About the University

The University of Leicester was founded in 1921 and granted its Royal Charter in 1957. The university features prominently in both UK and World league tables. This includes 12th in the UK Good University Guide and 151st in the Shanghai Jiao Tong world's top 200 universities. Highlights of the university include the discovery of genetic fingerprinting and housing the Europe's largest academic centre for space research. The university is the leading provider of taught postgraduate education in the UK and ranked joint 2nd in a 2008 National Student Survey with a 92% satisfaction rate - a proportion bettered in England only by the University of Cambridge.

Degrees offered by the University of Leicester are accepted throughout the Caribbean and worldwide.

A Message from Vice-Chancellor Robert Burgess:

Education provided by distance learning is one of the fastest growth areas in the higher education sector across the world as increasing numbers of students combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments. The University of Leicester was one of the first universities in the world to recognise this trend and has been offering high quality distance learning courses for over 20 years.

The University has continued to prioritise distance learning as part of our core educational provision. We understand that students who are trying to combine achieving a qualification with work or family commitments need the flexibility that we build into our courses of this type.

To help deliver our courses around the world we work with a number of educational delivery partners including Education for Advancement in the Caribbean. These partners are able to bring a local dimension to our global programmes and provide additional support to our students.

Our distance learning programmes are also firmly rooted in the University's strong research culture. The University of Leicester is one of the UK's leading research and teaching universities, ranked 15th in the UK by both the Times Good University Guide and the Guardian University Guide. We are also amongst the top 3 percent of universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings and the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities.

This unique combination of a record for high quality, extensive experience of distance learning and an inclusive approach means that our qualifications are highly respected and highly sought after. I hope you will explore the opportunities available through the University of Leicester and I look forward to welcoming you to our international student community.

Professor Robert Burgess
Vice-Chancellor
University of Leicester