University of Liverpool guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Applications are booming at Liverpool. One of the redbrick universities founded in the late 19th century, the university retains the civic mission that characterised these institutions at their launch. Committed to social diversity, it recruits 89% of its UK students from state schools, and one third of students come from homes where the parents did not go to university. Its city centre campus adjoins that of Liverpool John Moores University, creating a huge university precinct at the heart of the city. Dentistry, veterinary medicine, nursing, architecture and engineering are some of the subjects the university is best known for. Liverpool demonstrates strength across multiple disciplines, but business and law are among the top picks in our subject rankings. Although popular in its home region, Liverpool recruits strongly from across the UK with 1,170 of the record 6,750 UK recruits in September 2024 coming from London and the South East. Liverpool was one of the Russell Group universities that vastly increased its domestic intake of students last year to offset anticipated falls in overseas students. Numbers were up by 23.7% from the level seen just two years before, beating even the pandemic years of inflated university admissions.
Paying the bills
The Liverpool bursary offers financial support to students from homes with an annual household income of up to £35,000. Where income is at £25,000 or below, students receive a £2,000 annual bursary, dropping to £750 per year when income is between £25,001 and £35,000. Recipients are also eligible for a 10% discount on first-year university hall fees. Undiscounted accommodation prices in the Greenbank student village or City campus residences typically range from £6,757 to £10,371 per year for a 39-week contract in self-catered rooms. There is a limited amount of catered accommodation available in Vine Court, costing £10,153 for the same length of tenancy. Further bursaries are available for students estranged from their parents (worth £1,000 per year and a 10% first-year accommodation discount), young carers (worth £1,000 per year for those from a home with an annual income of £35,000 or less) and care leavers (£3,000 per year with a 10% first-year accommodation discount). The Rigby Enterprise Award, worth £5,000 per year, is open to UK students who come from homes with an annual income of £25,000 or less and who have taken part in a Liverpool outreach programme or the national Realising Opportunities scheme. Alongside the £957,000 paid out in hardship support in 2023-24, Liverpool's student support package totals more than £10m a year and supports at least one in four students.
What's new?
The highly regarded School of Architecture's extension is due to open in 2026, which will add virtual-reality suites, digital-design suites, collaborative workspaces and a new teaching and exhibition area. In keeping with the university's focus on sustainability, the extension uses sustainable materials which fit with the wider colour scheme of the university precinct in a nod to Liverpool's redbrick heritage. Liverpool ranks 16th among UK universities (and 88th in the world) in the latest Times Higher Education impact rankings, measuring alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The university launched its Interdisciplinary Centre for Sustainability Research last year to support teams of researchers from different subjects within the university and beyond who can collectively tackle the SDGs. The Sir Peter Rigby Centre for Enterprise was opened just last October, too. The Liverpudlian entrepreneur and philanthropist has bankrolled a new scholarship programme (see Paying the bills above) in addition to funding this new centre which provides co-working space - as well as a podcast studio and event hub - for students, graduates and staff to develop ventures and engage with industry experts. Two new BA degrees in economics, offered with or without a year in industry, are planned for September 2026.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Liverpool has one of the more diverse student intakes among the elite Russell Group universities. It has an extensive partnership with local schools, sixth forms and colleges. Schools with higher-than-average numbers of free school meal recipients are among those targeted by the Liverpool Scholars outreach programme. A contextual admissions scheme, in place since 2021, for all subjects except for foundation-year courses cuts up to two A-level grades (or the equivalent) from standard entry requirements for students who are care leavers or who come from homes in the 20% of postcodes with the lowest rates of progression to higher education. Liverpool Scholars participants also qualify for an offer reduced by two grades. The Liverpool Plus programme of pastoral and academic support targets students who have taken part in widening-participation initiatives or who meet certain access criteria. As well as the chance to get paid work as Liverpool Advocates, they are also given priority for work experience and study abroad workshops, as well as a programme of help with transitioning to university and study skills sessions. Pastoral, wellbeing and mental health support for all students is available centrally, through residential advisers, wardens in halls, learning and teaching support officers, and student experience teams within academic schools. Wellbeing advisers act as a first point of contact, offering on-the-day and ongoing help backed up by a programme of group work including anxiety and low-mood clinics. The university's counselling service provides a variety of interventions including cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) and art therapy. The university works in partnership with Health Assured, which has a 24-hour confidential phoneline staffed by trained counsellors.