University of Bedfordshire

The University of Bedfordshire, a public institution, has its principal campus in the centre of Luton and additional campuses in Aylesbury, Bedford and Milton Keynes. Its origins lie in a Bedford teacher training college established in 1882. The Luton institution achieved university status in 1993, under the name University of Luton, and adopted its current title in 2006 following a merger with De Montfort University's Bedford campus.

Around 16,700 students are enrolled, and widening access is a core commitment: over 40 per cent of students come from households with no earlier experience of higher education. In Bedford the campus is located on Polhill Avenue, while nursing and midwifery are taught at the Mary Seacole campus, based at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, and Milton Keynes is the most recent addition. Putteridge Bury in Luton, a historic house surrounded by landscaped grounds, accommodates postgraduate courses as well as a conference centre. Academic activity is structured across four faculties, and the National Centre for Cyberstalking Research is among the university's research groups.

Information for International Students

The Centre for English as a Foreign Language (CEFL), the university's in-house language centre on the Luton campus, has been teaching international foundation courses since 1980. Entry to its International Foundation Year starts at IELTS 4.5, and routes in business, computer science and engineering lead to over 25 bachelor's degrees. CEFL is also responsible for pre-sessional English courses. For most undergraduate programmes, the requirement is IELTS 6.0 overall or an equivalent.

Communication before enrolment is handled by a pre-arrival team, while visa and CAS advice comes from the international team. All new international students must attend an orientation session dealing with visa compliance, support services, registration and student identity cards, and the details are emailed roughly a week in advance. Guidance on travelling from the main London airports to the Bedford and Luton campuses is published, but the university does not advertise an airport collection service. Its accommodation includes Polhill Park in Bedford and Fitzroy Court in Luton. Scholarships are offered to international students, graduates may apply for the Graduate Route, and the student body includes people from more than 100 countries.