Swansea became independent of the University of Wales in 2007, although its students will continue to receive the federal university’s degrees for the foreseeable future.

As the student union president noted, most people already used the new title of Swansea University, but independence is intended to reflect confidence in the future, as well as helping with international recruitment and research partnerships.

The university’s attractive coastal location and accessibility to students from outside Wales already made it a natural alternative to the Welsh capital for thousands of applicants – so much so that in a poll of 10,000 students, Swansea won the Times Higher Education Supplement’s inaugural award for the best student experience in the UK.

The university also did well in the first three national student satisfaction surveys, finishing in the top 20 in 2007.

Education and sports science students were among the most satisfied in the country. Applications were healthy until the beginning of 2008 when, in common with the rest of Wales, the university saw a big decline with the switch from six choices per candidate to five.

Languages

A wide variety of new courses have been introduced as part of a development plan stressing language combinations. There are now about 500 degree courses in the modular scheme, and undergraduates are encouraged to stray outside their specialist area in their first year.

Swansea takes its European interests seriously, with links to more than 90 Continental institutions. The new law school offers options in European and international law, while both arts and science students can undertake some of their studies abroad.

Swansea has won European funding for some of its projects, including Graduate Opportunities Wales, which steers students towards small firms through industrial placements and vacation jobs.

The most important academic development, however, has come with the opening of the Swansea Clinical School, more than 30 years after the first attempt to secure approval for a medical school.

The university already had a postgraduate school, but collaboration with University of Wales College of Medicine and Swansea NHS Trust saw the Welsh Assembly back plans for 50 undergraduates to begin training in 2001. The “fast track” programme will allow 70 graduates to qualify as doctors in four years rather than five. About half of the subjects assessed for teaching quality received Excellent ratings.

Strengths

Swansea counts physical sciences, management and languages among its strengths, and all branches of engineering are highly rated. Civil engineering was the only top-rated subject in the last research assessments, but a third of the researchers were placed in one of the top two grades.

Despite its international links, Swansea has not forgotten its local responsibilities. A Community University of the Valleys offers part-time courses for mature students as part of the effort to regenerate the area. Compacts with the region’s schools encourage students in areas of economic disadvantage to aspire to higher education. The immediate locality is far from depressing, however.

The attractive parkland campus two miles from the centre of Swansea overlooks the sea and offers ready access to the Gower Peninsula, the UK’s first area of outstanding natural beauty. Apart from Singleton Abbey, the neo-Gothic mansion which houses the administration, most of the buildings are modern.

Development

The newest is the £50-million sixstorey Institute of Life Science, the research arm of the School of Medicine, which is home to the IBM “Blue C” Supercomputer, one of the fastest computers in the world dedicated to life science research. Another recent addition is the £4.3-million Digital Technium Building, housing the media and communication studies department.

Swansea makes a particular effort to cater for disabled students, which are coordinated through a £250,000 assessment and training centre.

Other access measures have been successful: more than a quarter of the undergraduates come from workingclass homes, while the 15 per cent from areas sending few students to higher education and the 92 per cent share of places going to applicants from state schools and colleges are both higher than the funding council’s benchmark for the institution.

The projected dropout rate is a respectable 11 per cent. Sports facilities are good. An Olympicsized swimming pool, a new athletics track, all-weather pitches and gym are all helping to attract top performers. The 1,800 computers available for student use represent one of the best ratios at any university.

Another 350 hall places opening in September will take the total over 3,000 . The city has a reasonable range of leisure facilities, but the campus itself is the focus of social life.

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