Manchester, University of

University of Manchester

Age: 187

History: Founded in 1824 and incorporated UMIST, a.k.a. the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, in 2004.

Address: Half a mile from Manchester city centre.

Ambience: Buildings range from grand Victorian, to sixties dreary, to eighties towering blocks, to brand new laboratories. Combines city life with campus community: urban vitality with friendliness. A massive £600m renovation is underway.

Vital statistics: One of the great traditional civic universities, it has around 28,000 undergraduates, balancing numbers between arts and sciences, and around 11,000 postgraduates. Has good reputation for research.

Added value: Runs the Jodrell Bank science centre, the Planetarium and the Arboretum, as well as the Whitworth art gallery and the Manchester museum. Third biggest academic library in the UK and the second biggest careers service.

Easy to get into? Competitive, though the university considers all applications on their individual merit.

Glittering alumni: Anna Ford, former BBC and ITN newscaster; The Chemical Brothers, DJs/musicians; Anthony Burgess, writer; Robert Bolt, playwright; Peter Maxwell Davies, composer.

Transport links: Two mainline train stations - Manchester Piccadilly for London and the south, and Manchester Victoria for almost everywhere else.

Who's the boss? Dame Nancy Rothwell, vice-chancellor, is a British physiologist and academic. She took over in July 2010.

Teaching: Came 106th out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Research: Ranked 6th out of 115 in the Research Assessment Excercise.

Overall ranking: Ranked 29th out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Nightlife: Old Cotton Exchange is now the nationally renowned Royal Exchange theatre. Good clubbing scene. Live venues all over the city. Tasty curries and Chinese nosh. University has the new Contact theatre on the campus, as well as a film club. The Academy attracts hot bands.

How green is it? Not great - 89th out of 138 universities graded by People and Planet for their 'Green League 2011', an assessment of environmental performance.

Any accommodation? Yes. A place in self-catering will set you back anything between £79 and £139 per week. Accommodation is guaranteed for most undergraduates.

Cheap to live there? Wallet-friendly, with private rents around £50 to £70 per week.

Sports ranking: 9th in the BUCS league.

Fees: £3,375 per year for full-time undergrads starting in 2011. Manchester plans on charging the maximum tuition fee of £9,000 per year as of 2012.

Bursaries: A bursary of £1,250 per year is available to undergrads with a household income of up to £25,000. There are also a number of excellence and sports scholarships. In 2012, the university claims more than a third of students will recieve bursaries of up to £3,000 each per year.

Prospectus: 0161 275 2077; www.manchester.ac.uk/

UCAS code: M20 MANU