Edinburgh Building
Chester Road
Sunderland SR1 3SD

Tel 0191 515 3000

student-helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

www.sunderland.ac.uk

Sunday Times ranking 80 (80)

Teaching excellence 41.7%

Student satisfaction 72.8%

Head teacher ranking 119=

Peer ranking 103

Research quality 24.5%

A/AS-level points 241

A-levels for entry 60%

Unemployment 8.4%

Firsts and 2:1s 47.1%

Student/staff ratio 16.6:1

Dropout rate 19% (17%)

Undergraduates 7,749 (9,580)

Postgraduates 1,847 (1,190)

Teaching staff 438

Applications/places 10,470/2,208; 4.7:1 (no change)

Clearing entry 18.7%

Bursaries 100%: £333-£833

Scholarships Variable

EU/overseas 3%/2.3%

Mature 23.1%

State school 97%

Lowest social classes 42%

Low-participation areas 37%

Live in 15% (100%) £40-£119

Sunderland boasts an excellent record for widening access to higher education. Its well developed outreach programmes achieve one of the highest proportions of students drawn from areas with no track record in higher education and from the lower social classes. The university achieves this without a disappointing dropout rate. The one in five who fail to complete their course is close to funding council expectations.

An innovative bursary system effectively discounts all students’ degrees by £333 a year from the basic £3,070 annual cost of tuition. A further £500 annual payment is offered to those from families with a residual income below £37,425. There are excellence scholarships in many subjects for outstanding candidates.

The original 1960s campus has been overshadowed by a new riverside development, named after one of the university’s principal benefactors, Sir Tom Cowie. This is home to the school of business, law and psychology and also the David Goldman Informatics Centre. Dubbed a computing cathedral, it has a 600-workstation floor which is open around the clock for most of the year. The media centre is also based here, part of a £50m investment in recent years. The centre allows students to experience real-life work situations while following a range of journalism, public relations and new media degrees.

A Student Gateway has just been completed on the City campus, with a satellite operating on the Sir Tom Cowie site. These two centres bring all student support services together in one place. Further work to upgrade the City campus is under way, creating new sports and social spaces and upgrading the main Murray library.

The university has enjoyed recent success in teaching quality assessments, with healthcare provision to the fore. Seven of the 10 top-rated teaching subjects relate to Sunderland’s health and social care provision. Its research profile is also among the strongest in its sector.

Since gaining city status in 1992, the same year as the university came into being, Sunderland has been totally made over. It has improving social and retail options, its football club is back in the Premiership and the northeast’s only 50m pool opens here next year.

It’s so good that even Sunderland AFC’s manager Roy Keane cannot understand why Wags (footballers’ wives and girlfriends) tend to gravitate to London.

Open days October 10; February 23, 2008; June 25; August 21.

Student view Chris Spithray, students’ union vice-president:

USP Tutors are enthusiastic about their subjects and are genuinely keen to help.

Worst feature Shopping in Sunderland is still a bit limited.

Location Campuses are spread out through the town, linked by a free bus service. Durham and Newcastle are about 20 minutes away.

Social scene The student union has partnerships with local clubs and the town centre itself is a cracking night out.

Rated excellent (10) Allied health professions (podiatry); anatomy and physiology; applied social work; business and management; communication and media studies; history; molecular biosciences; nursing; organismal biosciences; pharmacy and pharmacology.

Student satisfaction 72.8% Law 91.0; Medical Science and Pharmacy 81.0; History and Archeology 79.1; Biology and related Sciences 77.1; Media studies 75.4; Business 74.9; English-based studies 74.4; Psychology 73.0; Finance and Accounting 72.6; Teacher Training 70.5; Social Work 69.5; Communications and Information studies 67.2; Art and Design 67.1; Computer Science 67.0; Other Creative Arts 66.4; Sociology, Social Policy and Anthropology 58.2

Times recommends

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