The University of Chester
Many might view the University of Chester as a small, historical, and mediocre university in the middle of nowhere, England. And they would be very, very wrong.
The University of Chester has been around since 1839, first existing as a purpose-built Teachers’ college before re-establishing itself as an institution. The University still holds onto many of the values that helped build it, but is very open to change and has been adapting to the current realities in the world. In Chester, it’s not just about lectures and degrees but also about a community that respects its past and future.
The History and Legacy of The University Of Chester
The University of Chester originated as the UK’s first purpose-built teacher training college and still serves as its foundational commitment to the education and nurture of students today. The institution was established by a group of local Church of England figures, including future Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, in a desire to equip everyone with the skills to shape society.
What began in the early 1800s with just ten male student teachers in Parkgate Road has steadily evolved. Even though the university remains rooted in the location, it has expanded over more than a hundred years. Over these years, Chester has evolved in both name and nature, from Chester Diocesan Training College to Chester College of Higher Education, and finally achieved full university status in 2005. From being a purely educational training institute to accepting arts and later science curriculum into its syllabus. The University might have changed a lot, but through all these changes, its core principles: academic integrity, inclusivity, and a strong support system, have remained constant.
The University offers an impressive range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs across several disciplines. With both single and joint honours available for several programs, and spread across several specialist campuses.
A Track Record of Academic Excellence
It is not about history and legacy alone at Chester University, though the institution is on the path to becoming a nationally renowned academic institution. This was seen in their performance at the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), where over half of their submitted research was rated as either world-leading or internationally excellent. That kind of recognition doesn’t happen by accident.
The University also has a reputation as the number one university in the Northwest of England. Channeling its roots, it also has the reputation of being the number one for lecturers and teaching quality, at least according to the students’ choice awards. A testament to how study-oriented their policies and structures are.
To add to its accolades, Chester has also earned top honors for its postgraduate education. Also, according to the same Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2024, the university ranked first in the UK for Postgraduate Study, a distinction that reflects the great quality of its master’s and doctoral programs. The accolade also speaks to their meaningful support structures for their postgraduate community.
A Strategic Approach To Global Goals
The institution follows a student ethos that lies in a distinct Citizen Student Strategy, a guide of seven themes that guides the university’s approach to its goals. Rather than focusing solely on grades and academic curriculum, the framework promotes an environment that is more strategic, forward-thinking, and supportive. The aim? To help students flourish intellectually, personally, and socially, and become the world’s best along the way.
Whether it be improving the students’ learning and academic experience, improving the institute’s research excellence, civic activities to the community, enhancing their infrastructure and effort towards sustainability, strengthening staff development, increasing financial resilience, and overall increasing their ranking in the global world ranking
Multiple Campus, Multiple Facilities
The University of Chester offers a very immersive academic environment for students with multiple locations spread across six main campuses within the city. Each of these locations is rife with its own personality and purpose.
1. Exton Park (formerly Parkgate Road): The original and still main campus of the institute, often referred to as the heartbeat of the university. Just a ten-minute walk from Chester’s historic city centre, the campus is home to several academic departments and key student services. Facilities like the Seaborne Library and Student Union bar the dining hall and campus cafés, the campus is more than just classrooms. Exton also boasts excellent sports facilities, including a gym, swimming pool, running track, and different courts and pitches.
Many of the major support services, such as the Careers, Disability Support, Mental Health & Wellbeing, and even the University Chapel, are all housed on the campus.
2. Bache Hall: This campus is tailored for Chester Medical School students. The Hall is equipped with the necessary modern laboratories and research facilities that medical students need. The Clinical skills labs and simulation rooms provide students with the medical training they need to thrive outside school
3. Kingsway: Kingsway is known as the Creatives Campus. A modern contemporary campus packed with custom-designed spaces for every creative field, from fashion design to photography, and graphic design to fine art. The campus also has multiple specialized studios, 3D workshops, dance floors, music rooms, animation and podcast suites, which make it a center of artistic expression. Add the outdoor amphitheatre, an on-site café with Starbucks, and study zones at every second corner, and you’ve got a space built to inspire creatives.
4. Queen’s Park: This particular campus is home to the University’s award-winning Business School. Queens combines modern facilities such as lecture theatres, private study areas, and high-spec computer labs, with a bespoke business-focused library. The campus also has collaborative meeting spaces and a student centre.
5. Wheeler (Riverside): Wheeler is nestled near the River Dee, and like Bache Hall, is known for its health and medical training facilities. Students have access to realistic simulation suites that mimic real-life environments from patient homes to care clinics, by virtual reality technology. The campus also hosts law and policing programs, which makes it a multidisciplinary campus center.
6. Gateway House: Gateway is situated in Chester’s cultural quarter. The campus is the university’s media centre, featuring courses like Journalism and creative writing for students. It is equipped with Apple Mac newsrooms, podcast rooms, HD camera studios, green screens, and editing suites. Students also have access to borrowable production gear, from mobile filming kits to professional microphones, that can be used to learn real techniques. Some of their key facilities include a Music Magazine Archive and a cozy common-room library that adds character to the campus.
Other than the Chester campuses, the University of Chester also has campus sites in Warrington, Birkenhead, and a centre in Shrewsbury.
Considering students’ needs, the institution also has available multiple accommodations within and outside the campuses for first-year students. This helps them adapt better to the university society before deciding to move and find their space.
The University of Chester is also known for its accommodation of International students. The institute has accepted undergraduate and postgraduate students from across the world, easily guiding them through visa and safe onboarding requirements into the United Kingdom.
Chester might not rank as high as Universities such as Harvard and Cambridge. But its strong sense of legacy and purpose, student-centric approach, and great academic training make it one of the good schools to consider when studying in the United Kingdom.
Location: University of Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, United Kingdom
Price Range: £9,250
£10,750 – £14,500
