Good University Guide 2023

University of Warwick

National rank

9
th
88
%
Firsts / 2:1s
95.6
%
Completion rate

Key stats

36
th
Teaching quality
25
th=
Student experience
13
th
Research quality
10
th
Graduate prospects
University of Warwick

Contact details

Address

Admissions Office, University House, Coventry , CV4 8UW,

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Telephone

The FAB — Warwick’s new Faculty of Arts Building — makes a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration within the university’s arts and humanities departments. An architecturally striking addition to the university’s 750-acre campus, its light-filled teaching and learning spaces and modern facilities are designed to inspire creativity and innovation. Specialist resources cater for the different disciplines housed under the development’s roof. Among them is an antiquities room for classics and ancient history, creative writing and film screening rooms along with theatre studios, rehearsal rooms, a media lab and an edit suite.

Warwick’s extraordinary record as a top ten university in every edition of our league table to date remains unbroken this year. Research-led since its 1965 foundation, Warwick reaped impressive results in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, whose panel of global experts rated 92 per cent of its submissions as world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*). Economics; classics; computer science; and business and management produced some of the best results. 

Research in the fields of neuroscience, microbiology and infection, cell biology and disease models benefits from Warwick’s new Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building. Life sciences and medical students are also gaining from being taught within its dedicated facilities. The university places 64th in the 2023 QS World Rankings.

Another arts-focused project — the university’s expansion of its Warwick Arts Centre — opened last year, bringing a concert hall, theatre and café. Its opening coincided with nearby Coventry’s investiture as European City of Culture. The market town of Warwick is a longer seven-mile journey from the university’s campus, despite its name. 

The university (winner of our previous edition’s Teaching Quality award) is delivering all teaching and learning in person only this year, supported by lecture-capture so students can listen back remotely afterwards. In our analysis of the latest National Student Survey (NSS) outcomes, Warwick ranks 36th for students’ evaluation of teaching quality — although a 20-place drop, year-on-year, it still places the university higher than all other Russell Group members on this measure. 

NSS scores for the wider undergraduate experience have held up better, with Warwick slipping only five places to feature in this year’s top 25. Its success on student satisfaction is a particular credit to Warwick, which bucks the trend at many other research-intensive universities whose undergraduates are often less content with their experiences. 

In the government’s 2017 Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), though, Warwick was restricted to silver, in spite of consistent high achievement by its students and staff, excellent completion and employment, rates and exceptional employer feedback — criteria suitable for a gold award.

The TEF panel was impressed by the culture of research-stimulated learning that challenged students, but said Warwick had missed its benchmarks for student satisfaction and continuation rates among some groups of students. Our findings differ, with student satisfaction now firmly on track and Warwick placing in our top ten for completion rates — with just over 2 per cent of students dropping out, significantly below the expected level.

Graduate prospects are in the top ten nationally, with the number of graduates employed in high-skilled jobs or further study 15 months after finishing their degree approaching nine in ten (86.3 per cent). Warwick was the among the ten most targeted universities by leading graduate employers in 2021-22 according to the High Fliers Graduate Market report. 

The university’s large business school has a London base in the Shard, which delivers part-time programmes. Further afield, Warwick partners with universities across Europe, North America, South America, Australasia and east Asia to offer study-abroad opportunities for undergraduates, with availability varying by department.

Global sustainable development students spend part of their second year at Monash University — in Melbourne, in Australia, or Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. The history department takes students to Venice in the autumn in a partnership with the University of Venice Ca’Foscari that gives students access to its libraries and other facilities. 

Warwick’s portfolio of degree apprenticeships comprises 27 programmes — including five strands of engineering; social work; and senior leadership. Student apprentice numbers are expected to reach about 1,200 by September 2023. 

