University in United Kingdom
Chelmsford, England, United Kingdom
University profile
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in the East of England whose story begins in 1858, when John Ruskin opened Cambridge School of Art. It gained university status in 1992, is a higher education corporation and exempt charity regulated by the Office for Students, and has over 44,000 students from more than 185 countries.
ARU teaches on four main campuses: Cambridge, with a health and social care site on Young Street; a riverside campus in Chelmsford, home to Essex's first School of Medicine; ARU Peterborough, opened in 2022 near the city centre; and a 150-hectare countryside campus at Writtle, which joined ARU when Writtle University College merged with the university on 29 February 2024.
Academic work is organised in four faculties:
Notable strengths include music therapy, recognised with the Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2021, the MA Children's Book Illustration, nursing, midwifery and paramedic training, and land-based subjects such as agriculture, horticulture, equine and animal sciences. ARU holds a Gold award in the Teaching Excellence Framework and was named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2023.
Student life centres on ARU Students' Union, which every student joins automatically and which runs over 100 student-led societies plus more than 30 culture, faith and identity societies. Halls are available on or near the Cambridge, Chelmsford and Writtle campuses; Peterborough has no on-campus accommodation.
International students are supported by the International Office, set up in 1992, and an International Orientation Programme. ARU degrees are also taught at partner institutions such as ARU London and University Centre West Anglia, and at ARU Cairo in Egypt from September 2026.
Partner colleges set their own fees. Full details are on the tuition fees page.
International Undergraduate Scholarship: an automatic fee discount for new full-time international students starting a taught bachelor's degree in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Peterborough or Writtle. The lower award is up to £5,000 (£2,000 in Year 1, then £1,000 a year); the higher award is up to £7,000 (£4,000 in Year 1, then £1,000 a year), each year subject to progression. International Postgraduate Scholarship: up to £4,000 for international MBA students or ARU graduates who exceed the minimum entry requirements. Scholarships cannot usually be combined, but a Full Payment Discount of £1,000 applies to new full-time taught students who pay first-year fees in full before teaching starts (by Friday 18 September 2026 for the September 2026 intake). ARU's international page also points to Chevening, the Global Study Awards and Postgrad Solutions bursaries. See international scholarships.
Applicants can apply for more than one scholarship but receive only the highest-value award, except the Alumni Scholarship, which can be combined with some others. Details are on the scholarships and bursaries page.
Support funds include a £400 Digital Support Fund for laptops (household income under £25,000), a Care Leaver Bursary of £1,500 a year (£2,000 in the final year), a £500 GTRSB Bursary, a £500 Placement Travel Bursary for some health students, Work Experience bursaries of £50 to £300, £500 GO! International awards and a Hardship Fund for home students. Funds for September 2026 entrants are confirmed in summer 2026. Many healthcare students can also receive the NHS training grant, and eligible UK students can take government tuition fee loans and the Postgraduate Loan.
Vice Chancellor's PhD Scholarships cover tuition fees and a UKRI-equivalent minimum stipend for 3.5 years (£20,780 a year in 2025/26) on advertised projects, for home-fee students only; the 2026 round closed on 8 February 2026. ESRC-funded studentships are also offered through the CAM-Doctoral Training Partnership. See Vice Chancellor's PhD Scholarships.
International Undergraduate Scholarship →
International Postgraduate Scholarship (including International Alumni Scholarship) →
GREAT Scholarships 2026 at Anglia Ruskin University →
Browse the scholarships listed for Anglia Ruskin University and check each award’s eligibility.
View scholarships for Anglia Ruskin University →Full-time undergraduate applicants apply through UCAS, choosing up to five courses; the personal statement is a maximum of 4,000 characters. For 2026 entry the UCAS equal consideration deadline was 14 January 2026, and UCAS accepts applications until 30 June. From July to September, applicants can apply directly to ARU through Clearing, and January 2027 or later starts also go through UCAS. Part-time and international students apply directly to ARU rather than through UCAS. Students transferring from another university can apply through UCAS for entry into Year 2 or 3 of most courses.
Entry requirements for most courses are shown as a two-point UCAS tariff band (for example 112–96 UCAS points), and applicants whose predicted or achieved points fall within the band are likely to receive an offer. ARU accepts A levels, BTECs, Access to HE and international qualifications, and also considers the personal statement, reference and relevant experience. Contextual offers with reduced requirements may be made to applicants who have faced educational challenges, live in areas of lower university participation, have been in care or received free school meals. Some courses have additional requirements, such as portfolios for art and design.
