University of Brighton guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
The past academic year represented the start of a 'new era' for the University of Brighton. The trigger for Brighton's claim is the concentration of the university's teaching and research on the hip coastal city following the closure of its campus in (the slightly more geriatric) Eastbourne, 20 miles along the coast. The transfer of Eastbourne's portfolio of sport and health degrees to Falmer - one of three campuses in Brighton itself - followed a makeover of the campus, which borders the South Downs National Park, to accommodate the influx of students. Falmer is also now home to the new Brighton Sport & Health Complex, containing the UK's largest indoor cricket academy. The university has two further sites in Brighton - City and Moulsecoomb - and a student population of around 17,000, two-thirds of whom come from London and the South East. Brighton has a strong academic reputation. It was a Sunday Times University of the Year as long ago as 1999, and it was the first modern university to be awarded a medical school, run in collaboration with the University of Sussex. The presence of two universities in the city only adds to the lively nightlife.
Paying the bills
The Brighton Boost tops up the standard annual cash bursary payment of £500 made to all students in receipt of the full student maintenance loan with a further £750 accommodation discount in the first year. The second (Boost) part of the bursary is given to those living in a postcode among the 60% considered to be the most deprived - generous parameters compared to other universities. Care leavers from homes with an annual income of up to £25,000 qualify for an enhanced cash bursary in each year of study worth £1,000. The same sum is also paid to students estranged from their parents. There are sports scholarships worth up to £2,500 per year on offer, as well as a variety of other subject-based scholarships that are available to students once they are enrolled. With around 2,500 places in university accommodation, Brighton has rooms to suit most pockets. The cheapest - a standard single with shared bathroom in Varley Park - costs £6,573 for a 39-week let, while Mithras Halls' premium rooms on the Moulsecoomb campus cost £10,140 over the same period.
What's new?
The redevelopment of Brighton's Falmer campus to cope with the student influx from the university's now-closed campus in Eastbourne has created one of the region's biggest hubs for sport and health learning. At its heart is the new Brighton Sport & Health Complex which will be home to the Brighton Cricket Academy, the UK's largest indoor cricket facility, from September. It will provide a world-class training facility for student cricketers of all ages, genders, backgrounds and abilities. The Falmer campus redevelopment has incorporated the new School of Education, Sport and Health Sciences, which will feed around 1,000 Brighton students into careers in the NHS and the wider health sector, making it one of the country's larger providers. In the past year, the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity gave the university its highest three-star 'Enhancing' grade for the quality of a range of health and sport degrees. The School of Business and Law also won the Small Business Charter for combining academic excellence with real-world impact in its work supporting local business and student enterprise. While applications have fallen for the past two years and the number of entrants via Ucas in September 2024 hit its lowest level in the past decade, it is hoped that the concentration of all university courses on Brighton will reverse this trajectory.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Brighton has introduced a contextual offers scheme for admissions in September 2025 to further diversify its intake. Eligible students received an offer 16 Ucas tariff points (equivalent to two A-level grades) below the standard entry requirements for a given course. The university has opted for one of the broader sets of qualification criteria that includes applicants from the 40% of postcodes with the lowest rates of progression to university or the 60% of postcodes considered to be the most deprived under the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Applicants from schools with below-average attainment measured by the Government's Progress 8 score also qualify for a contextual offer, as will pupils at University of Brighton outreach partner schools and colleges. The university takes a proactive approach to student mental health and wellbeing, delivering timetabled wellbeing workshops tailored to courses to prepare students for university. These also help to prevent lower-level concerns escalating into more significant concerns. Student support and guidance tutors are connected to each course and embedded in academic schools, too, while residential wellbeing teams work across all university-managed halls. A disability team connects with the 35% of Brighton students who declare a disability before they arrive and supports them throughout their studies. All staff are required to complete a mental health awareness e-learning module and are encouraged to take safeguarding and suicide prevention training. Acceptance of Brighton's #NeverOK pledge - tackling all forms of harassment, sexual misconduct, violence and abuse - is now part of the student contract.