Issue 146

Swansea Popular Destination for Students

09th October 2006

Record number of new student Swansea University has welcomed more than 2,750 new first year degree students this year, a record for the university.

Over the last five years, the number of students applying to the university has increased significantly and this year the University has had its best ever year with a 10c increase in applications against a UK fall of around 3c.

Sam Kay, 18, from Cardiff, studying English and Language Studies, said: " I chose Swansea because it's far enough from home for me to have my independence, but close enough to home and my family- I can still go home for Sunday dinner! I also chose Swansea because of the beach and the nice relaxed atmosphere here."

This year also saw a record number of students accepting Swansea offers as their first choice, and meeting the conditions of their offers. This has meant that the university has been able to further improve the quality of its student intake.

Almost all subjects at Swansea have seen an increase in applications and some appear to have bucked a UK trend. English saw a rise of 21c against a UK decline of 4c, Business a substantial 45c rise against a UK decline of 3c, and Physics a 23c rise against a UK rise of only 2c.

Although it had been reported that there had been a drop in students taking up modern foreign languages, Swansea University has seen a 26c rise against a UK decline of 8c in German, and a rise of 11c against a UK decline of 6c in Spanish.

Professor Rhys Williams, the University's Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Admissions, said: "We are delighted with the record number of high quality admissions this year, which reflects the rise in Swansea's popularity."

In August, the 2006 National Student Survey, which is an annual review of what students think about their courses, showed that Swansea students rated the University highly in each of the categories, which included teaching quality, academic support, management, resources and personal development. Students were more than satisfied and rated 70c of the University's courses in the top 25c nationwide.

Professor Rhys Williams finished by stating that: "The University has a well deserved reputation for teaching and research and, combined with our outstanding location on Swansea Bay, it's not hard to see why students are drawn in greater numbers each year to study and live here."

Jason Sannegadu