Good University Guide 2023

University of Brighton

National rank

98
th=
72.2
%
Firsts / 2:1s
83.9
%
Completion rate

Key stats

111
th
Teaching quality
125
th
Student experience
55
th
Research quality
64
th
Graduate prospects
University of Brighton

Contact details

Address

Mithras House, Lewes Road, Brighton , BN2 4AT,

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Telephone

The four-year Big Build at Brighton comes to an end with the opening of a pedestrian bridge in September 2022 to connect parts of the busy Moulsecoomb campus. The transformation of the campus — the base for the schools of applied sciences, business and law, and architecture — includes landmark design features. 

New accommodation blocks for 800 students are shaped to reflect the undulating South Downs while the façade of Elm House, the new base for business and law, has geometric tiles that will catch the light and suggest movement, inspired by the murmuration of starlings along the Brighton seafront.

The Big Build has also added a students’ union venue, gym and fitness studios at Moulsecoomb. The campus development is a key element of a wider regeneration project in this part of Brighton, creating a bold contemporary gateway to the city.

By the start of the 2023 academic year Brighton plans to open a building at Moulsecoomb for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, which at present runs courses on the university’s City and Falmer campuses.

Brighton’s wide range of creative courses are based at the City campus on Grand Parade.

Falmer is a few miles outside the city, where students study sports science, English, criminology and nursing. The university plans to expand the site to bring together all courses under the School of Sport and Health Sciences. About 3,000 students in these subject areas are based at Eastbourne, along the coast, where there is a healthcare skills simulation suite, a modern library, sports facilities and student accommodation.

The Brighton and Sussex Medical School is run in a long-standing partnership with the University of Sussex, also based in Falmer. One of the first medical schools awarded to a post-1992 university, the school accepts 200 trainee doctors each year.

Expansion at Falmer will pave the way for Brighton to close the Eastbourne campus by September 2024, bringing all university activity within a more manageable radius. The move — and many new facilities — should bolster student satisfaction in future. Poor showings in the National Student Survey have contributed to Brighton’s loss of ground in our main academic league table in recent years but the university has retrieved 11 places for satisfaction with teaching quality (111th) in our analysis of the latest NSS results, published in summer 2022.

Our inaugural University of the Year in 1999, Brighton has also been penalised in the rankings by a dropout rate of 13.1 per cent, significantly higher than its expected level (9.6 per cent), based on its course and student profile.  

Results of the Graduate Outcomes survey, however, provide a more positive narrative. Brighton has held its own in the top 60 in the country for the past two years and is now just outside it in 64th place for graduate prospects. 

Work experience is built into all courses, ranging from short to long placements, assessed voluntary work and live project briefs. Step-Up, a paid internship and skills training programme introduced in 2020, places students with local employers for six weeks. 

The university also runs five mentoring programmes to help students to prepare for the workplace. The LGBT+ programme, run by Uni-Amex, links students with a mentor sharing their sexual or gender identity. Another, Men in Primary Education, aims to shift the gender imbalance in the sector and offer support. 

In the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2017, Brighton gained silver, winning praise for its close working relationships with professional bodies, employers and local community groups and its personalised learning and support, particularly for first-year students.

The university has improved its standing in our analysis of measures to increase social inclusion, rising 13 places year-on-year to 61st place. 

Applications leapt up by about 25 per cent in 2021 compared with the year before, halting three years of declining numbers, and enrolments increased by 10 per cent. Three new degree apprenticeships started in September 2022 — providing training for diagnostic radiographers, solicitors and accountants — adding to 19 programmes already on the books in fields as diverse as teaching, social work and podiatry. Diagnostic radiography is also offered as a degree course for the first time in 2022, alongside a suite of politics options including environmental politics, politics and social change, and politics, sexuality and gender. A degree course in aerospace engineering will accept its first students in 2023.

Brighton is one of the most successful post-1992 universities for research. It has maintained its position in the top half of UK universities, results from the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) showed. Brighton climbs 11 places to 55th in our research quality index, shining in hospitality and tourism, nursing, architecture and building.  

The university expects about a fifth of the student intake in 2023 to qualify for one of its bursaries. Payments of £500 a year are available for students from low-income households, rising to £1,000 per year for those who have left care or are estranged from their families. Merit-based scholarships are offered too, including awards for law students from low-income backgrounds and 30 for sport.

Student-friendly Brighton is a magnet for trendy bars and clubs and the seaside community is welcoming and diverse. Rooms are guaranteed to first-years who apply in time and are allocated on a random basis.

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Performance

Category Score Rank
Ranking - 98= (117)
Teaching quality 71.4 111th
Student experience 64.8 125th
Research quality 41.4 55th
Ucas entry points 111 112th=
Graduate prospects 73.6 64th
Firsts and 2:1s 72.2 106th=
Completion rate 83.9 77th
Student-staff ratio 17 76th=
World ranking - 801= (801=)

Vital statistics

Undergraduates

Full-time

12,976

Part-time

1,513

Postgraduates

Full-time

1,624

Part-time

1,671

Applications/places 31,100/4,550
Applications/places ratio 6.8:1
Overall offer rate 71%

Accommodation

Places in accommodation 3,026
Accommodation costs £83 - £218
Accommodation contact https://www.brighton.ac.uk/accommodation-and-locations/index.aspx

Finance

UK/EU fees £9,250
Fees (placement year) £1,370
Fees (overseas year) no fee
Fees (international) £13,842 - £17,892
Fees (international, medical) £39,150
Finance website https://www.brighton.ac.uk/studying-here/fees-and-finance/index.aspx
Graduate salaries £24,500

Sport

Sport points/rank 457, 62nd
Sport website http://sport.brighton.ac.uk

Social inclusion and student mix

Social Inclusion Ranking 61
State schools (non-grammar) admissions 90.1%
Grammar school admissions 4.9%
Independent school admissions 5%
Ethnic minority students (all) 22.3%
Black achievement gap -18%
White working class males 6.9%
First generation students 45.4%
Low participation areas 14.2%
Working class dropout gap -5.3%
Mature 29.2%
EU students 4.4%
Other overseas students 8.2%

Student satisfaction with teaching quality

Physiotherapy 88.6%
Economics 87%
Building 86.2%
Education 83.6%
History 82.3%
Geography and environmental science 82%
Chemistry 80.8%
Sports science 76.9%
English 76.6%
Civil engineering 76%
Geology 75.7%
Politics 75.7%
Linguistics 75.4%
Law 75%
Computer science 74%
Social work 73.6%
Aeronautical and manufacturing engineering 73.5%
Hospitality, leisure, recreation and tourism 73.4%
History of art, architecture and design 73.3%
Creative writing 72.9%
Electrical and electronic engineering 72.9%
Music 71.8%
Business, management and marketing 71%
Accounting and finance 69.9%
Art and design 69.7%
Communication and media studies 66.7%
Mechanical engineering 66.7%
Mathematics 66.4%
Nursing 65.5%
Psychology 65.1%
Criminology 64.6%
Sociology 64.6%
Social policy 64.1%
Subjects allied to medicine 62.5%
Biological sciences 61.7%
Pharmacology and pharmacy 61%
Drama, dance and cinematics 60.3%
Architecture 54.8%