Bath Spa is one of the growing number of new “teaching-led” universities created under Government reforms.

But it is far from new in other respects and not without research strengths.

Its Newton Park headquarters, four miles outside the World Heritage city of Bath, is in grounds landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century, with a handsome Georgian manor house as its centrepiece and owned by the Prince of Wales.

A second campus, housing the Bath School of Art and Design, boasts one of the city’s famous Georgian crescents, although this is being sold to finance a purpose-built site.

Alumni

The history of the predecessor colleges goes back 150 years, with some famous alumni, including Body Shop founder Anita Roddick and Turner Prize winner Sir Howard Hodgkin. The new university has been undertaking its biggest-ever building programme to take advantage of a doubling in the number of applications over the past five years.

Although applications were down by marginally more than the national average at the start of 2008, the 26 per cent increase a year earlier was one of the biggest rises at any UK university. With around 7,000 students, it is still comparatively small, but the range of courses and the number of places have been growing steadily.

At Newton Park, the base for all students except those taking art and design subjects, the students’ union has practically doubled in size, a new library has added about 120 workstations and £4.8 million has been spent on an impressive university theatre with a 200-seat auditorium.

A new creative writing centre is housed in the 14th-century gatehouse, bringing it into student use for the first time. Bath Spa has been awarding its own degrees since 1992 – much longer than some of the other new arrivals on the university scene. Subjects assessed for teaching quality averaged 22 points out of 24 and results in the first three National Student Surveys have been good.

Creative excellence

The university has been designated a national centre for excellence in teaching and learning in the creative industries, bringing significant investment in the Schools of Music and Performing Arts, English and Creative Studies, and Art and Design. English and Study of Religions did well in the last research assessments, when the 43 per cent of academics entered for the exercise represented a much larger proportion than at many of the former polytechnics.

About a third of the students are postgraduates. The university has now applied for the power to award its own research degrees. Despite a setting that would seem to be a magnet for applicants from independent schools, 95 per cent of the home intake is state-educated and more than a quarter are from working-class homes.

Two-thirds of the students are female, reflecting the arts and social science bias in the curriculum, and 25 per cent are over 25. The latest projected dropout rate, of less than 12 per cent, is significantly better than the national average for the university’s courses and entry grades.

Overseas

There are about 500 overseas students from a variety of countries. The university has a number of partner further education colleges in the region, where a range of two-year Foundation degrees are delivered, the latest of which include heritage management, arts management, theatre production, counselling and international marketing and management. Many students then progress to the university campuses to complete an honours degree.

About 85 per cent of first years attending Bath Spa itself are offered hall places. Students like the “small and friendly” atmosphere, which the university is anxious to retain in spite of the temptation to go for more substantial growth. Sports facilities are not extensive, but the countryside – on and off campus – is a major draw.

Times recommends

• Degree classifications not fit for purpose says watchdog
• Five essential tips for your year abroad
• Are students killing television?