Keele has set itself the goal of becoming the “ultimate 21st-century campus university” and is investing £73 million to provide the necessary facilities.

The broad Foundation course and four-year degree that made the university’s name is a fading memory, but it remains committed to breadth of study in order also to be the leading interdisciplinary institution in Britain.

Eight out of ten students take more than one subject for their degree, usually drawing part of their programme from the other side of the arts–science divide in the first year, and the range of options is still widening.

Among the more outlandish combinations are astrophysics and criminology, or music technology and medicinal chemistry.

Abroad

Most courses provide the opportunity of a semester abroad, which the university would like a quarter of all undergraduates to take.

American studies, education, politics and philosophy all produced perfect scores in teaching assessments, but the many dual honours programmes – especially those featuring politics or music – and international relations are the university’s traditional strengths.

Law is the only subject to be rated internationally outstanding for research, but seven more reached grade 5 in the last assessments. The improvement on the exercise in 1996 helped propel Keele up our League Table, although it has slipped back a little subsequently.

Science subjects have been gaining ground: biosciences and physics both scored well for teaching quality. However, it is in health subjects that the main development has been focused. First degrees in physiotherapy and nursing and midwifery were added to the wellestablished postgraduate medical school.

Medicine

Keele has also been teaching a five-year undergraduate medical course, from which students graduate with a Manchester degree. Some 130 students each year are taught in new facilities on the Keele campus and three miles away at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust.

Students admitted from September 2007 onwards study the new Keele undergraduate degree programme (MB ChB), which is in the process of validation by the GMC. A part-time BSc in osteopathy has been introduced in collaboration with the College of Osteopaths and a well-equipped School of Pharmacy opened in 2006, building on a long-established track record in the subject at postgraduate level.

All Keele’s courses are modular, with the academic year divided into two 15-week semesters, with breaks at Christmas and Easter. The university remains small by modern standards – around 7,600 full-time students – despite 75 per cent growth during the 1990s.

The proportion of postgraduates has also been growing, with a quarter of the students now taking higher degrees. However, there was a 9 per cent drop in applications in 2007 – one of the biggest at any university – when most were enjoying increases.

And the 15 per cent decline at the start of 2008, when the number of choices per applicant had been cut from six to five, was well above average. Keele has had a good record for retaining students, although the projected dropout rate increased dramatically to 15 per cent in the latest statistics – significantly above the benchmark set according to the university’s subjects and entry qualifications.

Access

Nine out of ten undergraduates are state-educated, a figure exceeded by only two traditional universities in England, and more than a quarter come from workingclass homes. Keele has been proactive in trying to broaden its intake, targeting 12- and 13-year-olds with a special website, as well as running masterclasses in local schools and hosting a summer school at the university.

The attractive 617-acre campus near the M6 outside Stoke-on-Trent is the largest in England. Nearly 70 per cent of all undergraduates live on campus, which inevitably dominates the social scene as well as providing part-time employment for hundreds of students.

The students’ union has been refurbished recently, and further improvements are planned under a five-year restructuring. Sports facilities are good, with £100,000 invested recently in refurbished synthetic pitches. The cost of living is also relatively low in the Potteries and the surrounding area.

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