Quick Answer
The University of South Wales is placed 91st of 130 in the Complete University Guide 2027. It has one subject in the guide’s top ten and that subject is 1st – Complementary Medicine, 1st of 10. It is 21st of 130 for spending on academic services and 129th of 130 for spending on facilities, which is the widest gap between those two columns we have printed on any page.
- Overall ranking: 91st of 130, score 534/1000
- Complementary Medicine: 1st of 10
- Academic services spend: 21st of 130
- Facilities spend: 129th of 130
- International students: 21%
- Formed: 11 April 2013, by merger
Reviewed by Dr Elizabeth Adey for 2027 entry · Uni Direct team, 2026
South Wales at a glance for 2027 entry
Complementary Medicine1st of 10counted off the ordered table.
Academic services21st of 130its strongest measure.Facilities spend129th of 130its weakest.WherePontypridd, Cardiff and Newportthree campus locations.Sources: Complete University Guide 2027 league table, ranking breakdown, subject table and student statistics for the University of South Wales, the Complementary Medicine position counted off its own ordered table in rank order and checked against the guide’s own rank-number column; Wikipedia for the 2013 merger, the predecessor institutions, the campuses and the student numbers for 2013 and 2024/25; Semrush, United Kingdom database, for the search volumes quoted; GOV.UK for the Student route. All read 16 September 2026.
The University of South Wales, in Welsh Prifysgol De Cymru, was formed on 11 April 2013 by the merger of the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport. It teaches at Pontypridd, Cardiff and Newport, and the Complete University Guide places it in its 15,001 to 25,000 student band, which makes it one of the larger universities in the United Kingdom and, on Wikipedia’s reading, the second largest in Wales.
Its league table entry is unusually uneven, and the unevenness is the useful part. Twenty-first of 130 for academic services spending and 129th of 130 for facilities spending are the two ends of the same institution, and everything below sets out where each number comes from.
The whole field is in our guide to the best UK universities.
Where the University of South Wales ranks
Placed 91st of 130 in the Complete University Guide 2027 with a score of 534 out of 1000. The guide publishes eleven measures, and the spread across them is the widest on any page we have built: one in the top 25, one in the bottom two.
| Measure | Value | Rank of 130 | What it records |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic services spend | 2,897 | 21st | libraries, computing and academic support |
| Student satisfaction | 3.18 out of 4 | 45th | what students there reported |
| Student–staff ratio | 15.2 | 66th | students per member of teaching staff |
| Graduate prospects, on track | 72.8 | 69th | graduates who say they are where they wanted to be |
| Graduate prospects, outcomes | 70.5 | 73rd | graduates in professional work or further study |
| Entry standards | 114 out of 208 | 81st | what entrants actually held on arrival |
| Overall | 534 out of 1000 | 91st | the combined league table position |
| Research quality | 2.66 out of 4 | 98th | the assessed quality of its research |
| Research intensity | 0.21 | 112th | the share of staff active in research |
| Continuation | 86.8 | 113th | the share who carry on into the next year |
| Facilities spend | 172 | 129th | spending per student on facilities |
Source: Complete University Guide 2027, read 16 September 2026.
One top-ten subject, and it is first
The Complete University Guide records one University of South Wales subject in its top ten, and that subject is 1st. Complementary Medicine, 1st of 10. We counted the position off the ordered table in rank order and the guide prints the table size itself, which is not something it does everywhere.
Ten institutions are ranked, so first means finishing above nine of them. The order, counted this morning: South Wales 1st, Swansea 2nd, Glasgow Caledonian 3rd, Queen Margaret University 4th, the University of Plymouth 5th, Teesside 6th, Southampton 7th, Health Sciences University 8th, Plymouth Marjon 9th and Huddersfield 10th.
The components of that first place are worth reading, because none of them is first. Its overall score in the subject is 100.0 out of 100, and beneath that its entry standards are 4th, its student satisfaction 4th, its research quality 3rd, its continuation 4th and its graduate prospects 4th. A composite can put an institution top without any single column doing so, and the honest way to read a subject position is to look at what is underneath it.
