Open days

• De Montfort University (DMU) holds open days in July and October each year to give you, your friends and family a taste of life at university. Book your place online now.
• If you can't make an open day, DMU offers campus tours throughout the year.

History

• DMU traces its roots back to the Leicester School of Art, which was established in 1869. The University takes its name from Simon De Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who is widely credited with establishing the first Parliament in 1265.
• More recently DMU was the first stop on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour of the UK.
• Today, DMU's courses offer a diverse portfolio of subjects that are relevant to industry and are based on a foundation of quality and distinctiveness.

Location and transport

• The M1, A1, M69 and M6 give easy access to the north and south, as well as the rest of the Midlands and Wales. There is a network of routes for cyclists and good bus and train links to the rest of the country.
• Leicester is just 75 minutes from London St Pancras, and the Eurostar hub, meaning Paris is only four hours away by train. East Midlands Airport is 30 minutes away with regular flights to destinations across Europe.
• Leicester has had an astounding £3-billion of recent investment, transforming the city centre into a hub of entertainment, shopping and culture.
• Curve is an iconic £59-million performing arts centre, hosting touring shows and West End-sized productions.
• The £350-million Highcross shopping centre has become one of the premier destinations for shoppers in the Midlands, with a huge range of shops, a new restaurant quarter and Leicester's first city centre multiplex cinema.
• Leicester caters for just about every culinary taste with food and drink from around the world. Cuisines range from Mexican and Italian to sushi and tapas, whilst restaurants include family-run eateries, well known chains and smaller, more intimate venues that are full of atmosphere. It is also well known as one of the best places in Britain to get a curry.

Entry standards

• UCAS points required for DMU's undergraduate degrees range from 260–320 points, depending on the course. Some courses require specific grades in related subjects.
• DMU welcomes applicants from a wide range of backgrounds and accepts a range prior qualifications and experience.
• Find out more about our courses by going to dmu.ac.uk/courses.

Student mix

• Male to female – 1.3 females for every male student.
• Student to staff – 18:1.
• International students – 11%.
• Total students – over 22,000, with undergraduate students making up 18,000.

Course flexibility

• Full-time and part-time study options are available.
• Many courses offer a paid placement year or an Erasmus European study exchange.

Teaching standards

• Dance courses at De Montfort University (DMU) have been rated the third best in the country according to the National Student Survey (NSS) The survey also shows that some of DMU’s management courses are ranked fourth best in the UK.
• And overall, students at DMU are happier than ever before. Latest results show that they are the most content students since the annual NSS began eight years ago, with 85% saying they are satisfied with their course – an increase of 1% on last year’s score.
• In total eight DMU subjects are placed in the top ten for student satisfaction. In addition to dance and management studies these are various technology courses, forensic science, fine art, aural and oral sciences, as well as education courses.

Research standards

• Nearly half of DMU's research was rated as 'internationally excellent' or 'world-leading' by the government's Research Assessment Exercise 2008.
• DMU has three pieces of research listed among the UK’s top 100 projects that will have a profound impact on the future, in the Big Ideas for the Future Report 2011. These are; the world’s first artificial pancreas, living on or underwater instead of on land and Additive manufacturing
• DMU's Institute of Creative Technologies is known internationally for cutting-edge research in e-sciences, digital arts and humanities.
• The Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development's groundbreaking research was rated very highly, with 65% being classed as 'internationally excellent' and 'world-leading'.
• English research at DMU was rated very highly, with 40% classed as 'world-leading', putting it ninth in the UK.

Academic strengths

• DMU is home to no less than 13 National Teaching Fellows.
• DMU is now home to the new Cyber Security Centre, which will train a cohort of students in all aspects of cyber-security – including defending the nation against cyber-attacks – in a new joint programme with GCHQ, MI5 and MI6.
• Our life changing research into blood spot analysis is helping the treatment of sick newborn babies and was shortlisted for The Times Higher Education Awards 2012.
• DMU this year launched the first partnership of its kind with Macmillan Cancer Support.
• A team of experts from DMU will be part of major new project to assess the impact of electric vehicle recharging on local electricity networks.
• De Montfort University (DMU) will contribute to a new £2.9-million Enterprise Research Centre that will develop understanding of the factors affecting business investment performance and growth.

Student facilities, including library and computing

• DMU’s Kimberlin library holds more than half a million publications and is open 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday, and 9am until 8pm on Saturdays during term time.
• The library’s services can be accessed 24 hours a day through the @ccess anywhere online service.
• Learning Zones have been designed to create space for group and individual work. They feature workstations with power supplies for laptops, plus syndicate rooms with interactive whiteboards and DVD.
• Cutting edge facilities including subject specific laboratories, workshops and studios provide students with all of the industry standard equipment and resources needed to learn valuable skills.

Disability Services

• De Montfort Students' Union (DSU) is based in the Campus Centre building and is the social hub of the university, offering bars, club nights and much more.
• The DSU media society consists of Demon TV, the award-winning Demon FM Radio station and student newspaper The Demon, that students can get involved in.
• There are around 80 different clubs and societies from rock music and gaming through to debating and a number of religious societies.

Sport

• The university has just opened a brand new £8-million sports centre, which includes a swimming pool, poolside sauna, climbing wall, an eight-court sports hall, state-of-the-art gym and studios for a variety of fitness classes.
• Students can get involved with the DSU sports clubs, ranging from rowing and martial arts, to the football and rugby teams, who play their annual Varsity matches against Leicester University at the Leicester Tigers and Leicester City stadiums.

Recent/prospective new builds

• DMU's new £8-million leisure centre was completed in July 2012 and provides our students, staff and members of the public with state-of-the-start facilities including a 25-metre six-lane swimming pool, poolside sauna, climbing wall, eight-court sports hall, fitness suite, free weights area, dance studio, café.
• Plans to continue transformation of the De Montfort University (DMU) campus were unveiled in December and will be paid for using funds secured from the £90-million bond issue this summer.
• The biggest development will be to the Fletcher building which will provide students of the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities with new state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities, as well as improved catering facilities for all students which will be moved from our Campus Centre.
• Plans to create a 'green lung' in the heart of the campus are also moving ahead. Some of the former Gateway College buildings will be removed and the centre of the campus around Mill Lane will be landscaped to create an impressive outdoor social space for students, staff and members of the public to enjoy.
• Following the opening of the new leisure centre, the old John Sandford building (which was the precious leisure centre) will also be developed to create a multi-functional space which will house exhibition and conference facilities, as well as being available for selected sports such as squash and badminton. As part of this expansion the university is exploring opportunities for additional off-campus sports facilities.

Availability of part-time work

• Many students have part-time jobs and usually work around 12 hours per week during term time.
• DMU, in a joint venture with the University of Leicester, is opening Unitemps on campus and will offer temporary employment opportunities to current and former students.
• Leicester has many part-time opportunities, from bar, restaurant and shop work, to office work.
• DMU employs more than 100 students each year to work as student ambassadors, helping with campus tours, open days and many other activities across the university.
• DMU also has its own placement scheme, Frontrunners, which offers students the chance to apply for a placement within the university itself.

Social media

• De Montfort University on Facebook
• De Montfort University on Twitter
• De Montfort University of YouTube

Notable alumni

• Ken Shuttleworth, architect.
• Akram Khan MBE, dancer and choreographer.
• Geoff Rowe, founder and director of the Leicester Comedy Festival.

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