Frenchay is one of three campuses, all accessible by bus from each other and within easy reach of the city centre. UWE holds a gold rating from the government’s Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). Assessors noted the above-benchmark levels of student satisfaction with academic support and rates of progression to high-skilled employment. 

The latest figures from the national Graduate Outcomes survey support the TEF panel’s findings. With more than three-quarters (76.3 per cent) of UWE graduates in high-skilled jobs or further study 15 months after finishing their degrees the university secures a top 50 rank in our graduate prospects measure. 

As part of efforts to help students on to the career ladder, UWE Bristol’s careers systems host 17,000 employer contracts across more than 10,000 organisations. More than 2,000 vacancies were being advertised, a recent snapshot showed. Volunteering is well supported and employer events attract high rates of student engagement.

The university offers 25 higher and degree apprenticeships which have more than 2,000 student apprentices on programmes in diverse fields including aerospace engineering, occupational therapy, architecture, diagnostic radiography, and junior animator. UWE’s police constable degree apprenticeship has the advantage of newly remodelled and refurbished teaching spaces at the Frenchay campus that now include two 60-seat lecture theatres. 

A School of Engineering building joined the Frenchay campus in 2020 — to meet a predicted increased in demand for engineering graduates in the region. More recently the university has created a “restorative walled garden” in which students and staff may relieve mental fatigue in an interesting natural setting. 

Such care for student wellbeing may help life rates of student satisfaction — which although still in the top half of UK universities for teaching quality and the wider undergraduate experience after declines in both — have yet to return to their pre-pandemic high levels. Teaching this year is following a hybrid model of delivery, mainly face-to-face but with some online lectures. 

At the City campus in Bower Ashton, modern design studios are part of a £37 million investment in facilities for creative industries. Featuring flexible workshops and collaborative learning areas, they also house the Fabrication Centre and the Centre for Fine Print Research.

 The £5 million optometry and clinical skills centre on the Glenside campus is housed in a grade II listed former NHS laundry. It is the base for trainee paramedics, occupational therapy students, nurses as well as undergraduates on the optometry programme.

More than three-quarters (76 per cent) of the work submitted for assessment in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. Architecture, built environment and planning; allied health subjects; communication and media studies ; engineering; and law produced the best results.

UWE Bristol occupies a middling position in our social inclusion ranking, drawing 92.1 per cent of students from non-selective state schools. About one in five students (19.5 per cent) are from ethnic minority backgrounds. The university’s recruitment of students from under-represented areas and of white working-class boys falls within the upper third nationally. 

The Frenchay campus has fitness suites next to student residences as well as a sports hall, indoor climbing wall, squash courts and an all-weather pitch. Sports teams including soccer, American football and rugby are based at the £4.5 million Hillside Gardens facility a few miles away, which has artificial and grass pitches and undercover spectator seating. The MOVE programme provides free access to students on more than 80 sporting opportunities — from intramural leagues to wellness and fitness classes.

With the boom in student numbers creating pressure on UWE Bristol’s halls of residences the university had 485 students waiting to be housed in September 2022, according to news reports. The university says it is not able to guarantee accommodation for first years and allocates rooms on a first come, first served basis. Housing applications opened on June 10 for the present academic year and new entrants are advised to keep abreast of 2023’s application deadline on the UWE website.

Students tend to love Bristol, so much so that many never leave.