Nottingham, University of

(Flickr (imanka))

Overall ranking: Placed 25th out of 126 in the Complete University Guide for 2016.

History: Founded in 1881 when its first civic college opened and awarded its Royal Charter in 1948. Previous award-winner of university of the year.

Address: The University Park campus of 330 landscaped acres sits on the western edge of the city while the Jubilee campus is one mile away. Sutton Bonington campus is 10 miles into the countryside and from 2006 became home to the first new UK school of veterinary science for more than 50 years. Several satellite nursing sites in and around Nottingham. There's a Malaysian campus in Kuala Lumpur and another close to Shanghai in China.

Ambience: Rural with a mix of architecture. The city centre is a short bus ride away and a tram network connects the heart of the city with the parkland campus. Previously ranked in the top two most environmentally friendly campuses worldwide and a 2008 city winner of Britain in Bloom. Nottingham itself is cosmopolitan with a compact centre and top quality culture, nightlife and heritage.

Who's the boss? Professor David Greenaway from the university’s School of Economics was appointed as vice-chancellor in October 2008.

Prospectus: 0115 951 5559 or request one here.

UCAS code: N84

What you need to know

Easy to get into? Competitive. Biology asks for AAB or ABB while a typical Politics offer is AAB. The proportion of students from low-income households has risen consistently in recent years.

Vital statistics: A booming institution that is growing in student numbers with almost 34,000 based in Nottingham, over 29,000 of which are full-time undergrads. More than 350 undergrad degrees are offered. Big international presence- the University of Nottingham branches in Malaysia and China total up to over 9,500 students. One of 24 Russell Group universities dedicated to academic excellence in teaching and research.

Added value: Bristling with high-tech equipment, it has undergone countless recent developments including the construction of three new landmark buildings and the 60m high steel Aspire- the tallest piece of public artwork in the UK. Top sports facilities feature a £2.4m sports centre on Sutton Bonington Campus that opened in 2008. There's a centre dedicated to research into DH Lawrence and a new Engineering and Science Centre opened in 2011 with 10 new lecture theatres and flexible work spaces. The £4.5m School of Health Sciences centre opened at Derby Hospital in May 2013, and later the in the year the university opened the Rio Tinto Centre for Emergent Technologies, studying efficient energy, waste reduction and capital productivity. Upcoming developments include £4.8m worth of new sports facilites, and a new £19m Engineering and Science Library. Nottingham boasts an array of new courses too, including: BA (Hons) accountancy and finance; BA (Hons) modern languages with translation; and architecture (ARB/RIBA Part II). New postgraduate courses include PhD molecular pharmacology and drug discovery; MTec chemical engineering and MRes food science and engineering. A system of on-campus residences serves as social, cultural and sporting hubs for students. All rooms are wired for workstations and have their own phones.

Teaching: Came 68th out of 126 in the Complete University Guide for student satisfaction.

Graduate prospects: Placed 18th with 79.2 per cent finding graduate level employment on completing their degrees.

Any accommodation? Yes- a place in halls is guaranteed to all first-years. You can choose between self-catered- with rents varying between £4407 for a shared study room in a catered hall (for 31 weeks), and £6769 for a large self-catered en-suite studio. Click here to find out about the accommodation on offer at Nottingham.

Cheap to live there? Most student houses come at a discounted rent with averages for Nottingham ranging from £65 to £190 per week usually exclusive of bills.

Transport links: Good rail links with trains to London every 30 minutes. East Midlands Airport is a hub for low cost airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet- located 13 miles from the city. Late night buses service the city.

Fees: Nottingham has been charging the maximum tuition fee of £9,000 per year for home and EU undergrads since 2012.

Bursaries: Students from families earning less than £42,600 can receive up to £3,000 in bursaries. Click here to find out more.

The fun stuff

Nightlife: Famed for its student nights, it's a groovy place for clubbers.

Price of a pint: You can find ales from just under £2 if you're lucky but generally pints cost about £3 on average.

Sporting reputation: Great- ranked 7th in the BUCS league at present.

Notable societies: Flair for learning awesome bartending skills such as spinning bottles and cocktail-making; Hula Hoop Society for, well, hula-hooping, Hide and Soc for playing classic childhood games; and MassageSoc for relaxing after all that activity.

Glittering alumni: D H Lawrence; Dr Stewart Adams, creator of Ibuprofen; former Radio One controller Matthew Bannister; Sir Bob Phillis, late chairman of Guardian Media Group; Tim Brabants, canoeist and Olympic gold medallist in the 2008 Olympic Games; David Florence, canoeist and Olympic silver medallist in the 2008 Olympic Games; Ruth Wilson, lead actress in the 2006 BBC production of Jane Eyre; Helen Willets, BBC national weather broadcaster; Deng YaPing, former Chinese Olympic table tennis player; and Anne Panter, member of the GB hockey team and bronze medallist at the London Olympics.

Alternative prospectus: Check out what current and recent students make of their university experience at Nottingham on Which? University here.