Anglia Ruskin University

By ALASTAIR MCCALL, DAILY MAIL UNIVERSITY GUIDE EDITOR Published: 13:07, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 13:07, 12 August 2026 Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has a true regional footprint, delivering higher education in an area not particularly awash with alternatives. It has grown from its bases in Chelmsford and Cambridge (where there is one notable alternative provider) to encompass Peterborough and - since 2024 - Writtle, adding new provision in agriculture, horticulture, animal science and the environment. There is also a satellite campus: ARU London. The university recruits two thirds of its domestic intake from East Anglia. With more than 2,800 degree apprentices among the near-30,000 undergraduates, it is one of the largest providers of earn-while-you-learn degree apprenticeships in the country. There are more than 40 apprenticeship programmes spanning everything from occupational therapist to data scientist, civil engineer to digital marketer, and ARU works with more than 1,000 regional and national employers to deliver them. There has been significant spending recently on upgrading teaching and learning spaces on the Cambridge and Chelmsford campuses, alongside a £2m investment in immersive learning technologies plus new engineering and robotics laboratories, a supply chain laboratory and enhanced workshop facilities. Two teaching buildings have opened at Peterborough, while Chelmsford's library got a £1.2m refurbishment. ARU is one of a few modern universities to have a medical school and, since the merger with Writtle University College, has the capacity for students to move seamlessly between further and higher education on the same (or sister) campus. The university is one of the biggest providers of health and social care graduates in the country, but is expanding in other areas. It recently won £2.5m from the Office for Students to enhance computer games design provision on the Cambridge campus, meaning it can double enrolment in the subject by 2028. Jobs skills are built into degrees, contributing to ARU outperforming its overall ranking for graduate job prospects and salaries. Your browser does not support iframes. Several thousand students benefit each year from the ARU Bursary, which is worth £300 annually for students from homes with less than £25,000 annual income and £200 for students from homes with income in the range of £25,001 to £42,875. A Digital Support fund pays one-off £400 awards to help with the cost of a laptop for students from homes with less than £25,000 annual income, while care leavers qualify for £1,500 of support annually, rising to £2,000 in their final year. Disability support bursaries of up to £353 go to students from homes with annual household income of up to £42,875 to cover diagnostic tests for specific learning difficulties. ARU also offers placement travel and work experience bursaries. A small number of sports scholarships are offered to the most talented athletes, pitched at £1,400 per year for elite level and up to £12,500 for those at (international) podium level. Students in extreme financial need can tap into the ARU Hardship Funds, which paid a total of £184,866 from 244 awards in 2024-25. Accommodation prices for the university's 1,529 rooms in 2026-27 vary considerably between and within campuses. Cambridge has both the cheapest (£5,298 for 40 weeks in an off-campus university house) and the most expensive rooms (£11,419 for a 42-week contract in a premium studio in the CB1 private development). Prices in the Chelmsford Student Village range from £6,294 to £8,948 for a 40-week tenancy. The only catered accommodation is in Writtle, where meals are offered in the evening, Monday to Friday, and brunch at the weekend) for the 29 weeks of term in a 37-week contract. This costs from £5,945 to £7,318 per year. Peterborough has only private accommodation. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Admissions, teaching and student support With one of the most diverse intakes of any university, ARU has strong support structures to help students succeed. Each is assigned a personal development tutor who can direct them towards specialist support services, including ARU's counselling and wellbeing service. Alongside tutors, trained student peer wellbeing mentors on all campuses promote positive wellbeing, lead on wellbeing campaigns and organise social activities. As well as providing one-to-one support, ARU's counselling and wellbeing service runs a range of workshops throughout the year and has also produced a series of mental health podcasts. The students' union leads on sexual consent and healthy relationships, running an annual SHAG (Sexual Health and Guidance) week each October in conjunction with the NHS and local charities. Students must complete a module that includes information about what does and does not constitute consent and provides the skills and knowledge to be an active bystander against harassment and sexual misconduct. Eligibility criteria for contextual offers include living in a postcode among the 40% with the lowest rates of participation in higher education, receiving free school meals, having a parent in the Armed Forces or going to a school with a Progress 8 attainment score of average or below. Contextual offers are pitched at two grades lower than the standard offer for a given course or are unconditional. ARU's Widening Access to Medicine policy reduces the required grades from AAA to ABB. Some 22% of entrants in September 2025 gained their place with a contextual offer, joining a 40,000-strong student body that is mostly drawn from groups under-represented in higher education.