About us

Who we are

Bath Spa University is home to the Professionally Creative.

We believe that creativity is our human superpower and therefore we embed creativity, curiosity and confidence in everything we do. Professional Creativity is at the heart of our purpose and planning, and we are increasingly seen as a creative lead in the West of England and more widely.

We teach and research across art, sciences, education, social sciences, and business and employ outstanding creative professionals who support our aim to be a leading educational institution in creativity, culture and enterprise.

“BSU will give you the skills and support you need to find and follow your passion.”

– Professor Sue Rigby, Vice-Chancellor, Bath Spa University

We were delighted to have been awarded the University of the Year for Social Inclusion by The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024, in recognition of our commitment to welcoming and empowering students from a diverse range of backgrounds.

With 8000 students (7000 Bath based students and 1000 in London) and 1200 members of staff, the Bath Spa University community (like the values which underpin our brand) is respectful, inclusive and collaborative, supported by a laser-like focus on financial sustainability.

We are a teaching-led institution, and our undergraduate and post graduate degrees range from cyber-security to fine art, law to wildlife conservation, creative writing to teaching. We have developed our portfolio to meet applicant and employer demand, and last year had over 15,000 applicants for our full-time, Bath-based provision.

We have a long and distinguished history of teacher-training and provide teachers to the local region and nationally via PGCE, SCITT and Teach First routes. Our innovative short courses have reached over 1000 students since we launched our programmes three years ago and are a growing element of our portfolio.

Bath Spa University teaches from our campuses across Bath, from our centre in London and in partnership with our franchise institutions across England and internationally in UAE, Malta and China. In a recent Higher Education Policy Institute report, our collaboration with New City College in London was spotlighted as an example of an innovative partnership between further and higher education.

Our last REF produced the best results in our history, and our metrics of esteem and income in REF and KEF are improving steadily. We are TEF silver, with a realistic ambition to be gold at the next exercise. The many positive changes we have made within the university are not reflected in recent league tables. We expect our standing to improve rapidly once the changes we have made in our curriculum offer are visible in our employability statistics. We have made significant investment in improving the quality of data we provide to OfS, but there is still plenty of work to be done.

Bath Spa University has achieved strong financial performance over recent years, driven by the income diversification strategy endorsed by the senior leadership and the board. This income diversification has not relied on international expansion or recruitment – the decline of which has affected much of the sector.

Our rapid expansion of teaching has allowed us to remain financially sustainable whilst most of the sector is struggling:

“With admissions up by 1.5% to a new high last September, Bath Spa University seems to be avoiding the Kryptonite.”

– The Daily Mail, September 2024.

However, this naturally carries a degree of risk as our work becomes more complex and innovative.

This puts BSU in an investment-ready position which is counter to where many HEIs currently are and our ambitious capital programme funded by the return from our diversification has been formulated to underpin our sustainability by targeting student facilities and infrastructure in a way to secure future financial performance.

Cash balances are healthy, asset base is strong, borrowing is low and financial sustainability is embedded in our decision-making.

We have made significant investments and divestments in our estates and campuses in Bath and London over the last five years and we are planning to build a second facility at our Locksbrook campus by 2028. Our strategic intention is to rationalise delivery of teaching to three campuses: Newton Park, Locksbrook Road, and BSU London (Hackney). We are in the 1st class category of the People and Planet league table, the UK’s only comprehensive and independent league table to rate universities on their environmental and ethical performance, the 17th Greenest University in the UK and aims to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Our state-of-the-art Locksbrook Campus is a truly inspirational place for creativity to flourish. Located next to the River Avon in Bath city centre, Locksbrook is an open-plan building with technical workshops surrounded by flexible studio spaces, as well as spacious social areas. Locksbrook has received both a RIBA South West Award and RIBA National Award, recognising and celebrating this inspirational space, in which our students and staff come together to design, make, do, create and learn.

We’re proud to be a certified member of Social Enterprise UK – the leading global authority and largest network of social enterprises in the UK. In 2022, Bath Spa University was awarded the Social Enterprise Gold Mark in recognition of our outstanding work as a social enterprise. BSU was the first university in the South West to be awarded the Gold Mark, and fifth in the whole of the UK.

As we approach our 20th anniversary in the summer of 2025, Bath Spa University has huge potential. We have a dynamic, innovative and ambitious culture.  We operate on a more stable financial footing than many comparable universities, and we have a robust balance sheet.  We are looking for a financially astute, authentic and compassionate leader, someone who has empathy, clarity and drive who can take us forward into our next chapter.

The Students Union asked students what they would change if they were Vice-Chancellor for the day.  A summary of the feedback is encapsulated in the word cloud below