There is something very special about SWANSEA UNIVERSITY. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales, which means it has over 100 years behind it now. It became known as Swansea University back in 2007.

It’s actually the third largest university in Wales in terms of number of students. It currently offers about 330 undergraduate courses and 120 post-graduate courses to 20,375 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

And it’s those students who have just given Swansea University the prestigious “WHATUNI” Student Choice Awards nomination as 70 per cent of students nationwide report satisfaction with courses.

The University has been recognised for excellence in diversity and inclusion during the pandemic with a nomination in this years awards.

The annual awards – taking place for the 8th time – highlight the work done by institutions to support their students, and celebrate resilience, innovation and diversity within higher education.  Uniquely, the nominees and winners are selected by students themselves, and judged by a specially chosen panel made up of prospective and current university students.

A nationwide review collection conducted alongside the awards showed that more than 70 per cent of students agreed that their university course represented ‘value for money’ over the past year, even with the challenges presented by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Swansea University was nominated in the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ category – for championing diversity and inclusion among students even in the face of the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

IDP Connect is the strategic partner of choice for institutions seeking access to engaged student communities. As part of IDP Education, the world leader in student recruitment, IDP Connect uses its global expertise, data-driven insights and trusted human connections to match universities, schools and colleges with the right students from around the world.

Simon Emmett, CEO at IDP Connect told us…….

“The past twelve months have been incredibly difficult for universities and their students, and the Whatuni Student Choice Awards are a chance to recognise those institutions who have excelled in supporting their students even in the face of a global pandemic. This year has thrown up some real surprises, with some smaller institutions winning across all categories.

“To be nominated in the Diversity & Inclusion category shows that Swansea University has risen to the challenge of championing diversity, inclusion and equality and enabled students to thrive in the most difficult of circumstances”.

Angela Rapley, Head of Brand and Content at IDP, said……..

“It was fantastic to see the judging panel with students gathered from across the country. Two big things struck us as the students reviewed the nominations. Firstly, that those universities that performed best were those whom the panel viewed to be putting the support of students at the heart of what they did. But more striking is the fact that a big majority of those students surveyed thought their university had provided value for money over the last year. 

Institutions were invited to submit applications for the Whatuni Student Choice Awards, with over 100 nominations received by the judging panel.

The finalists in each category were as follows:

Diversity & Inclusion:                      Leeds Trinity University (winner)
Swansea University
Newcastle University

Enhanced Graduate Outcome:          Norland College (winner)
Teesside University
De Montfort University

Student Support:                              UCEN Manchester (winner)
Middlesex University
Oxford Business School

Excellence in Digital Innovation:       University of Chester (winner)
Teesside University
De Montfort University

Swansea University has 8 colleges spread across its two campuses which are right on the coastline of Swansea Bay. The Singleton Park Campus is set in the grounds of Singleton Park to the west of the city centre. The £450 million Bay Campus, which opened in September 2015, is located adjacent to Jersey Marine Beach to the east of Swansea city centre which is in the Neath Port Talbot Area.

In 2017, Hillary Rodham Clinton received an honorary doctorate at Swansea University and unveiled a commemorative stone to mark the renaming of the College of Law to the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law.

Hilary has really good things to say about the University, which you can see in the video below, made by the team at Swansea Uni TV.