Leicester has been enjoying a period of unprecedented success, after many years living in the shadow of the big city universities.

Consistently in the top five in the National Student Survey (NSS) and named as the Times Higher Education University of the Year in 2008, it has shown the scale of its ambitions with a £1-billion development plan.

The Queen opened the university’s new £32-million library in 2008 and another £12 million is being spent on a new students’ union.

The university’s qualities are being recognised by applicants: an impressive 16 per cent rise at the start of 2009 continued a run of increases.

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The NSS showed 100 per cent satisfaction in geology and in electronic and electrical engineering, with 92 per cent of final-year undergraduates across the university declaring themselves satisfied overall with their course.

Postgrad and distance learning

Although Leicester will celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2011, it only approaches the size of other big city universities by dint of rapid growth in postgraduate and distance learning programmes. The 8,000 full-time undergraduates based on the main campus represent much less than half of the student population. Professor Robert Burgess, the Vice-Chancellor, has focused on strengthening research, although the results of official assessments in 2008 showed little improvement on 2001. Leicester entered a much larger proportion of its academics than many of its peers, but the outcome was that less than half of the university’s submission was considered world-leading or internationally excellent. The star performer was the small department of museum studies, which produced the highest proportion of ‘world-leading’ research in any subject at any UK university, with almost two-thirds of its work placed in that top category.

The university has scaled down an initial enthusiasm for two-year Foundation degrees. But efforts continue to broaden Leicester’s intake, for example through a summer school for local teenagers. Nine out of ten undergraduates come from state schools and more than a quarter come from working-class homes, making Leicester the only university in our top 20 to meet both benchmarks. The 7 per cent projected dropout rate is also below the national average fot the university’s courses and entry grades.

Leicester hosts national centres of excellence for teaching and learning in geography, genetics and physics. The university also has a long-established reputation in space science, with Europe’s largest university-based space research facility, including the £52-million National Space Centre.

Health subjects

The medical school, which allows graduates in the health and life sciences to qualify in four years, has among the most modern facilities in Britain. The siting of a medically based interdisciplinary research centre at the university was another indication of strength. The genetics department, where DNA genetic fingerprinting was discovered, has helped make Leicester’s academics among the most cited in Britain, according to Thomson Scientific, which monitors research.

Other than clinical medicine which is taught at the city’s three hospitals, all teaching and much residential accommodation is concentrated in a leafy suburb a mile from the city centre. Its location, adjacent to one of Leicester’s main parks, is popular with students. The new library has doubled the available space and brought the total number of workspaces to 1,500.

Student facilities

The students’ union runs one of the most popular university nightclubs, the Venue. Extensive residential accommodation includes a £21-million 600-bed en-suite development. First years are guaranteed a residential place and many second and third-year students also live in hall, although the majority choose to live in the reasonably priced private accommodation available nearby. The main sports facilities are conveniently located; in 2008-09, students paid £50 a year to use them.

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