University of Winchester guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
The four years since the opening of the West Downs Centre - a sustainable development that acts as a gateway to both the city of Winchester and its university - have seen the highest number of applications in the university's history. This game-changing development is home to the faculty of business and digital technologies. The university has come a long way from its foundation more than 180 years ago as a teacher training college, although teacher training remains a key component of its 21st-century offering. An overall silver in the latest Teaching Excellence Framework assessments was accompanied by praise for outstanding student support and the embedding of employability skills into the curriculum. Alongside teachers, Winchester turns out large numbers of graduates into nursing, social work and many other health and public service professions. The King Alfred Quarter, the university's main campus, is a short walk from both the West Downs campus and the pretty centre of this prosperous cathedral city. The campus contains an attractive mix of old and new buildings and houses many departments, the social hub, the library and the Queens Road and Burma Road student villages.
Paying the bills
Four in 10 students benefit from Winchester's mostly small bursaries and scholarships. By far the largest number receive a bursary of £200 per year, which is paid automatically to all students from homes with an income of less than £25,000. There are larger annual bursaries for care leavers and estranged students (£2,000 per year plus a further £1,000 on graduation), and carers and travellers (£500 per year plus a further £500 on graduation). Up to 20 Become Scholarships worth £500 per year and £500 on course completion are paid to students from minority ethnic groups taking undergraduate professional degree programmes in education, health and wellbeing. Students need at least BBB at A-level (or equivalent) to be eligible. A further five PGCE students from minority ethnic groups get a £1,000 scholarship and access to mentoring. Two students per year will qualify for each of the music and sport excellence awards worth £500 per year of study. Winchester is unusual in offering both catered and self-catered student accommodation. A 31-week term-time-only contract with food comes in at £6,271, while self-catered deals start at £5,479 for a 38-week tenancy and rise to £7,924 for the best rooms on a 40-week deal.
What's new?
The university earned three silvers in the latest results of the Teaching Excellence Framework published in the past year. These cover Winchester's overall rating, student experience and student outcomes. The assessing panel rated the vast majority of provision as very high quality but said the embedding of employability skills across the curriculum and the level of student support provided were outstanding features. The Martial Rose Library on the main King Alfred campus is undergoing an extensive renovation to bring it up to the standard of the recently opened West Downs library on the university's secondary campus. The aim of the project is to create a new central hub for students with collaborative working spaces in the modern style, new seminar rooms, retreat rooms and virtual interview rooms. If this is not enough to put a smile on the faces of students, the appointment in February of actor and comedian Hugh Dennis as chancellor of the university just might. The largely ceremonial role is most likely to bring him into contact with students at graduation ceremonies.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Our measure of social inclusion - the proportion of students who are the first in their immediate family to go to university - is Winchester's strongest-performing indicator in our ranking, a reflection of the efforts to which the university goes to reach students traditionally under-represented on campus. It uses a Compact scheme run in partnership with 39 schools and sixth form colleges in the immediate region. Students applying from these schools and colleges are guaranteed an offer of a place for non-interview subjects, or an interview for the relevant subjects, if they meet specified social and economic criteria that include being a first-generation student; being from a black, Asian or other minority ethnic family; being from a home with a low income; or having been in care. A reduced offer can be requested under the scheme. Winchester's bursary packages specifically target many of the under-represented groups from which the university actively seeks recruits. Supporting mental health, wellbeing and positive relationships lies at the heart of Winchester's Welcome Week activities. There are compulsory induction sessions that cover sexual consent; racial, sexual and social tolerance; and drugs and alcohol use and abuse. All students have personal academic tutors who receive annual training on supporting students, and mental wellbeing workshops run throughout the year. These cover, among other themes, managing anxiety and stress; presentation skills; and 'Looking after your mate'. A Winchester wellbeing app provides support and guidance at all points.
