University of Exeter

By ALASTAIR MCCALL, DAILY MAIL UNIVERSITY GUIDE EDITOR Published: 13:06, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 13:06, 12 August 2026 Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Exeter was a strong contender for our University of the Year award and a five-place rise in its overall ranking at the business end of our league table tells only part of the story behind its success. For an institution that continues to be a firm favourite of the privately educated, it manages to recruit an extraordinarily socially diverse cohort of students. It has more degree apprentices on campus than any other Russell Group university, delivering earn-while-you-learn degrees without the student debt. And 36% of last year's intake qualified for a contextual offer of two to three grades below standard entry requirements in acknowledgement of various social, economic or educational disadvantages. This level of diversity saw Exeter named University of the Year at the 2025 UK Social Mobility Awards. The breadth of Exeter's appeal pushed up applications and admissions by 16% and 20% respectively to new highs in September 2025. The university is investing heavily in facilities - everything from new 120 and 60-seater computer teaching labs to a new £6m sports changing facility at the Duckes Meadow sports site, from the new Sarah Turvill Multifaith Centre to creating additional space for face-to-face wellbeing appointments and counselling sessions. Skills development has been built into all degrees with communication, collaboration, critical thinking and digital confidence embedded into core learning. The university has two campuses in Exeter: the main Streatham campus is considered to be one of the UK's most beautiful and has the majority of students. A second Exeter site, St Luke's, is home to the medical school, and there is a third campus at Penryn in Cornwall, shared with Falmouth University. Your browser does not support iframes. Around one in six Exeter students benefit from its Access to Exeter Bursary, paid automatically to all students from homes with less than £35,000 residual annual income. It is worth £2,370 in 2026-27 to students from homes where residual household income is less than £16,000, falling to £1,380 where income is between £16,000 and £25,000, £880 (£25,000-£30,000) and finally £520 (£30,000-£35,000). Accommodation bursaries of £1,000 are paid to all students in university accommodation who are from homes with less than £25,000 annual income, while a discount of £750 is available to those from homes with annual income of up to £42,875. UK care leavers are eligible for a full tuition fee waiver, worth £10,050 in 2026-27 as well as a £1,000 annual bursary for up to four years of study (or five years for medics). There are generous sports scholarships and bursaries for those who will add to Exeter's outstanding track record in inter-university sport, as well as choral scholarships - one of which is offered by Exeter Cathedral. The university has a plentiful supply of accommodation. In Exeter, prices for self-catered rooms are £6,118 for a 42-week tenancy at Rowancroft Court and Mews, and the most expensive Holland Hall studios go for £10,789 for a 44-week let. Catered rooms cost between £6,789 and £10,789 for a 32-week contract. In Penryn, self-catered rooms range between £5,986 on-campus and £9,302 for off-campus rooms, managed by a private operator. Catered rooms in the Glasney Student Village cost between £8,327 and £10,321, with breakfast and dinner provided for 36 weeks of the 40-week contract. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Admissions, teaching and student support Exeter seeks to open up its high-achieving culture and Russell Group quality education to the widest possible audience. It expects 4,500 degree apprentices to be enrolled by September 2027 across a programme of 22 courses, of which options for leadership and management professionals and accountancy professionals have been added. It offers a range of BSc STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) degrees with foundation years that have significantly lower entry requirements and provides outstanding support for those who come to the university from non-standard backgrounds. Over one third of students who began their studies at Exeter in September 2025 had a contextual offer. All applicants from state schools who live in postcodes among the 40% that send the fewest students to university, or among the 40% considered to be the most deprived get a two-grade discount. Students who have received free school meals get the same reduction, while applicants from Exeter progression programmes and those who are care experienced get offers up to three grades below the standard requirements. Much of the student support is delivered through the Success for All programme, which seeks to level the playing field for students who may not have had the social, educational or economic advantages of some. It includes an enhanced transition and induction programme, peer mentoring support for students from under-represented groups, paid internships and bespoke employment consultancy for those who meet widening participation criteria as well as access to international employability experiences through the Global Leaders Scheme. Wellbeing and mental health are prioritised for all students. Staff, regardless of their role, are given training in mental health awareness and suicide prevention to better equip them to support students. This blanket approach is unusual and a strong response to several student suicides over the past decade. To keep students safe on campus, Exeter has introduced equality, diversity and inclusion training for them, alongside consent awareness training. Bystander intervention training also takes place throughout the year and is mandatory for all sports club committee members. This has resulted in a significant decrease in sexual violence/harassment-related incidents.