Chichester, University of

University of Chichester

Age: 172, six as a university

History: Origins can be traced back to 1839, when Bishop Otter College was established as a training school for schoolmasters in Chichester. Bishop Otter College merged with Bognor Regis College in 1977, to form West Sussex Institute and later Chichester Institute. It became University College Chichester with degree-awarding status in 1999 and gained full university status in 2005.

Address: Two campuses. Sports studies, sports therapy, sport and exercise science, adventure education, fine art, dance, music, media studies, theology, social studies and humanities are at Chichester; applied language studies, teacher education, the school of enterprise, management and leadership, and international courses are based at the Bognor Regis campus.

Ambience: Coastal setting close to the South Downs and lovely countryside, with a holiday atmosphere in summer. Heaven for water sports fanatics; Bognor campus has three renovated, Georgian mansion houses. Roman-settled Chichester has an Oxford college-style campus, with a close-knit, community feel.

Vital statistics: A small university with over 4,000 undergraduates and 1,400 postgraduates, one third of which are mature, with lots of sport students.

Added value: Proud of its supportive environment. Hot on teacher education, sport, dance and performing arts.

Easy to get into? Quite; they ask for a minimum of two A level passes, one of which should normally be in a subject relevant to proposed study, and at least 3 passes in additional subjects other than A level, e.g. GCSE level. AS level passes are also accepted. The UCAS points system has been adopted but some subjects may specify grades at GCSE level as well. Advanced GNVQ and BTEC national diplomas are also accepted. Mature students often come via access courses from local further education colleges.

Glittering alumni: Jason Merrills, actor (Casualty and Cutting It).

Transport links: It's easy enough to get from Chichester to Bognor on the university's free bus, but anything further afield is slow. Direct train from London Victoria to Chichester and Bognor takes an hour and a half and there are various road links, notably towards Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton and north to Surrey. Both campuses are 5-10 minutes walk from their respective town centres.

Who's the boss? Professor Clive Behagg is vice-chancellor.

Teaching: A commendable 14th out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Research: 87th out of 115 in the Research Assessment Exercise.

Overall ranking: Came 56th out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Nightlife: There is a student bar on each campus, which host some discos and band nights. At weekends, ravers tend to head for London, Brighton and Portsmouth.

How green is it? Poor – came 82nd out of 133 universities graded by People & Planet for their 'Green League 2010'.

Any accommodation? Yes, at both campuses. Catered halls average £140 per week, whilst self-catered are around £100 per week.

Cheap to live there? Average. Private sector rents are around £70 per week.

Sports Ranking: 55th in the BUCS league table.

Fees: £3,375 per year for full-time undergrads starting in September 2011. In 2012, the university proposes to put this up to £8,500 per year.

Bursaries: The university offers a bursary of up to £3,983 for students with a household income of less than £25,000. There is also a scholarship available to gifted athletes. For more information, visit the university's funding page.

Prospectus: 01243 816 000; www.chi.ac.uk

UCAS code: C58