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!
University of St Andrews
As Scotland's oldest university, St Andrews has a real palpable sense of history. They uphold some weird and wonderful traditions, and while they are modern enough to divide their academic year into two semesters, they call them by rather quaint names Martinmas and Candlemas.
Their academic reputation is beyond question. Their four faculties stick to the most traditional subjects in Science, Arts, Medicine and Divinity, and they fly high in every league table, even ousting Oxford and Cambridge from the top spots on a couple of occasions in recent years.
De Montfort University
Having lived in Leicester for over a decade, I have indeed worked at all three Leicestershire universities. Due to a couple of problematic managers, however, I spent just 9 months at De Montfort. A shame really, as it has a lot to recommend it.
Thanks to some decent academic leadership during the 90s and early noughties, DMU (as it’s generally known locally), really focused on the things it had been good at when it was Leicester Polytechnic; that is, professional, vocational and creative teaching.
In addition, thanks to some excellent financial leadership during the same period, they have a campus estate that is in fantastic shape.