University of Bath guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Bath celebrates its 60th birthday next year and is one of the great success stories of the 1960s generation of universities, shortlisted for our UK University of the Year 2026 award for its all-round strength and excellence. Those origins are betrayed by the acres of concrete on its hillside campus, which sit alongside plenty of modern academic and residential developments. Bath also boasts some of the best sports facilities in the UK - Team Bath is one of the big hitters in the university sports leagues - with many international-class athletes basing themselves here during their studies. Ever-present in the elite top ten of our ranking, the university is best known for science, engineering and business - and for its graduates getting well-paid and high-quality jobs. This success is hard-won, with two-thirds of students completing either a placement or study abroad year to make them more rounded graduates. It was our 2024 University of the Year for Graduate Jobs. For the second successive year, both applications and admissions have hit record levels. Applications for admission in September 2024 were up by 11% on the year before and by a whopping 40% on pre-pandemic levels, while admissions were up by more than 20% on 2019 levels.
Paying the bills
Bath is unusual in that it offers support to students from families with an annual income of up to £62,343. It keeps its biggest first-year accommodation discounts - worth £1,300 - for students from homes with an annual income in the range of £30,001 to £42,875. Students from homes with an annual income of £42,876 to £62,343 get £620 off their room bill. Bath bursaries are paid to all from homes with an annual income of less than £30,000. This includes a £750 accommodation discount in the first year together with a £1,000 cash payment and £1,000 in food and drink vouchers, issued in the form of campus credit. Students awarded the Bath bursary continue to get £1,000 in cash and a £1,000 credit for food and drink on campus in their later years of study - and there is even support given to those on paid and unpaid placement years. Up to 50 Gold scholarships are awarded annually to students from homes with an annual income of less than £30,000 who meet additional contextual admissions criteria. These include having received free school meals or living in an area of relative deprivation. These are worth up to £5,000 per year, split between cash, campus credit and accommodation discounts. The new Claverton scholarship, open to Bath bursary recipients, offers an additional £750 of support in the second and third year to students willing to undertake a programme of employability support and personal and professional development. The university has 4,500 student rooms, which range in price from £5,890 for 38 weeks to £13,158 for 51 weeks in self-catered accommodation. Catered rooms cost from £5,385 to £10,656, with eat and drink credits supplied for the 33 weeks of term-time in the 38-week contract.
What's new?
With UK tuition fees rising, it is hard to overstate Bath's success in the graduate jobs market at a time when student focus is increasingly turned towards a cost-benefit analysis of their university years. More Bath graduates end up in high-skilled jobs (92%) than those from Cambridge (91%) and Oxford (89%). This success is no accident, and the university recently showcased the success of James Courtney, who set up his Lux Rewards restaurant loyalty card scheme with support from Bath's student enterprise programme as a 21-year-old undergraduate in 2015. Its recent sale for an eight-figure sum to global software company, Enigmatic Smile, made Courtney a millionaire. 'The support from... the University of Bath was crucial in getting us here,' he said after the sale. 'I'm proud to say that a start-up from Bath can take on the world.' If supporting Courtney was a gamble, Bath's investment in the GW4 Isambard 3 supercomputer is a safe one. In collaboration with Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff universities, the supercomputer, housed on the Bristol and Bath Science Park, went live in December 2024. It will drive research into clean energy by designing optimal configurations of wind farms on land and at sea and modelling fusion reactors. A refurbishment of the Student Support Centre, which now offers walk-in access to advisers, was completed in September 2024, after students gave their input into the final design.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Bath works closely with charities including The Brilliant Club, Brightside and IntoUniversity to identify students from all backgrounds who are likely to succeed at university. For example, sixth-form students who complete The Brilliant Club's Scholars Programme to a suitable standard are guaranteed an alternative offer. About one in six students gained places in September 2024 through Bath's contextual offers scheme - worth a two-grade cut from the standard offer for most courses - which is triggered by a variety of circumstances. These include receiving free school meals between the ages of 11 and 16; being a young carer or care-experienced; and being estranged from your parents. Students from these groups have access to dedicated staff within Bath's student support and safeguarding team. Recipients of Gold scholarships (see Paying the bills above) get access to mentoring; personal development, networking and skills training sessions; help with placements and internships; and pastoral support. The mental health and wellbeing services available are extensive, helping both students with moderate to severe mental health difficulties and those with low mood and anxiety via a range of therapies and interventions. Bath is one of just 17 universities to hold the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter Award, which recognises its holistic approach to tackling mental health problems. Student support offers help with adjusting to university life, low self-esteem and loneliness. The Be Well, Talk Now confidential telephone service operates 24 hours a day, all year round. New students are also expected to complete an online training course in active consent and a further interactive session as part of the #NeverOK initiative, covering racial, sexual and social tolerance.