At ARU we're committed to transforming lives through innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial education and research. This year we were delighted that our Research Excellence Framework (REF) and National Student Survey (NSS) results confirmed the impact of that commitment.
Our REF results, published in May, showed the quality of ARU’s research to be ‘world-leading’ across 16 subject areas, a significant increase on the last REF carried out in 2014.
In 2021-22, we also received The Queen’s Anniversary Prize, the highest national honour awarded in UK higher and further education, in recognition of our world-leading music therapy work – in particular our research to help people living with dementia.
As ever, we are extremely proud of our students and their success, and delighted to learn that our scores in the annual National Student Survey had also increased significantly, placing us in the top 20% of similar sized universities for most categories.
We were also delighted to be ranked 1st in the UK and 20th in the world for health and wellbeing in the 2022 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. The rankings measure universities’ progress against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and highlight the real-world impact that institutions have on the communities they serve.
We also entered the final phase of development for ARU Peterborough, a brand-new university for Peterborough that welcomed its first students in September 2022. The university will provide life-changing opportunities for local people who may not previously have considered degree-level study and deliver a skilled workforce to meet employers’ future needs.