With nearly 9,000 new starters at Nottingham last year, this East Midlands powerhouse is rarely far from Ucas applications. Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group and research continues to be a strong suit at the university where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were invented in the mid-1970s by a team led by the Nobel laureate Sir Peter Mansfield. For today’s undergraduates, its beautiful 330-acre campus and broad choice of courses add to its appeal — as do the lively social scenes on campus and in the city, helped by 400 student-led societies and good tram connections between campuses and the city centre.
Keeping things cutting edge on campus, Nottingham is investing £16 million in creating a clinical teaching centre, and by September 2026 students will have access to eight new simulation suites including an operating theatre. Halls of residence are having an overhaul too.
Nottingham is especially hard to ignore for sporty students: the university takes second place in the latest British Universities and Colleges Sport (Bucs) league and access to its £40 million David Ross Sports Village is free as part of a university accommodation package, which may explain the huge take-up. Nottingham has more than 14,000 student sport and fitness members.
What is the University of Nottingham’s reputation?
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. Its successful research base more widely generated income of £141.6 million for Nottingham last year. 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.
Nottingham was rated silver overall in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023), achieving silver for the student experience and gold for student outcomes.
At the time of the assessment Nottingham’s engineering degrees had the biggest take-up, followed by business and management, and medicine and dentistry.
Our analysis of the latest National Student Survey (NSS) shows growing contentment with the wider undergraduate experience, at 72= (and 23 places higher than two years ago). However, students’ evaluation of teaching quality has dipped seven places to 97th, based on the latest National Student Survey.
Nottingham has a new vice-chancellor in Jane Norman, formerly its provost and deputy vice-chancellor, who has mooted the possibility that it could “move to a smaller estate… one that is better quality and make sure we fit ourselves out for the future.” University Park, while gorgeous, is vast: the university spends more than £10 million a year on energy. The university’s accounts registered a £17 million deficit last year.
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
There are seven new offerings in 2025, most of which replace similar degrees: film and screen studies; art history and visual culture; cultural and creative industries; arts and humanities (with foundation year); politics and international relations (quantitative methods); and BSc and MSci physics with astrophysics. A further 13 new courses are planned for 2026: five in mechanical engineering, the remainder in modern languages, art history and music disciplines. However, more than 40 courses are being closed or suspended, including some American studies and physics options, while courses in UK law combined with overseas study have been consolidated.
What are the University of Nottingham’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
Entrants need from A*AA to BBB for undergraduate degree courses, and BBB-BCC for integrated foundation 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. Almost a fifth (18.5 per cent) of new entrants through clearing in 2024.
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 2024-25. 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.
More than 550 undergraduates chose an integrated year in industry placement and the careers service advertises more than 8,000 internship, placement and graduate opportunities from 2,000 companies.
What is the University of Nottingham’s campus like?
The 330-acre University Park is one of Britain’s loveliest settings for higher education, much on land gifted by Sir Jesse Boot, the founder of Boots the chemist. Its layout is the blueprint for Nottingham’s long-established campuses in China and Malaysia.
Recent developments include a 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 in the shadow of Nottingham castle, is set to be a new base for the university’s business school. The university’s campuses in Malaysia and China are successful enterprises, with more than 5,000 students at its campus near Kuala Lumpur and nearly 8,000 at the Ningbo campus in China.
When can I visit?
nottingham.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about the University of Nottingham’s student life and wellbeing support
Nottingham has a youthful vibe and goes the extra mile to entertain its students. On campus, 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 century and onwards to the present day are to be found in the library’s Manuscripts and Special Collections section.
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 make use of a huge sports hall, swimming pool, fitness suite, climbing wall and martial arts dojo. Extensive outdoor sites (Highfields and Riverside) for football, rugby, cricket and beach volleyball are well served by public transport.
The university invests more than £1 million annually in services to support students’ mental health and wellbeing. It also has a report-and-support process for harassment and abuse.
What do the students say?
“Being a student here is a brilliantly well-rounded experience of world-class academic teaching paired with rich social and personal development opportunities afforded by our 300+ student-run societies. The university and students’ union foster innovation, student leadership and activism producing strong, capable and passionate individuals who give back.”
Leacsaidh Marlow, third year MSci natural sciences
What about student accommodation at the University of Nottingham?
More than 8,500 rooms are available, 3,800 of them owned or managed by the university, including catered and self-catering accommodation. First-years who apply by the August deadline are guaranteed a space. About 40 per cent of first-year students live on campus.
How diverse and inclusive is the University of Nottingham?
More than a third of Nottingham’s students come from selective schools and less than a third are the first in their family to go to university — factors that anchor the university near the bottom of our social inclusion index (103rd). More than one third of Nottingham students come from ethnic minority backgrounds (49th) and the black awarding gap (minus 21.8 per cent) is in the upper half nationally (52nd).
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of Nottingham
About 30 per cent of UK undergraduates qualify for assistance. A core bursary, where annual household income is less than £35,000, is worth £1,400 a year, with a further £1,000 award if other criteria are met. There are also £2,000 bursaries for care-experienced and estranged students.
About 200 merit-based scholarships are offered each year, most of them means-tested.
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