University Of The West Of England Bristol

When a whole wave of former polytechnics gained full university status in the 90s, cities and towns were divided. The snobby redbrick Unis were quick to slam their potential rivals (which let’s face it weren’t actually going to be appealing to the others’ customers). Fast forward a couple of decades and while these Unis have made massive headway in terms of courses on offer, results and research developments there is some snobbery which persists in dubbing these second rate universities. Think Bath v Bath Spa, Cardiff v UWIC, Southampton v Solent, Oxford v Oxford Brookes and Bristol v UWE. I have to say though, UWE is a fantastic Uni. Some of the cleverest people I know have graduated from UWE and some of the dumbest from Bristol University. UWE is much more creative than Bristol Uni and in a way is seen as the cooler younger sister. The students tend to be more fun and less stuck up and if I had my choice again, I’d probably opt for UWE (NB Bristol Uni rejected me).

This is the campus for the arts community of UWE. Rather smaller than the main campus of Frenchay, Bower ashton offers all the best facilities for those studying art and design, like the free life drawing sessions that have became so popular. In addition to this, like most university campus there is cheap food and drink available for those who prefer the more relaxed side of being a student.