Not too big, not too small: historic Chester is just the right size for most students, with cosy pubs and quirky bars among the cobbled streets. The university’s 32-acre Exton Park, the main hub of student life, is a ten-minute walk from the walled city centre. Here, the new School of Education is up and running and a practical forest school teaching area has been created for trainees. The developments are fitting for a university first established as a teacher training college in 1839, co-founded by William Gladstone, who served four times as prime minister and another four terms as chancellor of the exchequer. Teaching courses remain among Chester’s most popular courses, along with nursing and midwifery; business and management; and psychology; law; agriculture; and sociology.
Undergraduate options broaden from September 2025 to include 20 new single honours courses and nine joint honours programmes across a diverse subject range embracing performing arts; data science; French and history; and sociology with global affairs, politics and international relations.
What is the University of Chester’s reputation?
Theology, health subjects and sports and exercise science produced some of Chester’s best results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). Overall, 51 per cent of research was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent (compared with 31 per cent in REF 2014), while the number of staff who submitted research almost doubled. However, Chester slipped to 109th in our research quality index against even bigger gains at other universities.
Triple silver was the result in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), for student experience, outcomes and overall. Assessors commended Chester’s “course content and delivery that effectively encourages students to engage in their learning, and stretches them to develop their knowledge and skills”.
However, the TEF findings jar with Chester’s dip in student satisfaction. Six years ago the university ranked in the top 30 for satisfaction with teaching quality and the wider undergraduate experience, based on results from the National Student Survey (NSS). In our latest analysis, Chester has fallen 22 places to 101= for satisfaction with teaching quality and 19 places to 120th for their views of the wider experience.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
As well as Chester’s new single and joint honours courses, foundation years are being added to 24 degree programmes, offering a gateway to undergraduate study with fewer Ucas tariff points than required for direct entry to a degree course.
What are the University of Chester’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
For a foundation year, potential students typically need 72 Ucas tariff points, or 112-120 Ucas points for standard undergraduate degrees. Contextual offers may be considered. A-levels are not the only means of entry, as Chester accepts a wide range of equivalent qualifications and different entry points into higher education.
What are the graduate prospects?
The TEF panel praised the work of the university for “effectively raising the profile of graduates among employers, allowing students to develop industry links”. The university’s employment-focused Future Skills curriculum, introduced in 2025, is shaped around social learning, digital skills and continuous assessment. Chester’s flagship work-based learning scheme has run for more than 25 years, offering a five-week placement in the second year. According to our analysis of the latest Graduate Outcomes survey, Chester ranks in the upper half of universities nationally, in 58th place, with 76.3 per cent of those finishing their degree finding highly skilled work or enrolling in further study within 15 months.
What is the University of Chester’s campus like?
Exton Park, one of five main sites, has a new public space at its heart where Challenge, a four-metre bronze sculpture by Stephen Broadbent, is a focal point.The Queen’s Park campus, which served as the wartime headquarters of the British Army’s Western Command during the Second World War, houses Chester Business School. The Wheeler building, overlooking the River Dee, is the base for the university’s medical, nursing and midwifery courses. Facilities include a mock labour unit and a high-dependency unit simulation, as well as an anatomy suite. Next to Chester crown court is the School of Law and Social Justice,housing criminology, policing and law courses, with its own moot court. There are also university centres in Birkenhead, Nantwich and Warrington.
When can I visit?
chester.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about the University of Chester’s student life and wellbeing support
Most sports facilities are near the Exton Park site, including a sports hall, grass pitches, tennis and squash courts, a swimming pool and a fitness studio. Chester students also have access to rented facilities at Grosvenor Rowing Club, ten minutes from Exton Park, Chester Rugby Club, 15 minutes away, and West Cheshire Athletics Club, 20 minutes away. Warrington-based students have free access to the town’s Youth Zone, including a climbing wall and fitness centre.
A new 170-seat cinema has opened within the School of Education and a gallery has opened in Senate House. Students can self-refer to the university’s counselling service, and take part in low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy or wellbeing sessions such as a men’s mental health group.
A signatory of the Recovery Friendly University Pledge, Chester is committed to supporting students and staff rebuilding their lives after a struggle with addiction.
What do the students say?
“I was lucky enough to get both a summer and an industrial placement at the Science and Technology Facilities Council; at the end of my industrial placement, I was offered the chance to interview for the graduate scheme — and got accepted!”
Harriet, chemistry graduate
What about student accommodation at the University of Chester?
First-years are guaranteed a room and nearly a quarter of hall spaces are catered. John Milton Hall, with 61 beds, has been fully refurbished to include an improved common room and communal kitchens. Many Chester students choose to live at home and commute.
How diverse and inclusive is the University of Chester?
Chester succeeds in recruiting more than a fifth of students from low-participation areas (16th) but has slipped slightly in our social inclusion index overall (21st, down from 17th).
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Chester
Financial help starts with travel bursaries of up to £100 for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend taster events such as open days or interviews. There are bursaries of £1,500 for those who have been in care, have caring responsibilities, or are estranged from their families — as well as for students from gypsy, Roma, traveller, showman and boater communities.
