Winchester celebrated the arrival of university status in 2005 by making the shortlist for The Times Higher Education Supplement’s inaugural award of University of the Year.

It was quite an achievement for an institution that still has only 3,500 fulltime students and which was a univer-sity college for only a year, but a place among the top 20 universities in the first National Student Survey suggested that the accolade was deserved.

The novelty has since worn off a little, with the university slipping down the student satisfaction table, but applications were still ahead of the national average at the official deadline for courses beginning in 2008.

Dance students were the most satisfied in the country and there were good results in education and English. The university traces its history as an Anglican foundation back to 1840 and has occupied its King Alfred campus since 1862.

Countryside

The compact site is on a wooded hillside overlooking the cathedral city, ten minutes walk away, and with views of the surrounding countryside.

A second centre, which opened in 2003, occupies a large 18thcentury rectory in nearby Basingstoke and concentrates on lifelong learning. It offers Foundation degrees in community and creative industries, cultural studies, education and social sciences.

Known as King Alfred’s College until 2004, the university is still best-known for teacher training, which accounts for about a third of the places.

It is one of the largest providers of primary school training in England, but courses on the main campus also span business, arts, health and social care, and social sciences. Degrees range from choreography and dance, through social work, business, media and teacher training to ethics and spirituality.

Law will be introduced in 2008, along with design for digital media, social work, and childhood, youth and community studies. Street arts, global tourism, sustainable development management, philosophy and health and wellbeing are to follow in 2009.

Ratings

The later teaching quality assessments were excellent, with maximum scores in archaeology and education, and a near-miss in theology and religious studies.

Winchester also outscored many of the former polytechnics in the last Research Assessment Exercise, when an impressive 40 per cent of the academics were entered and both history and theology reached the fifth of the seven categories. The university is particularly proud of its low dropout rate.

At 12 per cent, the last official projection was below the national average for the subjects and entry grades, but the university puts the actual figure lower still. More than 95 per cent of the British students are state-educated and nearly a third are from working-class homes.

Male undergraduates are heavily outnumbered and there are about 150 overseas students from a range of countries. Winchester students can take advantage of exchange schemes with American universities in Maine, Oregon and Wisconsin, as well as with Beppu University in Japan.

Facilities

The main campus is well equipped, with its own theatre, sports hall and fitness suite. Outdoor pitches and a modern sports pavilion are not far away. Joint funding with local authorities and Sport England will soon add an eight-lane athletics track, an all-weather pitch and floodlighting.

A fourstorey University Centre opened in September 2007, transforming the students’ union, adding a nightclub, cinema, catering facilities, a bookshop and a supermarket at a cost of £9 million. A “learning café” creates an informal working space with networked PCs and wireless Internet access.

An award-winning extension to the library had already made room for 200,000 books, 450 study spaces and 150 computers. A £12-million student village provides nearly 1,000 residential places – enough to guarantee accommodation for all first years, as well as those from overseas.

Like most of the newest universities, Winchester makes a virtue of its small size. Professor Joy Carter, the vice-chancellor, will be anxious not to endanger this in the process of capitalising on the institution’s enhanced status. Students value the closeknit atmosphere and find the city livelier than its staid image might suggest, with a number of bars catering to their tastes. London is only an hour away by train and Southampton less than half that for those who hanker after the attractions of a bigger city.

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