Northumbria consistently ranks among the leading universities created out of the polytechnics and a £136-million investment in its city centre campus is gradually producing facilities to match.

The first phase was completed in 2007, when 9,000 design, law and business students moved into the new City Campus East development, which is linked to the existing main campus by an iconic new footbridge spanning Newcastle’s central motorway.

The next phase, which will take until 2010, will turn the main site into the first fully pedestrianised, green campus in a city centre.

The library has already had a £6-million refurbishment and the new development will include a £20-million sports centre, which is due to open in 2009.

There are now 27,000 UK students and 3,500 more taking franchised courses in other countries. More than half of the students are from the North of England.

Northumbria was one of the few universities to see a significant increase in applications at the official for courses beginning in 2008, despite the cut in the number of choices per candidate.

Demand

The demand for places has been growing for most of the decade. Entry grades for those with A levels are among the highest in the new universities, but more than half of the students are admitted with other qualifications or on the strength of relevant work experience.

Free one-day taster courses run between January and July to give local people an idea of what a university course would be like. There is also a network of feeder colleges encouraging applications from adults without traditional academic qualifications. More than 20 per cent of students are from areas with little tradition of higher education, while almost a third come from working-class homes.

The 16 per cent projected dropout rate is just above the benchmark for Northumbria’s courses and entry grades. Health subjects have now overtaken business studies in terms of student numbers and have been highly successful in teaching assessments: nursing achieved Northumbria’s first maximum score and, like modern languages and physics, health subjects managed 23 points out of 24.

Feedback

Education also managed maximum points and followed up with a glowing report from the Office for Standards in Education, which places it in the top category for primary training and secondary design and technology. The university also has a national centre of excellence in assessment, building on Northumbria’s attempts to give students more constructive feedback and teaching them how to assess themselves as future professionals.

The university has not been especially successful in the National Student Surveys, but physical geography and environmental science have produced some of the best scores for their subjects. The majority of subjects will continue to be based in the city centre, with health, education and community studies on the Coach Lane campus on the outskirts of the city, where £18 million has been spent upgrading facilities.

Coach Lane now incorporates a learning resources centre with a fully integrated library, a clinical skills centre and new sports facilities, as well as teaching and seminar rooms. Northumbria’s best-known feature is its School of Design, which scooped the top national award for fashion design in 2006, but 17 subjects reached the equivalent of an “excellent” rating in teaching assessments.

Ratings

Five of the university’s academics have won National Teaching Fellowships. Research ratings improved in 2001, but only psychology and art and design reached the top three grades. Many degrees are available as sandwich courses, with placements of up to a year in business or industry.

Law and business studies have the highest entrance requirements. Sport plays a growing role: Northumbria is consistently among the top ten in the British Universities Sports Association rankings. The sports scholarship programme has supported over 200 athletes from over 40 sports in the past ten years, some going on to success at the highest level.

All new first years are offered places in university accommodation if they apply “in good time”, while others are assisted by the accommodation office. Two large residential developments with en-suite rooms opened in September 2005, bringing the total stock to 3,500 places, and there is a plentiful supply of privately rented flats and houses.

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