Wolverhampton, University of

University of Wolverhampton

Age: 80 years, 19 of them as a university.

History: Roots go back to the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Technical College, built in 1931 in the grounds of the deanery of St Peter's Collegiate Church. A merger with a local art college followed and Wolverhampton Poly was born in 1969. More mergers with teacher training institutions came in the eighties and it became a university in 1992.

Address: Three campuses in Wolverhampton – one campus in the city centre, one a couple of miles away in Compton Park and the Science Park at the north of the city. There are also sites in Walsall, Telford and Burton-upon-Trent.

Ambience: An unpretentious university attracting a large and largely local student body. The modern city campus has the Millennium City building, the Harrison Learning Centre, a hi-tech Technology Centre and a new teaching and administrative building. Compton Park is set in a leafy suburb, Walsall has world-class sports facilities and the new student village, and Telford has the swanky multi-million pound Innovative Product Development Centre and e-Innovation Centre.

Vital statistics: One of the larger universities with more than 23,000 students, of whom around 20,000 are undergraduates, 7,000 are part-time, and 4,500 are postgrad. Two thirds of students are over 25 and nearly three quarters are from the West Midlands.

Added value: Offers a course in deaf studies and facilities for students with hearing problems are generally good. The university’s Walsall Campus sports centre has been named as an official training base for the 2012 Olympics. The university continues its successful focus on employability, with excellent business links, collaborative working and opportunities for students to gain experience. A Dean of Students has strengthened all of the University's student support services. The university is a leading partner of the government-backed Wolverhampton India Project, supporting education, trade and culture.

Easy to get into? Courses ask for anything between 140 and 300 UCAS points.

Glittering alumni: Trevor Beattie, advertising guru; Clare Teal, jazz singer; Mark O'Shea, TV reptile expert.

Transport links: Free shuttle buses between campuses. Wolverhampton's good for trains (the station is ten minutes from the City campus), metro and coaches.

Who's the boss? Professor Caroline Gipps, an educationist, became the university's first female vice-chancellor in 2005.

Teaching: 99th out of 116 in the 2010 Complete University Guide.

Research: 86th out of 115 in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Overall ranking: 102nd out of 113 in the 2010 Complete University Guide.

Nightlife: Wolverhampton and Walsall are well-stocked with pubs and cinema screens; Birmingham is well-stocked with just about everything. The students’ union has a good relationship with local bars and clubs and there are regular student offers.

How green is it? Not great – came joint 80th out of 142 universities graded by People and Planet for its ‘Green League 2011’.

Any accommodation? Yes. It's between £64 and £95 per week for a self-catering room in halls.

Cheap to live there? According to the Push guide, Wolverhampton is consistently one of the cheapest places to live. Private rents are between £55 and £75 per week for a room in a shared house.

Sports ranking: 99th in the BUCS league table.

Fees: £3,375 per year for full-time home undergrads starting in 2011. Most courses will cost £8,500 per year as of 2012.

Bursaries: The Sport Achievement Scholarship is worth up to £3,000 over three years.

Prospectus: 0800 953 3222; www.wlv.ac.uk

UCAS code: W75