Brighton came of age as one of the first new universities to be awarded a medical school, but is equally well-known for imaginative initiatives in its region.

It has set up a centre in Hastings and runs a number of schemes, both to draw people from the region into higher education and to help them with practical problems.

The £28.5-million medical school, which is run jointly with neighbouring Sussex University, is training 128 doctors a year and has now proved its popularity with applicants. Brighton was already heavily engaged in other health subjects, such as nursing and midwifery.

The medical school’s headquarters, on Brighton’s Falmer campus, has also provided a new base for applied social sciences, such as criminology and applied psychology, which are among the university’s most sought-after degrees. The two universities have been collaborating since Brighton was a polytechnic.

There is a joint research building for science policy and management studies, and a joint accord guarantees the offer of a place to all suitably qualified applicants from the Channel Island of Jersey.

Brighton does the same for applicants from Sussex and is leading a new Learning Network for the county. Almost a third of undergraduates now come through the accords.

Only two new universities did as well as Brighton in the last Research Assessment Exercise, and only one entered such a high a proportion of its academics. Art and design, biological sciences and European studies were all rated nationally excellent, with some work of top international quality.

Ratings

Teaching ratings were also consistently good, never dropping below 20 points out of 24, with philosophy registering a maximum score.

Education, physical geography and environmental science achieved the best scores in the latest National Student Survey. The plaudits have not gone unnoticed: a 20 per cent increase in applications at the start of 2007 was one of the biggest at any university, while a 4 per cent decline a year later, with the switch from six choices per applicant to five, was less than the national average.

Brighton’s strengths in art and design – recognised in the award of national teaching centres in design and creativity – have been at the forefront of the university’s rise. But the university also has a growing reputation in areas such as sport and hospitality, as well as scoring well in teacher education rankings.

The Design Council’s national archive is lodged on campus, and the four-year fashion textiles degree offers work placements in the United States, France and Italy, as well as Britain. The Faculty of Management and Information Sciences is now the largest in the university.

Four sites house the five faculties. Art and Design has the prime location opposite the Royal Pavilion, with sports science, service management and the health professions at Eastbourne and the other subjects on the outskirts of Brighton, at Falmer and Moulsecoomb, the university’s headquarters.

Facilities

More than £100 million has been spent on new facilities and refurbishment since university status arrived in 1992 and another £100 million has been committed for the next four years, half of it on student accommodation and learning facilities. Existing facilities include a flight simulator, a fully-functional news room for the university’s sports journalists, modern clinical skills laboratories for pharmacy, and a custom-designed culinary arts studio.

At Eastbourne there is a new library and extensive sports and leisure facilities, including a sports centre with three gymnasia and a dance studio, a refurbished swimming pool and fitness facilities. Sportscience laboratories and 354 en-suite residential places have been added and improvements made to the learning resources centre, lecture theatres and refectory.

The extensive modernisation of the Falmer campus continues, with extra accommodation, a library and a nursing and midwifery centre already added. The university has a cosmopolitan air, with more overseas students and a more middle-class UK intake than most of the former polytechnics.

Personal

Around a quarter of the full-time undergraduates are over 21 on entry, often attracted by strongly vocational courses and the prospect of three years at “London by the sea”. Most undergraduates have a personal tutor who will advise on combinations within the modular degree scheme.

Students have taken to the “managed learning environment”, known as Studentcentral, an interactive service providing online access to teaching materials and other information. Most also like Brighton, although the cost of living is high for those not in hall. There is a lively social scene and part-time work is plentiful. Eastbourne is also surprisingly popular, and both towns offer plentiful accommodation to supplement the university’s stock.

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