Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough Campus (Guild House)

Our story starts in 1858, when the art critic, patron and philanthropist John Ruskin opened Cambridge School of Art. The art school grew to become Anglia Ruskin University, shortened to ARU, and it’s still at the heart of our modern-day campus in Cambridge.

Becoming ARU
Over the years, a number of colleges and institutes have become part of ARU. They include the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology (CCAT) and the Essex Institute of Higher Education (formerly the Chelmer Institute – itself formed from the Mid-Essex Technical College and the Brentwood College of Education). At first, these colleges combined to become Anglia Polytechnic, and then Anglia Polytechnic University in 1992.

We’re proud to count graduates of all these institutions among our alumni.

Four main campuses
As well as Cambridge, we have campuses in Chelmsford, London and Peterborough. Our Chelmsford campus was originally in the city centre but moved to a new, purpose-built site in 1992. Today, you’ll find our striking, modern buildings nestled by the river in the city’s University and Innovation Quarter. Meanwhile, our campus at Guild House, Peterborough opened in 2011. It’s a dedicated health, social care and education site where we train many of our region’s nurses and social workers.

In 2015 we were pleased to introduce a new campus in the heart of London, where students study subjects including business, law and finance at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

We’ve invested over £115 million in our campuses in recent years. Cambridge benefitted from a major redevelopment in 2011, and in 2014 we completed work on our dedicated healthcare site on Young Street. It houses state-of-the-art clinical skills labs including mock hospital wards. Young Street is also home to our specialist Music Therapy Centre. In 2018, we opened a brand new Science Centre and a Law Clinic.

Meanwhile, in Chelmsford we’ve embarked upon an ambitious programme of development. In 1995, Her Majesty The Queen opened the fittingly named Queen’s building, which is home to the University Library. It’s since been joined by (among others) our eye-catching Lord Ashcroft building; Sawyers Building with its SuperLabs; the Michael Salmon Building, which houses cutting-edge medical simulation suites; and Arise Chelmsford, which offers labs, workshops and office space to small businesses in the medical and advanced engineering sectors. The most recent major development is our School of Medicine, which opened in September 2018, and is training the region's future doctors in a purpose-built space featuring state-of-the-art skills facilities.

Looking to the future, we're proud to be involved in establishing ARU Peterborough – a brand new university for the city which will open its doors in September 2022.

ARU is an innovative global university with students from 185 countries coming to study with us. We've once again been named as one of the top 350 institutions in the world in The Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2020.

Our community is incredibly important to us, and we're proud of the role we play in our cities and the wider region – including the positive effect on jobs and the local economy.*

Students, businesses, and partners benefit from outstanding facilities, which include our new School of Medicine in Chelmsford, and Science Centre in Cambridge. Many of our facilities, activities and events are open to the wider community.

Ambition
We’re not only academically ambitious for ourselves but for our students. We’ve been named one of the top 350 institutions in the world in the Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings 2020, for the fourth successive year.

Students are at the heart of our University, and we're delighted that our final-year undergraduates also rate their educational experience highly

Excellence
We’re ranked in the top 20 universities for teaching excellence in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2017, with six subjects in the top 10 UK higher education institutions for teaching excellence: Philosophy, Sport Science, Criminology, Sociology, Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Business Studies.

As well as this, our Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) Silver award recognises the quality of our courses and high levels of student satisfaction.

Collaboration
We’re a place where collaboration, research and scholarly activity informs everything we do. Many of our courses are recognised by industry and a large number are professionally accredited, making our students career-ready.

Each year, we also help 2,000 businesses grow with interns, training, research and collaborative programmes. 

Impact
We’re purposeful, challenging and curious about our world. Our academic excellence has been recognised by the UK’s higher education funding bodies, with 12 areas classed as generating world-leading research. We deliver impactful research which tackles pressing issues and makes a difference, from saving lives to conserving water.**

Enterprise
While our head is full of ambition, our feet are planted in the world around us. We pride ourselves on being as enterprising as we are innovative and nurture those qualities in our students, with mentorship, support and start-up funding on offer through the Anglia Ruskin Enterprise Academy.

Enthusiasm
Our sheer can-do attitude sets us apart from others. We find that enthusiasm is infectious, letting the results speak for themselves and being the only UK university to be named a global 'rising star'.

Accommodation in Peterborough
If you’re studying in Peterborough, you can get further information about your accommodation options from our Residential Service. Email [email protected].

There’s plenty of private rented accommodation in Peterborough. Check out our hints and tips on house hunting, then search for rooms or properties using Studentpad.
If you’re studying nursing, midwifery or operating department practice with us and your course includes a placement in Peterborough, you’ll be able to apply for hospital accommodation.

Accommodation options
All or some of the following private sector options are available to you, depending on which campus you’re studying at. While we can tell you about accommodation that’s available, we don’t visit or endorse the properties, or the people advertising them.

Option 1: whole properties or rooms in shared houses
Studentpad is a property listings site ran by ARU that lets you search for houses, flats and rooms in Cambridge, Chelmsford and Peterborough (you’ll need a password from the Residential Service before you can use it). The landlords and agencies that advertise on it send us the basic paperwork they need to legally rent their property before we agree to advertise it.

There’s a message board on studentpad where you can find a room advertised by another student or post information about a room you have to rent (ARU Students only).

We also have lists of letting agencies in Cambridge and Chelmsford, who have told us they are happy to rent to students.

Option 2: private halls of residence
In Cambridge there are several private halls of residence. They are all quite newly built and many have additional features like common rooms, gyms and even a cinema! These halls offer shared flats and/or studios. Have a look at this list for more information. In Peterborough, there is a private hall for students called Taverners.

Option 3: lodgings
You can also find lodgings on Studentpad. In Cambridge there’s also a company called Homestay Consultancy that can arrange for you to stay with a host family.

Top tips for finding accommodation

• We wouldn’t recommend signing a contract or paying any money for a property until you have seen it.
• Read our house hunter guide, which is full of handy hints about looking for rented accommodation.
• Don’t rush into making a decision. Every year, we hold an Accommodation Fair in February or March, which is the perfect time for current students to start looking for a place to live for the following September. There’s no need to rush into signing up to a contract really quickly in your first year as you may get less choice or decide you don’t get on with your new housemates before you’ve even moved in! We also hold house-hunting events for new students from July to September each year.

We know that undertaking a degree course is a big commitment in lots of ways – including financially. We've developed a range of scholarships and bursaries to make this easier for some of our most talented students.

International Excellence Scholarship – undergraduate and postgraduate
International students must apply for this scholarship worth GBP 4,000. Students must be able to demonstrate exceptional academic and extra-curricular achievement.

International Merit Scholarships – undergraduate and postgraduate
Eligible students will receive an award of GBP 1,000 –2,000 to help them with their tuition fees. Students are not required to apply for the award as they will be automatically considered on admission.

International Early Payment Discount – undergraduate and postgraduate
Eligible students who pay their tuition fees early will receive a GBP 400–1,000 early payment discount. Students are not required to apply for the discount as they will be automatically considered on admission.

International Alumni Scholarships – postgraduate
Eligible students will receive an award of GBP 3,000 if they have previously completed a degree at Anglia Ruskin University, and are applying for either a full-time taught master’s degree, a full-time research degree or a Legal Practice programme.

To know more about scholarships. Click Here