Children’s nursing will be taught in a £1 million clinical simulation centre at Croydon College, which already offers adult nursing as part of a strategic partnership with Roehampton. The university also has study centres in central London, Birmingham and Manchester, where business and computing degrees are taught by staff from QA Higher Education, a private company.

Roehampton’s main location, however, is an attractive 54-acre campus on the edge of Richmond Park, in southwest London, which blends historic buildings with modern facilities in a woodland setting. A Bloomberg trading room is scheduled to open in September 2022, as is a healthcare hub to accommodate the growing provision in this area. A business laboratory opened in 2022, providing space for students to develop their entrepreneurship activities.

Another recent addition was the £13 million Sir David Bell Building, which houses Roehampton’s digital media hub. Students have access to industry-standard film studios, editing suites and newsrooms, and can use resources for media, photography and sound production. There is a cinema and computing facilities, with study spaces and a gallery area for student displays and creative industry events.

The university has dropped 36 places in our league table, despite improving its rankings for student satisfaction and performing well in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). Its research quality is in our top 50, making it the highest-placed non-specialist modern university. Three-quarters of the research across 11 different areas was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent, the top two categories. However, Roehampton remains outside the top 100 for entry standards, graduate prospects, good honours and course completion.

Roehampton does much better in our social inclusion index, where a seven-place rise has brought it up to 23rd.  Almost all the undergraduates are from non-selective state schools or colleges, nearly two-thirds from ethnic minorities, and more than half are the first in their family to go to university.

The university was upgraded to silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2019. The panel was impressed by the reduction in the attainment gap for black, Asian and minority ethnic students, and for support to find work experience.

Roehampton is based around four historic constituent colleges — Digby Stuart, Froebel, Southlands and Whitelands, which pioneered the training of women as teachers. Education courses remain a significant area for Roehampton. The colleges all have religious or humanist origins but have long been open to students of all faiths or none. 

Each college has a student wellbeing officer and the university’s Mental Health Network runs a peer-mentoring scheme that pairs students with a trained colleague. A free, confidential short-term counselling service is offered to all students, in tandem with therapeutic groups and workshops. 

The sports facilities, which include four dance studios, are excellent. Gym Roehampton, on campus, is run by Nuffield Health. The university is also a leader in esports and has a dedicated room for multiplayer video game competitions. 

Roehampton offered the UK’s first esports scholarships, worth £1,500 a year for talented students, as well as Europe’s first Women in Esports scholarships, offered with the aim of increasing diversity in the field. The subject’s popularity is not limited to those studying related degrees — esports has become the largest of the university’s many student societies. 

Within easy reach of central London but offering a campus community environment, Roehampton claims to offer a best-of-both-worlds experience. All first-years are guaranteed accommodation in one of the 1,676 on-campus hall rooms if they make Roehampton their firm choice and apply by mid-June. The same guarantee is offered to second and third-year students. Bus services between the campus and local stations at Barnes and Wimbledon, e-bikes and “college kitchens” support commuting students.