Good University Guide 2023

Wrexham Glyndwr University

National rank

120
th
71.6
%
Firsts / 2:1s
74
%
Completion rate

Key stats

7
th=
Teaching quality
29
th=
Student experience
126
th=
Research quality
90
th=
Graduate prospects
Wrexham Glyndwr University

Contact details

Address

Mold Road, Wrexham, LL11 2AW,

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Telephone

Wrexham Glyndwr continues to blaze a trail in our social inclusion ranking — leading the field as the most socially inclusive university in England and Wales for the fifth consecutive year. Recruits from non-selective state schools account for all but 1.5 per cent of the student population (ranking the university 4= on this measure) and 28.2 per cent come from low-participation areas (also 4=). The university ranks eighth for the proportion of students whose parents did not go to university (59.6 per cent), and almost seven out of ten students are aged over 21 when they enrol (also eighth). Nearly two in every ten students have a registered disability — the highest proportion. 

The university — named after Owain Glyndŵr, the 15th-century Welsh prince who championed the establishment of universities throughout Wales — does less well on completion rates, perhaps a price to pay for its achievements in widening access. The most recent figures show that more than a fifth (20.2 per cent) of students drop out — which is above the expected rate of 18.6 per cent based on the social and academic background of its students. 

A £1 million upgrade to teaching facilities at the main Plas Coch campus and the Regent Street art school site are part of a £60 million Campus 2025 programme to improve its sites. One of them, Glyndwr University Racecourse Stadium, is shared with Wrexham football club, with interest peaking after an investment in the club by the Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

The university gained silver in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), scoring well for part-time courses. The TEF panel was impressed by the high levels of interaction with industry, business and the public sector and praised the quality of work-based learning that matches the region’s priorities.

The Centre for the Creative Industries on the Wrexham campus features high-quality studios used by students on television production degree courses, and is the regional home of BBC Cymru Wales. Other specialist facilities reflect the university’s diverse subject areas and include a complementary medicine clinic, laboratories for computer game development and for the study of crime scenes. There is also a flight simulator and supersonic wind tunnel.

The rural Northop campus in Flintshire specialises in animal studies and biodiversity courses, and has a small animal unit and an equine centre. The St Asaph campus in Denbighshire is a research centre for the opto-electronics industry, focusing on technology to make high-resolution telescopes. The campus incubator offers a programme for space industry start-ups.

Wrexham Glyndwr has introduced six new degrees within nursing and health. The first mental health nursing students started their courses in September 2022, as did those on degrees in children’s nursing, paramedic science, speech and language therapy, nutrition and dietetics, and operating practice. 

The courses had triggered a huge 40 per cent increase in applications by the end of March 2022 compared with the same point in the application cycle the year before, building on a small rise in applications in 2021 that halted four years of decline. Fewer first-years started courses in 2021 than have done before, however, with enrolments falling by 12 per cent, their fifth consecutive decline. 

The university continues to adapt and expand its curriculum. From 2023 degrees will be offered in canine behaviour, training and performance, practical wildlife management, and veterinary physiotherapy. 

In our analysis of the results of the latest National Student Survey, published in summer 2022, the university ranks 7= for satisfaction with teaching quality — proof that the hybrid model of online and in-person lectures offered at Glyndwr is popular with its students. It ranks 29= for how students feel about  the wider undergraduate experience. The results follow stellar student satisfaction scores during the pandemic, which lifted the university to second place behind only St Andrews for satisfaction with teaching quality. 

In partnership with Airbus, which has a large plant near by, Wrexham Glyndwr’s Advanced Composite Training and Development Centre in Broughton carries out research to help improve the efficiency of aircraft, and feeds into the university’s engineering courses.

Social work and social policy produced some of Glyndwr’s best results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021), with some world-leading research. The accolade will be a boon to staff setting up a new Social Inclusion Research Institute at the university. However, the university has fallen to 126= in our research quality index against improved performance across the sector compared with the previous national assessment in 2014.

Graduate prospects improved by 11 places in our latest analysis of the numbers in highly skilled work or postgraduate study 15 months after leaving Wrexham Glyndwr. 

The university’s Racecourse stadium, which hosts journalism, business, history and sport students, features the world’s oldest international football ground in use. The campus also has a modern sports centre with two floodlit artificial pitches, a human performance laboratory and indoor facilities.

 Many students live at home, allowing all first-years who required a room to get one in 2021.

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Performance

Category Score Rank
Ranking - 120 (110=)
Teaching quality 81.6 7th=
Student experience 74.6 29th=
Research quality 13.3 126th=
Ucas entry points 115 101st=
Graduate prospects 69 90th=
Firsts and 2:1s 71.6 111th
Completion rate 74 125th
Student-staff ratio 24.9 129th

Vital statistics

Undergraduates

Full-time

2,600

Part-time

2,552

Postgraduates

Full-time

747

Part-time

1,584

Applications/places 1,880/585
Applications/places ratio 3.2:1
Overall offer rate 72.5%

Accommodation

Places in accommodation 385
Accommodation costs £115 - £168
Accommodation contact https://glyndwr.ac.uk/accommodation/wrexham-village/

Finance

UK/EU fees £9,000
Fees (placement year) £1,800
Fees (international) £11,750
Finance website https://glyndwr.ac.uk/fees-and-funding/
Graduate salaries £24,000

Social inclusion and student mix

Social Inclusion Ranking 1
State schools (non-grammar) admissions 98.5%
Grammar school admissions 0.5%
Independent school admissions 1%
Ethnic minority students (all) 6.1%
Black achievement gap -19.4%
White working class males 6.3%
First generation students 59.6%
Low participation areas 28.2%
Working class dropout gap n/a
Mature 69.5%
EU students 3.9%
Other overseas students 4.1%

Student satisfaction with teaching quality

Criminology 96.5%
Psychology 92%
Social work 89.5%
Subjects allied to medicine 84.1%
Education 76.2%
Art and design 74.5%
Drama, dance and cinematics 74.1%
Computer science 56.5%