To enter Year 1, international applicants need GCE A levels from a recognised UK board, an International Baccalaureate with a minimum of 24 points, a university foundation course recognised by ARU, or relevant home-country qualifications listed on ARU's country-specific pages. Applicants from Pakistan must apply through an approved agent. Students who do not yet meet the requirements can take foundation, Year 1 and pre-Masters pathways with ARU's partner ARU College, leading to more than 100 ARU degrees.
Applicants apply directly to ARU through the link on each course page; there is no application fee. Entry is typically a UK honours degree at lower second class (2:2) or an equivalent, with some courses setting different requirements. Decisions can take up to four weeks, so applying at least a month before the start date is advised. Most courses start in September or January.
Applicants typically need a bachelor's degree at 2:1 or above, or a master's degree, in a relevant field, plus a two-page research proposal aligned with ARU expertise; direct PhD registration usually requires a relevant master's degree. International applicants need IELTS Academic 6.5 with 5.5 in each component or a degree from a majority English-speaking country. Deadlines for a September 2026 start were 1 July 2026 (international) and 5 August 2026 (home); for January 2027 they are 2 November 2026 (international) and 4 December 2026 (home).
Student visa applicants must pay a deposit before ARU prepares the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS); deposits usually take up to five working days to clear. For the September 2026 intake, CAS issuing deadlines were 10 July 2026 for Pakistan, Ghana and Iran; 17 July for Bangladesh; 30 July for Sri Lanka, Nepal, some regions of India, Nigeria and Kenya; and 14 August for India and the rest of the world. Students who cannot join their intake can defer to the next one in September, January or May. Student visa holders can work up to 20 hours a week in term time.
East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, close to the historic city centre. Facilities include illustration, photography and computer games studios, a 3D workshop, the Ruskin Gallery and the Mumford Theatre, nursing and paramedic skills labs, a mock operating theatre, the Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Science, a Science SuperLab, a psychology EEG lab, the University Eye Clinic (free eye tests), a Bloomberg Financial Markets Lab and a Law Clinic. The Young Street site (CB1 2LZ) holds clinical skills labs with mock hospital wards and the Music Therapy Centre. Accommodation: Anastasia House, Peter Taylor House and Swinhoe House halls, university shared houses within two miles, and third-party options including CB1, The Railyard, Anglia House, Sedley Court and two floors of Cambridge YMCA.
Bishop Hall Lane, Chelmsford CM1 1SQ, a riverside campus in the University and Innovation Quarter. It houses the School of Medicine with its anatomy suite and GP simulation rooms, the Queen's Building and University Library, the Business School with its Bloomberg Financial Markets Lab, the Sawyers building SuperLabs, the Michael Salmon building medical simulation suites, civil and mechanical engineering labs, nursing and midwifery skills labs, an Early Years Resource Room and the Arise Chelmsford business innovation centre. Students can live in the on-campus Chelmsford Student Village; hospital accommodation across Essex is available to nursing, midwifery and operating department practice students on placement.
University House, Bishops Road, Peterborough PE1 5BW, a purpose-built campus opened in 2022 with a simulated hospital ward, science and engineering labs, offering undergraduate, postgraduate, degree apprenticeship and CPD courses in Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Creative and Digital Arts and Sciences; Engineering, Agri-tech and the Environment; and Health, Education and Social Care. There is no on-campus accommodation; Taverners Hall, a privately managed hall about 25 minutes' walk away, is the suggested option.
Lordship Road, Writtle, Chelmsford CM1 3RR, a 150-hectare countryside campus for university and college students in agriculture, horticulture, animal and equine studies, sport and conservation. Facilities include a working farm with sheep, cows and pigs, research glasshouses, a tropical greenhouse and ornamental gardens, the Postharvest Unit, the Equine Training and Development Centre and Monarch Stables, the Lordship Canine Centre with hydrotherapy, the Titchmarsh Animal Centre, a Pet Behaviour Academy, a veterinary nursing clinical skills area, a Science Centre, a floristry centre and the Centre of Sport and Health. There are 382 rooms in 14 halls of residence (Hamilton, Maddison, Tabor, Dent, Gill, Harvey and Strutt among them), with a campus library, study hub and computer suites.
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