Clearing Profile: Sunderland University

AGE 11

HISTORY

Many and various. School of science and art merged with a tech and a training college to become one of the UK's first polytechnics. Became a university in 1992.

ADDRESS

Scattered across the Tyne and Wear conurbation.

AMBIENCE

Chester Road campus in the city centre is mostly early-Sixties blocks. It's being refurbished, with a new student centre opening in December. The campus at St Peter's is a fairly new glass, wood and concrete structure on the site of former shipyards on the River Wear. Its new media centre opened last year.

VITAL STATISTICS

Makes a point of attracting local students. Access scheme offers places to mature students without A-levels.

PLUS POINTS

Each school has a computer resource centre and the computing school's 800 computers are open 24 hours a day.

GLITTERING ALUMNI

Steve Cram; Allan Ahlberg.

TRANSPORT LINKS

Good train links around the North-east. Coaches carry you cheaply to many destinations. Inter-campus travel on Metro rapid- transit system.

TEACHING

Scored 20 out of 24 for politics, psychology and sports science; 21 for sociology, education, art and design, performance studies, history of art and music; 22 for media studies and pharmacy and pharmacology; 23 for physiology and nursing; 24 for biological sciences.

RESEARCH

Came joint 81st out of 106 in the 2001 research assessment, tied with Napier. Awarded 4 (top grade is 5) in English, history, and art and design.

NIGHTLIFE

Manor Quay bar is the main venue.

CHEAP TO LIVE IN?

£46.50-£60 a week in halls without food. £78 a week to rent a two-bedroom riverside house.

PROSPECTUS

0191 515 3000; www.sunderland.ac.uk

CLEARING

The hotlines run from 18-31 August: 8am-8pm weekdays, 10am-4pm at weekends and Bank Holiday Monday. Updated courses and application details are available on www.sunderland.ac.uk.

Open Day is 26 August. Visitors can find out about courses and view the facilities. There will also be a one-stop service, enabling students to get course information, arrange accommodation and discuss finance.

A drop-in service on the Chester Road site offers course information and advice. It's open 8am-8pm in the first week (10am-1pm on Saturday and Sunday), and 9am-5pm until 3 September.

Clearing vacancies: A wide range of courses will be available through Clearing, although some of the education courses (particularly secondary) are already full.

STUDENT HELPLINE

0191 515 3000