Keele University guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Set on a parkland campus near Stoke-on-Trent, Keele offers a different university experience. There is a strong accent on sustainability and Keele was named Global Sustainability Institution of the Year at the Green Gown awards in 2021. It is consistently popular and has only twice admitted more students through Ucas than the 2,945 who gained a place in September last year. A multi-faculty institution, Keele has a significant presence in medicine and healthcare, which now accounts for around one third of admissions. A new veterinary medicine school operated with Harper Adams University, and a sports science degree, are among notable recent additions. All courses have a four-year option involving study abroad or a placement. Keele gained an overall gold rating in the latest Teaching Excellence Framework, making it one of just 15 institutions to do so in both 2023 and 2017. The responsive Access & Success bursary scheme invites students to pitch what they need financial support for rather than handing out a set sum. Like many other universities, Keele has experienced job losses in the past year, with humanities and social sciences bearing the brunt. However, no courses have closed, and the university says staff/student ratios remain favourable.
Paying the bills
Keele's Access & Success fund paid out £1.5m in 2023-24 and is the main vehicle for financial support. It pays out varying sums to applicants, up to a maximum of £1,500 per year, to cover costs from gym memberships and laptops to childcare and travel for internships. Applicants from homes with an annual income of less than £25,000 are eligible to apply, plus care leavers; carers; mature students; those estranged from their parents; black, Asian and minority ethnic students; refugees; and those who are disabled or transgender. Anyone from these groups must come from homes with an annual income of less than £62,347 to apply for a payment. A separate care leavers and estranged students bursary, worth £1,000 a year and a further £500 upon graduation, is also provided. Several privately funded scholarships are available, too. A hardship fund offers a maximum payment of £2,500 to students in unexpected and severe financial need, and an emergency food voucher scheme was introduced in response to the cost-of-living crisis. The near-2,700 places in university accommodation are priced between £4,639 for a standard room with shared kitchen and bathroom and £8,818 for a superior ensuite room, both with 38-week tenancies.
What's new?
Recent investment in facilities has upgraded the teaching and learning experience for two key groups of students. Sports and exercise science students have access to new exercise physiology and human performance laboratories, housed in the university's sports centre. Students in the faculty of medicine and health sciences, meanwhile, are now taught in a new healthcare simulation suite, opened at the start of the 2024-25 academic year. A hospital ward, GP surgery, operating theatre and CT scanner suite are among the simulated environments that can be created. The opening in January of the Keele in Town teaching, learning and community space in Newcastle-under-Lyme has brought the university out of its countryside campus and into its nearest town for the first time. As well as being a place where students and staff can work flexibly and host community events, university partners (both business and academic) can also make use of the space. With 16 existing degree apprenticeship programmes available and more than 700 apprentice learners enrolled, Keele is one of the UK's leading providers of learn-while-you-earn higher education. There are plans to add a further four options - geoscientist, leadership and management professional, speech and language therapist and occupational therapist - during the upcoming academic year.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Keele takes a whole-community approach to student wellbeing, with everyone expected to play their part. All academic schools have a dedicated student experience and support officer, who is the first point of contact for students throughout their studies and is introduced to them during induction. They offer a personalised gateway to early intervention and referral to specialist services where needed. Staff with an academic mentor role must complete training which includes sections on mental health and wellbeing. Peer support is available in the form of resident advisers, welcome buddies and peer mental health supporters who can help students with low-level needs. Keele is rare in requiring all students to complete a pre-arrival induction module that covers consent and racial, social and sexual tolerance, alongside student wellbeing and how to stay healthy. Compulsory hall welcome talks tackle drug and alcohol use and misuse and how to be an active bystander. All residential advisers are trained to be active bystanders. Contextual offers are made for all Keele courses, including medicine, which operates the Steps2Medicine outreach programme to help diversify the medical sector. Standard offers are reduced by one grade for healthcare courses and by two grades elsewhere. More than one in three students were admitted in September 2024 with a contextual offer. This proportion is growing due to broad eligibility criteria, which includes attending a state school and living in a postcode among the 40% considered most deprived or from which fewest go to university; receiving free school meals; or being the first in their immediate family to go to university.