The origins of the University of Huddersfield, one of the post-1992 institutions, lie in the Young Men’s Mental Improvement Society, founded in 1841 with about 400 students. Today the West Yorkshire university has more than 23,000 students and is pouring £250 million of investment into creating a National Health Innovation Campus to tackle regional health inequalities. The first of six buildings opened in September 2024, named in honour of Daphne Steele, who became Britain’s first black nursing matron in 1964. It has clinical teaching and research facilities to train nurses, midwives and other medical staff, plus psychology laboratories and specialist sports provision. 

What is the University of Huddersfield’s reputation?

A consistent focus on teaching quality is paying off: Huddersfield’s lecturers have won 22 National Teaching Fellowships since 2008 — the highest number in the country. The university maintained its gold record in the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023) by notching up gold overall and gold for both subcategories rating student experience and student outcomes. It was previously rated gold in 2018.

However, Huddersfield is among the 40 per cent of UK universities facing budget deficits in 2023-24 due to static tuition fees, surging inflation and a sector-wide decline in international student enrolments in January 2024 due to changes in government immigration policy. 

In our analysis of the latest National Student Survey, satisfaction with teaching quality tumbled 17 places to 69th. Student satisfaction with the wider experience fell ten places, also to 69th.  

For research, Huddersfield’s strongest performances were in music and creative writing in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), but its results were not strong enough to prevent an 18-place fall to 79th, in our research quality index, compared with its position after REF 2014. The university’s Institute of Railway Research won a coveted Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2019.

What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?

An overhaul of course provision has resulted in new BSc degrees in civil engineering and musical theatre, and an integrated master’s in optometry. At the same time the university has discontinued its maths degree from September 2024 along with a wide range of business-related courses, chemical engineering, digital marketing, and sociology.

Huddersfield is growing its portfolio of degree apprenticeships to extend beyond nursing and allied health professions to include training for academic professionals, diagnostic radiographers, digital learning designers, and teachers. 

What are the University of Huddersfield’s entry requirements – and my chances of getting in?

With new entrants averaging 124 Ucas points, Huddersfield is in the lower half of UK universities for its entry standards (75=). Contextual data is not part of the decision making, but offers below the standard criteria may be made in exceptional circumstances. There were just under 16,900 applications in 2023 and nearly 3,300 new undergraduates took up places, the fewest new starters for around ten years. 

What are the graduate prospects?

Collaboration with more than 500 employers helps to keep the curriculum in line with industry needs and the university makes the most of its connections to fix students up with work placements and internships. Huddersfield is currently ranked 70th overall, based on the proportion of graduates in highly-skilled jobs or further study 15 months after leaving. It was in the top 50 for graduate prospects four years ago, but lost ground and placed 86= last year.

What is the University of Huddersfield campus like?

The Queensgate campus, two minutes from the town centre, has purpose-built facilities either side of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. A decade of development has produced the £31 million Joseph Priestley Building for science subjects and the £30 million Barbara Hepworth Building, named after the sculptor from West Yorkshire. Its extensive digital and physical workshop facilities are designed for experimentation by art and design and architecture students. The £28 million Oastler Building houses music, humanities and media while the Yorkshire Film and Television School has a 300 sq m film studio as well as live broadcast TV studios, virtual reality and motion-tracking sensors and the latest in music and sound production facilities.

Everything you need to know about the University of Huddersfield’s student life and wellbeing support

Societies cover a wide range of interests and help to build community spirit among undergraduates. If Huddersfield’s lively social life begins to pall, the brighter lights of Leeds and Manchester are nearby. At the £22.5 million Student Central building, sports facilities include an 80-station gym, two multi-purpose studios, a physiotherapy treatment room and a double sports hall with seating for 500 spectators.

The Jo Cox More in Common Centre on campus provides a 200-capacity community hall, Muslim, Christian and multifaith prayer rooms and a community lounge. Students can find willing listeners among the university’s team of wellbeing and mental health advisers and counsellors. Hudderfield’s three-year Global Professional Award, open to all undergraduates, covers topics such as self-care, resilience and coping with setbacks.

What do the students say?

“There’s always something going on. I got involved in cricket and the club has now launched a women’s team too, but there’s over 100 clubs or societies to choose from. The university is always working with us [the students’ union] to make the campus better; the new Faith Centre is designed around students and the university is now a period-friendly university.”
Taha Khan, Huddersfield students’ union president 2023-24 and marketing graduate

What about student accommodation at the University of Huddersfield?

HudLets, a student accommodation office run by the students’ union, works with independent halls of residence and private landlords, but the university does not own any accommodation. The majority of undergraduates live at home and commute to campus. 

How diverse and inclusive is the University of Huddersfield?

Huddersfield has risen nine places in our social inclusion index to 22nd overall, and ranks 13= for recruitment of students who are the first in their family to go to university. Staff help applicants to make the leap to higher education through a range of schemes such as Headstart Huddersfield, which allows prospective students to gain an extra eight Ucas tariff points. The year-long Progression Module is worth 12 Ucas tariff points, which can be used towards entry requirements at Huddersfield, Leeds Beckett and Leeds Trinity universities.

Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Huddersfield

About three in ten new undergraduates qualify for financial aid. A first-year scholarship of £1,000 is available to students from low-income households who arrive with more than 120 Ucas tariff points.