Warwick edges two places further inside the top 100 of our social inclusion ranking this year and sits seventh among the 21 Russell Group universities of England and Wales. The university admits more students from selective state and independent schools than most; the 63.4 per cent drawn from non-selective state schools ranking Warwick 106th on this measure. The majority of students (68.3 per cent) come from families with a history of higher education. But with 43.1 per cent of students from ethnic minority backgrounds its diversity ranks in the upper third of universities and Warwick’s black attainment gap is among the top ten narrowest. 

Widening participation initiatives include the Warwick Scholars programme, which supports post-16 students from the region to apply successfully to Warwick and flourish once there. Contextual offers up to two A-level grades or four International Baccalaureate points lower than standard may be made to applicants who qualify under a number of widening participation criteria. Foundation years are offered on courses within the Warwick Business School. 

A £49 million sports and wellness hub includes a 230-station gym, a 25m swimming pool, fitness studios, bouldering and climbing walls, a sports hall, squash courts and 4G outdoor pitches.

First-years who apply by the end of July are guaranteed accommodation. The university aims to house them on campus — where it has more than 7,000 spaces. It also manages 1,883 rooms off site. The new £62 million Cryfield Village development has added 830 residential rooms.

There are more than 300 student societies and the students’ union is the centre of on-campus social life. Off campus, students tend to live in the Earlsdon suburb of Coventry, Leamington Spa or Canley right by the campus. All students must complete the Warwick Values Programme before starting their courses, which covers support around alcohol, drugs, sexual consent and racial, LGBTQ+ and social tolerance.

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Performance

Category Score Rank
Ranking - 9 (8)
Teaching quality 77 36th
Student experience 75.1 25th=
Research quality 60.9 13th
Ucas entry points 170 14th=
Graduate prospects 86.3 10th
Firsts and 2:1s 88 16th
Completion rate 95.6 9th
Student-staff ratio 14.2 26th=
World ranking - 64 (61)

Vital statistics

Undergraduates

Full-time

17,617

Part-time

1,196

Postgraduates

Full-time

6,306

Part-time

2,989

Applications/places 42,260/6,000
Applications/places ratio 7:1
Overall offer rate 65.1%

Accommodation

Places in accommodation 7,500
Accommodation costs £85 - £218
Accommodation contact https://warwick.ac.uk/services/accommodation/studentaccommodation/undergraduate

Finance

UK/EU fees £6,750 (Foundation) - £9,250
Fees (placement year) £1,385
Fees (overseas year) £1,385
Fees (international) £22,280 - £28,410
Fees (international, medical) £45,326
Finance website https://warwick.ac.uk/services/finance/studentfinance/fees
Graduate salaries £29,060

Sport

Sport points/rank 1,857, 19th
Sport website https://warwick.ac.uk/services/sport

Social inclusion and student mix

Social Inclusion Ranking 97
State schools (non-grammar) admissions 63.4%
Grammar school admissions 17.3%
Independent school admissions 19.3%
Ethnic minority students (all) 43.1%
Black achievement gap -6.5%
White working class males 3.2%
First generation students 31.7%
Low participation areas 5.7%
Working class dropout gap -3.3%
Mature 7.8%
EU students 11.7%
Other overseas students 17.8%

Student satisfaction with teaching quality

German 91.8%
Italian 91.6%
Liberal arts 89.7%
Iberian languages 89.5%
French 88.8%
Creative writing 87.5%
Communication and media studies 87.2%
Accounting and finance 84.4%
English 84.4%
History 84.2%
Drama, dance and cinematics 83.9%
Classics and ancient history 83.7%
Education 83.4%
Politics 82.6%
Philosophy 82.1%
Chemistry 81.2%
Business, management and marketing 80.3%
Economics 78.8%
Physics and astronomy 78.5%
Mathematics 77.9%
Psychology 77.8%
History of art, architecture and design 77.7%
Linguistics 77.6%
Sociology 74.5%
Biological sciences 73.5%
Law 72.3%
Medicine 68.2%
General engineering 65.4%
Computer science 53.9%