University snapshots
Each university snapshot gives you some key information about the university (age, size, location, subjects taught etc.) plus a short opinion piece about the university.
I’ll attempt to give you a flavour of the university, identifying what makes it distinctive, so you can work out whether it might be somewhere you might consider studying.
The universities themselves have no input into these snapshots, nor can they pay to be included or highlighted. I will, of course, remedy any factual errors that are drawn to my attention.
I’ll add new snapshots every week!
St. Mary’s University Twickenham
St Mary’s was established way back in 1850, essentially as a teacher training college for catholic teachers. Teacher training remains at the core of the university teaching now; much of its teaching is still across the main school-teaching subjects, though health, sports, business and law have been added to the portfolio over the years.
University of Leicester
It’s tricky to put your finger on what exactly makes Leicester so special. There is no single unique selling point that makes Leicester distinct from its competitors, but The Times Higher Education pretty much nailed it when in 2008 they came up with a phrase about Leicester that we used widely in our marketing at the time:
“Elite, without being Elitest”.
It made perfect sense then, and it still makes perfect sense now!
University of Stirling
Created as a brand new university in the late sixties, the University of Stirling set out to be innovative in its teaching right from the start. They adopted a US style semester system (two 15 week semesters separated by the Christmas break), and enabled students to study modules from any faculty during their early years of study. Together, these result in the most flexible academic structure available at any UK university; ideal if you are unsure exactly what you want to study.