Keele University

Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university located about 3 miles (5 km) from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Keele was granted university status by Royal Charter in 1962 and was founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire. A science park and a conference centre complement the academic buildings, making it the largest campus university in the UK. The university’s School of Medicine operates the clinical part of its courses from a separate campus at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. The School of Nursing and Midwifery is based at the nearby Clinical Education Centre.

The university occupies a 625-acre (250 ha) rural campus close to the village of Keele and consists of extensive woods, lakes and Keele Hall set in Staffordshire Potteries. The estate was originally given by King Henry II of England to the Knights Templars in 1180. When the Templars were condemned and dissolved by the Council of Vienne in 1311, their possessions were annexed by the Knights Hospitallers until their dissolution by Henry VIII. The estate was purchased from the Crown by the Sneyd family and remained their property until its acquisition by the Stoke-on-Trent Corporation in 1948. Cambridge and Oxford Extension Lectures had been arranged in the Potteries since the 1890s but outside any organised educational framework or establishment. In 1904, funds were raised by local industrialists to support teaching by the creation of a North Staffordshire College, but the project, without the backing of Staffordshire County Council, was abandoned.

By the late 1930s, the Staffordshire towns of Longton, Fenton, Burslem, and Hanley had grown into the largest conurbation without some form of university provision. A large area including Staffordshire, Shropshire and parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire did not have its own university. Stoke, in particular, demanded highly qualified graduates for the regional pottery and mining industries and also additional social workers, teachers and administrators. A. D. Lindsay, Professor of Philosophy and Master of Balliol College, Oxford, was a strong advocate of working-class adult education, and suggested a “people’s university” in an address to the North Staffordshire Workers’ Educational Association in 1925.

The University scored particularly well in Public health, Health services and Primary care. Medical research includes detecting Parkinson’s disease early and using Stem cell research to aid the healing process. The cochlear implant was developed in the Department of Communication and Neuroscience at Keele. Other notable medical pursuits include attempts to explain the evolution of the human brain, looking into links between cannabis and mental illness (cited in the debate on 2009 reclassification debate), as well as tumour and cancer research. In August 2009, university astronomers, led by David Anderson, discovered the first planet that orbits in the opposite direction to the spin of its star. The planet was named WASP-17b. In 2010 Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston won the Ig Nobel prize for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain. In 2010 a medical centre in Newport, Shropshire was completed, for students to learn in real medical situations and research medical sciences.

TEF Rating

TEF Gold is awarded to institutions that consistently deliver outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for their students.

Courses Available

• Accounting, Business, Management and Marketing
• Biology and Biomedical Sciences
• Computer Science and Information Technology
• Health Professions
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Law and Legal Studies
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Natural Sciences
• Visual and Performing Arts

How to Apply?

Accepts UCAS

For International Students

Types of Scholarships Available

Scholarships