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You'll find a lively and supportive atmosphere on our two campuses in Sunderland, ensuring you have the best student experience possible during your time with us. Make the most of our brilliant facilities, get involved in a range of sports and societies and discover some tasty food and drink options at both City Campus and The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's.
We have two outstanding campuses in Sunderland, each just a short 20 minute walk from each other and both offering a buzzing student environment.
As its name suggests, City Campus is located right in the heart of the city centre and houses our main support services, sports facilities at CitySpace, as well as the Murray Library, lecture halls and classroom spaces. City Campus is also home to our Art, Design and Performance facilities and our main Health, Sciences and Wellbeing provision.
The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's benefits from a stunning riverside location and is within easy reach of both the city centre and our glorious beaches. Several of our faculties are based here, including Business, Law and Tourism; Education and Society; and Technology. There's also the David Puttnam Media Centre, Northern Centre of Photography, St Peter's Library, and David Goldman Technology Centre.
It was also recently announced that a 5G test lab will be developed at St Peter's, allowing Sunderland to become one of the first 5G-enabled universities in the country. This technological advancement puts us at the forefront of of smart education and will undoubtedly improve the overall student experience on campus.
Our facilities have benefitted from millions of pounds worth of funding over recent years and continue to expand. Major investment will see the University spend over £250 million in the next 10 years and transform our facilities with a particular focus on the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s. Find out more about just a few of the facilities we offer below.
Our Art and Design students have access to a number of fantastic facilities based within the Priestman Building at City Campus. Whether your area of expertise is fine art, graphic design or fashion, you can take advantage of several galleries, studios and workspaces to unleash your creativity. Over at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's, you'll find the Northern Centre of Photography, home to our darkrooms, digital suites and studios, as well as the National Glass Centre where our Glass and Ceramics courses are taught. Plus, the David Puttnam Media Centre plays host to our Animation and Games Art course, with various studio spaces, design suites and editing facilities you can use.
If you're joining us to study Engineering, the University has recently invested over £1m to provide a wide variety of state-of-the-art facilities at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's. These incorporate industry-standard labs and workshops, giving you the opportunity to gain valuable, practical experience, whether it be mechanical, automotive, materials, or electrical engineering. In addition to the laboratories, you will have access to a metrology suite and specialist software to aid you with your studying.
Based at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's, our Law department provides several subject-specialist facilities, which include a mock courtroom, a law library and our Student Law Clinic. The Clinic is a professionally supervised service which provides free legal advice from Sunderland Law School, offering a unique opportunity to students to gain some real-world experience and put everything they've learnt during their course into practice.
The University has invested millions in the creation of our Living Lab, providing 1,000 square metres of cutting-edge facilities for our Health students at City Campus. Here, you'll find facilities which enable a range of scenarios to be modelled, such as a mock hospital and mental health ward, pharmacy dispensaries, an immersive suite, a midwifery suite and even a simulation ambulance. The Living Lab also includes a variety of simulation manikins, clinical equipment and other specialist tools where students can hone their medical skills.
The David Puttnam Media Centre at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's is home to a hub of superb media facilities, which will largely appeal to our Journalism and Media students. These comprise TV studios, a new Virtual Production studio, a 200-seat HD cinema, editing rooms, a green room and radio stations – including the University's own radio station, Spark Sunderland. On the top floor, you'll discover the mediaHUB, our multimedia publishing and broadcasting newsroom where you can bring your stories to life.
If you want to get involved with sports when you join us at Sunderland, there are over 30 clubs and 50 teams you can choose from. With over 700 members, there's something for everyone, from football and basketball to cheerleading and archery. More than 20 of our sports teams compete in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) leagues every Wednesday, as well as other competitions throughout the year.
We provide first class sports and fitness facilities over at CitySpace, including a fully-equipped gym, sports hall and 7m climbing wall, plus rooms to hold exercise classes. Our dedicated team of exercise professionals will always be on hand for your health and fitness needs. Depending on which sports club you join, you'll also have access to the aquatic centre with a 50m pool, a dry ski slope, an athletics track, rugby and cricket grounds, and a marina and watersports centre on the beach.
Team Sunderland is our friendly university support service when it comes to overseeing our sports provision and will help you get the most out of your sporting life here.
As well as our sports teams, we've got plenty more to offer to our students with over 50 clubs and societies. Whether your interests lie in the arts, fundraising, religion, or you want to get more involved with the academic side of things, you're sure to find something suitable in our wide range of groups. Or, if you have an idea for a new society which doesn't already exist, you'll have full support from the Students' Union to set one up, helping you to access funding and organise any training.
Joining a society is not only the perfect opportunity to pursue a new hobby or continue with an existing one, but it's also an excellent way of making new friends when you come to university and enjoying student life outside of your course.
When you join us, you're joining a community of 19,000 fellow students, and our Students' Union will make sure your university experience is a brilliant one from start to finish. Run by students, for our students, whatever you want to get out of your time at university, the SU makes sure they do all they can to make that happen. In fact, we were crowned Students' Union of the Year in 2020, recognising the hard work and ongoing success of our team.
The Students' Union is a place to make your voice heard, seek advice and support, join societies, and so much more during your time at university. To find out more about the fantastic work they do and how you can get involved, visit our SU website.
Whether you're grabbing lunch between classes or catching up with a friend for coffee, you'll find plenty of places on campus serving both hot and cold food and drink options. We've teamed up with provider, Elior, who have a proven track record of delivering excellent service, using locally-sourced and sustainable ingredients, as well as offering vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free alternatives.
The Studio is our main food venue at City Campus and over at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's, you'll discover our other main eatery, The Riverside. Both provide modern and spacious seating areas and serve up a wide range of mouthwatering food, as well as a plentiful offering of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
As well our two main outlets, you've got several smaller cafés at both campuses, which are all great for a quick bite to eat when you're on the go.
See a full list of our food and drink outlets and their opening times.
The University has a number of support services available to help you study and socialise in a safe environment. Our free campus bus provides safe and reliable transport between our two campuses and student accommodation, and a night service ensures safe travel to some popular social spots.
A Crime Prevention team with a dedicated campus Police Officer run drop-in sessions to help you stay safe and our campus security team are on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, should you need to contact them.
We're proud of our inclusivity and the University does not tolerate any form of hate crime, on or off campus. We have strong links with ARCH, an organisation that supports the victims of racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious hate incidents or disability hate incidents.
Find out more about how we strive to make sure you feel safe as a student in Sunderland.
Our dedicated team of Student Ambassadors supports the University every year, helping us to recruit students and deliver activities to encourage young people to consider Higher Education.
Find out more about what's involved and apply to become a Student Ambassador, where you can share your university life while gaining some valuable work experience.
The campus is by far the best I've seen. It's close to the city centre and by the beautiful seaside.
Sunderland is a supportive and inclusive university and is everything I love about the North East.
I liked the modern feel of the University – it was like a breath of fresh air.
