The University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol) is a public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, which received university status in 1992. In common with the University of Bristol and University of Bath, it can trace its origins to the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College, founded as a school in 1595 by the Society of Merchant Venturers.
UWE Bristol is made up of several campuses in Greater Bristol. Frenchay Campus is the largest campus in terms of student numbers, as most of its courses are based there. City campus provides courses in the creative and cultural industries, and is made up of Bower Ashton Studios, Arnolfini, Spike Island, and Watershed. The institution is affiliated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and validates its higher education courses. Frenchay Campus and Glenside Campus are home to most of the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, with a further Adult Nursing cohort based at Gloucester Campus. Hartpury Campus provides training in animal sciences, sport, equine, agriculture and conservation. In 2018, the Teaching Excellence Framework awarded the university Gold.
UWE Bristol was ranked within the top 30 universities in the UK by The Guardian University Guide 2020. UWE Bristol is only one of four universities in the UK to have a University Enterprise Zone providing space for over 70 businesses, and the largest UK robotics lab.
The 2018 Teaching Excellence Framework, a government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities, awarded the University with a Gold rating. In 2017, UWE Bristol was ranked as one of the top 150 universities in the world under 50 in THE Times’ ranking. In 2019, it ranked 464th among the universities around the world by SCImago Institutions Rankings.
Ofsted reports have rated UWE Bristol’s primary, secondary and further education initial teacher training (ITT) courses as good.