Leeds Beckett University guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
In key areas of provision, Leeds Beckett offers students outstanding new facilities. Education, law, sport, nursing and health sciences have all seen significant recent investment. Students here are a happy bunch, returning scores in the National Student Survey that are considerably better than its neighbour, the University of Leeds. Student experience, which earned a silver, was the highest-rated aspect in the latest results of the Teaching Excellence Framework. However, the university earned disappointing bronze awards for both its overall rating and for student outcomes. As well as its main city centre campus, Leeds Beckett has a second site in Headingley, which is home to teacher training and sport - two of the areas for which Leeds Beckett is best known. Around half the intake are recruited locally from Yorkshire and the Humber, with 45% coming from homes where parents or carers did not go to university. Leeds Beckett works hard to admit a high proportion of students from backgrounds traditionally under-represented on campus, with its access and widening participation team working with around 10,000 young people in more than 150 schools and colleges each year.
Paying the bills
The bulk of the annual spend on student financial support goes on hardship funds, with students in severe need benefiting from payments of between £100 and £3,500 last year. Subsidised, low-cost hot meals are available at all university catering outlets and a free shuttle bus connects the two campuses. The university has ditched all costs associated with graduation, such as gown and mortar board hire, allowing everyone to celebrate their success. Recent accommodation price rises during the cost-of-living crisis have been limited. Where many universities have increased costs by around 10%, successive annual rises at Leeds Beckett have been held at 2.4% and 4%. The cheapest rooms in The Tannery come in at £6,471 for just over 43 weeks, with the most expensive quarters costing £10,525 for a 44-week let. There are a relatively small number of mostly means-tested scholarships on offer, as well as bursaries for carers, care leavers and students estranged from their families. There is also bursary support of between £200 and £1,000 available for low-income, full-time students when they are on work placements.
What's new?
Caedmon Hall - containing newly refurbished facilities for the Carnegie School of Education on the Headingley campus - will open this year, with huge benefits for the next intakes of teacher trainees. The school, which was recently rated good by Ofsted for both its primary and secondary-age provision, will now have several specialist teacher-training facilities, including a Montessori nursery and early years room; a primary maths flexible teaching space; a science laboratory; an art and design room; and an augmented reality laboratory to simulate everything else. An immersive learning suite is part of the revamped law school that also features a contemporary courtroom and jury room. The new clinical skills facilities in the school of health include a mimicked hospital ward with beds, equipment and simulation manikins to give nursing, sport and exercise therapy and physiotherapy students an authentic learning experience. The new Leeds School of Arts building, equipped with industry-standard kit throughout, opened in 2023 and now hosts more than 3,000 students working on film, television, technology, music and sound, drama, dance and fashion courses. Two new degree apprenticeships in community public health nursing with specialisms in health visiting and school nursing take their first learners this month, joining 15 existing degree apprenticeship courses. Leeds Beckett expects 1,200 apprentice learners on campus by this time next year, representing one of the biggest investments in earn-while-you-learn education anywhere.
Admissions, teaching and student support
The university's contextual admissions policy covers most courses. A progression module, completed by more than 5,000 students over the past decade, is worth 12 Ucas points, and is targeted at schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged children. Around half of the participants have multiple deprivation indicators. The university runs a two-day residential programme to raise university aspirations among black African and black Caribbean children in Year 10. Overall, the access and widening participation team works with 10,000 children a year in more than 150 schools and colleges. Students from under-represented groups are well-supported once they enrol, with the careers team offering them in-curriculum and extra-curricular opportunities throughout the year to help career development. These include meeting representative role models and linking up with employers who are committed to creating inclusive workplaces. A high progression rate from Year 1 to Year 2 of more than 91% is partly achieved through good attendance-monitoring systems and the following up of non-attendance with students to engage with them and provide support.
