outdoor and indoor sprint tracks, sports science and sports medicine facilities remain available to students. The Coleraine and Magee campuses also have sports facilities, and the Belfast site is opening a new gym and studio.

A place in one of the university’s 2,445 rooms in university accommodation is guaranteed for all first-year students who apply by the August 14 deadline. Social scenes vary by campus location, but rumour has it that smaller Coleraine can keep pace with the nightlife of Derry and Belfast.