About the University
The University of Leeds is acclaimed world-wide for the quality of its teaching and research. One of the largest universities in the UK, Leeds is also one of the most popular among students applying for undergraduate courses. An emphasis on innovative research and investment in high-quality facilities and first-rate infrastructure means that no fewer than 35 departments are rated internationally or nationally 'excellent'.
Its size and international reputation enables the University to offer one of the widest ranges of academic courses in the UK. During the current academic year just under 28,000 students are attached to 700 different first-degree programmes and 400 postgraduate degree programmes. A further 28,000 men and women are enrolled on short courses with the University.
Leeds is now among the top ten universities for research in the UK and is internationally acknowledged as a centre of excellence in a wide range of academic and professional disciplines. Its broad research and skills base and superb facilities attract interest from major multinationals and small local businesses alike. Many of its research initiatives cross traditional subject boundaries and Leeds currently promotes projects through 40 inter-disciplinary centres and seven research schools.
As a result, the University attracts more industrial funding than any other in the UK. It also invests its own resources in helping organisations turn university research into world-class products and services.
From textile industries' invention of the permanent wave for Wella in the 1930s to the development, in the 1990s, of alarms using 'directional sound' to guide people to emergency exits, the University has always been at the forefront of innovation.
