Demand remains high at the University of Nottingham, which occupies a beautiful campus in a buzzy city. Its broad choice of courses and subjects within a research-led environment add to its appeal. Engineering degrees have the biggest take-up, followed by business and management, and medicine and dentistry. Social life is vibrant on and off campus, helped by 400 student-led societies and good tram connections between campuses and the city centre.

You don’t have to be sporty to be a Nottingham student, but lots are. Nottingham was the Sunday Times Sport University of the Year 2024 and takes second place in the latest British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) league. 

What is the University of Nottingham’s reputation? 

A founding member of the Russell Group, research continues to be a strong suit for Nottingham, where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were invented with pioneering work in the mid-1970s by the Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield. In 2022 the university was awarded its largest ever single grant — £29.1 million — to establish the UK’s most powerful MRI scanner as a national facility to give researchers and doctors unprecedented insights into brain function. In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) the university’s submission within pharmacy and health sciences, and economics did especially well: the university is 22nd in our research quality index.

A two-place rise in our main academic ranking is driven by significantly improved rates of student satisfaction. Our analysis of the latest National Student Survey shows growing contentment with the wider undergraduate experience compared with a year ago (up 22 places to 73rd) and teaching quality (up 17 places to 90th).

Nottingham was rated silver overall in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), achieving silver for the student experience and gold for student outcomes. The TEF panel highlighted that “excellent academic practice is embedded across the [university]” and praised Nottingham for deploying and tailoring “approaches that are highly effective in ensuring its students succeed in and progress beyond their studies”.

The university’s international outposts in China and Malaysia provide opportunities for students to transfer between campuses.

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

A comprehensive review is cutting more than 50 courses with a history of low enrolment from the curriculum between 2024 and 2026 — from engineering with a foundation year to Russian studies —  although many courses with similar options are still available. 

Two new courses are being introduced from 2024: an integrated master's in physics with a year in computer science; and health promotion and public health. Another three will follow for 2025 entry: film and screen studies; art history and visual culture; and cultural and creative industries.

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

Entrants need from BBC up to A*AA to get into Nottingham’s undergraduate degree courses. About a third of new students each year qualify for Nottingham’s contextual offer scheme, generally one A-level grade lower, or two for those entering through an access scheme. There were nearly 57,000 applications for 2023 admission, down 8 per cent year on year, but about 17 per cent higher than a decade ago. 

Nottingham accepted 13 per cent of new entrants through clearing in 2023. 

What are the graduate prospects?

Nottingham has long been a favourite recruiting ground for large employers, including Walt Disney Company, AstraZeneca and Unilever. The High Fliers graduate market report placed it third in 2023-24. In our graduate outcomes analysis, Nottingham secures a top 20 result – based on 83.3 per cent being in highly skilled jobs or further study within 15 months. Helping to sharpen their career focus, Nottingham’s integrated year in industry placements were taken up by more than 550 undergraduates in 2024. More than 40 students a year work with PwC as part of the innovative Accountancy Flying Start degree programme.

What is the University of Nottingham campus like?

The 330-acre University Park is one of Britain’s loveliest settings for higher education, with lakes and parkland as the backdrop to modern facilities and historic buildings, much on land gifted by Jesse Boot, the founder of Boots the chemist. Its layout is the blueprint for Nottingham’s long-established and sizeable campuses in China and Malaysia. 

Recent developments include a new virtual reality (VR) classroom for students of product design and manufacture in the Engineering Science and Learning Centre, while the £40 million Power Electronics and Machines Centre opened in 2022 to host low-carbon aerospace projects. Castle Meadow, the university’s new city centre campus by Nottingham Castle, opened its incubation and event spaces during 2024 and from 2025 will provide a new base for the university’s business school. 

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

Creative and cultural life owes much to Lakeside Arts, the public arts programme based next to the boating lake. The BBC Concert Orchestra has teamed up with the institution and neighbouring Nottingham Trent University to provide talented students with opportunities for composition, performance and production. Rare books from the 12th to the 21st centuries are to be found in the Manuscripts and Special Collections section of Nottingham’s library and museum operation. 

Access to the £40 million David Ross Sports Village is free for those living in halls at University Park and the Jubilee campus. More than 3,800 students  take advantage of the perk, making use of a huge sports hall, swimming pool, fitness suite, climbing wall and martial arts dojo. University teams finished second only to Loughborough in the latest British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) league. The Jubilee and Sutton Bonington campuses have their own sports centres too. Extensive outdoor sites (Highfields and Riverside) for football, rugby, cricket and beach volleyball are well served by public transport. A refit of the fitness suite and partnership with British Weightlifting means that Nottingham students can use  weightlifting kit from the last Commonwealth Games. Emily Campbell, a former staff member at Nottingham’s sports injury clinic, trained at the university for her bronze medal-winning performance at the Paris Olympics for Team GB in the women's +81kg weightlifting competition. 

The university invests more than £1 million annually in services to support students with their mental health and wellbeing. It also has a report-and-support process for harassment and abuse. There are support and wellbeing staff in academic departments and students are trained to spread mental health awareness among their peers.

What do the students say?

“There are literally hundreds of societies and clubs and sports teams, which help you find new interests and have fun. Nottingham is the perfect student city, with a great mix of independent shops, quirky cafes, and bars. It is also great to see the platforms for progress: [there are] free sanitary products everywhere, and I have friends who campaigned for and implemented consent training. Five years in, I know coming to Nottingham was the best thing I ever did.”
Jessica Nuttall, students’ union development officer (president), philosophy and theology graduate

What about student accommodation at the University of Nottingham?

The university has more than 8,500 rooms, including catered and self-catering accommodation, and first-years who apply by the end-of-July deadline are guaranteed a space. The university has a Student Living Strategy in partnership with Nottingham Trent and the city council to improve the quality, safety, affordability and location of housing once students move out of halls. 

How diverse and inclusive is the University of Nottingham?

More than a third of Nottingham’s students come from selective schools (104th) and less than a third are the first in their family to go to university (106th) — factors which anchor the university near the bottom of our social inclusion index (99th, up one place compared with our previous edition). More than one third of Nottingham students come from ethnic minority backgrounds (48th) and the black achievement gap (minus 15.6 per cent) is in the upper third nationally (32nd). 

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

About 30 per cent of UK undergraduates qualify for bursaries worth £1,000 a year, where annual household income is less than £35,000, or another £1,000 award under other criteria. Most merit-based scholarships are means-tested.