Gloucestershire, one of the more recent additions to the list of UK universities, was also the first for more than a century to have formal links with the Church of England.

Although its religious origins have been played down in recent years and students of all faiths are welcomed, the university will maintain an association that includes church appointees on its governing body and Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, as the first Chancellor.

This did not prevent it dropping theology, its top-rated subject with good scores for both teaching and research, at undergraduate level, although a degree in religion, philosophy and ethics was introduced in 2006 and theology itself can now be studied part-time.

The subject had been one of 14 degrees to go in a curriculum review that expanded leisure and tourism, social work and journalism.

Ratings

Before university status in 2001, Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education had been the product of a merger between a church college and the higher education wing of a college of arts and technology.

Teaching ratings were good enough to satisfy the assessors, without being spectacular, and the last research grades showed that Gloucestershire would not be out of place in the university system.

More than 40 per cent of academics were entered for the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise – a figure exceeded by only four former polytechnics – and the average score per member of staff placed the new university seventh among that group for research.

English and theology both achieved grade 4, denoting national excellence in virtually all of the work submitted. After considerable expansion during the 1990s, there are now almost 9,000 students, including 3,200 part-timers, and 1,000 academic and support staff.

The main subject areas are law and IT, business management, the arts, media and design, humanities, the environment, teacher education, leisure and tourism, social sciences and sport.

Industry

The university prides itself on a good range of work placements, which include British Aerospace and Disneyworld. The main campus is on the attractive site of the former College of St Paul and St Mary, a one-time botanical garden a mile outside Cheltenham.

There has also been considerable development of the Gloucester campus, on the site of a former domestic science college which became part of the university in 2002. Although middle-class Cheltenham is a world away from more working-class Gloucester socially, the two centres are only seven miles apart and students are not as isolated as they are in some split-site institutions.

There are also two smaller sites in Cheltenham: Pittville for art and design, and Francis Close Hall for a range of subjects, including tourism. The latter also houses a national centre of excellence in the teaching of geography, environment and related disciplines.

A free bus service links all four sites and also serves Cheltenham railway station. In addition, the Urban Learning Foundation, in London, became part of the university in 2003, providing a very different setting for teacher training courses. Gloucestershire’s intake is as diverse as its locations, with 94 per cent of undergraduates from state schools and nearly a third from working-class homes.

Access

The projected dropout rate has been improving, but the latest projection of 16 per cent, is still worse than the national average for the subjects offered and the students’ entry qualifications. The new and well-equipped sport-oriented Oxstalls campus, in Gloucester, where participation in higher education has always been low, will focus particularly on access initiatives.

The university’s sports facilities include a swimming pool, sports hall and tennis courts, but are not extensive for a university of 9,000 students. Likewise accommodation, with around 1,300 beds, although the university assures its students that it has access to enough private sector places to meet all their needs.

First years are given priority in the allocation of hall places and “enhancement of the student experience” is one of the priorities in the university’s strategic plan. Cheltenham is the livelier of the two bases in terms of nightlife, but neither is dull and facilities are improving.

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