Overview
The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit, private university in the UK and the oldest of the country’s five private universities. It is located in Buckingham, England, and was founded as the University College at Buckingham (UCB) in 1973, admitting its first students in 1976. It was granted university status by royal charter in 1983. Buckingham offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and doctoral degrees through five “schools” (or faculties) of study.
The university was closely linked to Margaret Thatcher, who as Education Secretary oversaw the creation of the university college in 1973, and as Prime Minister was instrumental in elevating it to a university in 1983 – thus creating the first private university in the UK. When she retired from politics in 1992, Margaret Thatcher became the university’s second chancellor, a post she held until 1998.
The university’s finances for teaching operate entirely on direct student fees and endowments: it does not receive state funding (via HEFCE or otherwise). It has formal charity status as a not-for-profit institution dedicated to the ends of research and education.
The university is a member of the Independent Universities Group, created in January 2015 by eight non-profit and for-profit institutions with degree-awarding powers and/or university titles. The group’s aim is to be “the Russell Group of the alternative sector” and to dissociate its members from more “dodgy” for-profit colleges. The university is one of the twenty-six English universities with a School of Medicine, i.e. it trains doctors at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
5,000 Students
Location
Learning
TEF Rating
Courses Available
- Accounting, Business, Management and Marketing
- Computer Science and Information Technology
- Foreign Studies (Language, Literature and Linguistics)
- Health Professions
- Humanities and Social Sciences
- Law and Legal Studies
Applying
How to Apply?
For International Students
(in lieu of IELTS)
Deadlines and Important Dates
Cost and Scholarships
Types of Scholarships Available
Scholarships
Sheikh / Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Scholarship
| Total Worth | £40,000 |
|---|---|
| Eligibility and Requirements | -- |
| Available for International Students | Yes |
| Application Deadline | -- |
| Other Details | n partnership with Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, this scholarship is for exceptional students from Arabic countries pursuing higher education in the UK. It offers one £40,000 award towards tuition fees for a full-time undergraduate degree in any subject starting in September 2025 |
Swains Scholarship
| Total Worth | up to £5,000 per year |
|---|---|
| Eligibility and Requirements | To apply you must be a resident of Buckinghamshire or Milton Keynes and be able to demonstrate financial need. Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes) Bedfordshire Northamptonshire Oxfordshire Hertfordshire |
| Available for International Students | No |
| Application Deadline | -- |
High Achiever Scholarship
| Total Worth | £2,000 |
|---|---|
| Eligibility and Requirements | is available to undergraduate Home Fee status students (UK students and Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland), achieving AAB or above (or equivalent) in their A-Levels. |
| Available for International Students | No |
| Application Deadline | -- |
| Other Details | An automatic entry scholarship, worth £2,000, is available to undergraduate Home Fee status students (UK students and Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland), achieving AAB or above (or equivalent) in their A-Levels. The scholarship is dependent on you making Buckingham your firm UCAS choice, or making a firm acceptance of a direct offer of a place. This scholarship is not available for Medicine students. |