A top-ten place in a table of ten is a different thing at each end of that table. First of ten means beating everyone who entered. Ninth of ten, which is where Plymouth Marjon sits in this same table, is a top-ten place as well. Ask how many institutions are ranked, every time.
Two universities became one in 2013
The University of South Wales did not exist before 11 April 2013. On that date the University of Glamorgan, which had held university status since 1992, merged with the University of Wales, Newport, which had held it since 2004. Wikipedia records that the new institution began with more than 33,500 students from 122 countries and was the largest in Wales.
Two search readings sit beside that, and we are drawing no conclusion from them. The retired name university of glamorgan is still searched about 590 times a month in the United Kingdom and about 1,500 times a month worldwide, thirteen years after it was dropped, with a cluster of 193 variations behind it. University of Wales Newport is searched about 110 times a month.
That is a far larger residue than we have measured behind most retired names, and it is a straightforward matter of how many people knew the old name rather than how long ago it changed. Two other institutions on this site dropped names in 2007, six years earlier than this, and both leave almost nothing behind them.
If you hold a qualification from either predecessor, it was awarded by the institution that existed then. Ask the university’s registry which name appears on a replacement certificate or a transcript before you order one, because that is a question only they can answer.
From 33,500 students to 20,790
Both figures are published, they are eleven years apart, and we have not read anything that explains the difference between them. We are printing both rather than choosing.
Sources: Wikipedia and the Complete University Guide 2027, both read 16 September 2026.
Three campus locations, and one of them is a search term in its own right
The university teaches at Pontypridd, Cardiff and Newport. Pontypridd carries the Treforest and Glyntaff sites, Cardiff sits in the city, and Newport is the City Campus that came from the Newport side of the merger. The Complete University Guide tags the university as city centre, campus, rural and coastal at once, which is what having three locations in south-east Wales does to a category.
The Newport campus is searched about 880 times a month in the United Kingdom under the new name – university of south wales newport – with university of south wales newport campus at about 260 and university of south wales newport city campus at about 140. That is eight times the volume on the retired institution’s own name. People are looking for the place, not the history.
Cardiff alone has three universities, and a South Wales offer for its Cardiff site is not an offer from Cardiff University or from Cardiff Metropolitan. Read the name on the letter, not the name of the city.
Which campus you would actually be taught at is a question with a short answer, and it is worth having that answer before you accept an offer. Three locations spread across two cities and a valley town are three different daily journeys, three different rents and three different sets of facilities, and the offer letter is where that is decided.
Twenty-one per cent international, and the two spending columns
The Complete University Guide records 77% of students from the United Kingdom, 21% international and 2% from the EU, with 71% undergraduate and 72% full-time. Twenty-one per cent is a substantial international share, and it is the figure we would put first for a family applying from outside the United Kingdom, because it says something about the support structures a student would find on arrival.
Set beside that, the two spending columns are the honest caution. Academic services spending – libraries, computing, academic support – is 21st of 130, which is genuinely strong. Facilities spending per student is 129th of 130, which is second from last. Continuation at 113th and research intensity at 112th sit on the same side of the table.
Those are the columns to raise on an open day, because the guide publishes them and a prospectus does not, and because a university that spends well on libraries and badly on buildings is a specific thing to walk around and look at rather than an abstraction.
Elizabeth’s view
The subject position here is the cleanest example of something this site has been saying for a fortnight. First of ten is a real first place, and we counted it off the ordered table this morning along with the nine institutions below it. Look under it and none of the five component columns is first; the overall score is. Both facts belong on the page.
On the institution, the spread is the story. Twenty-first of 130 for academic services and 129th of 130 for facilities is the widest gap between those two columns I have printed, and it describes a university that has put its money into what students are taught with rather than what they are taught in. Whether that is the right trade is a question you answer by visiting, not by reading a table.
For an overseas family the twenty-one per cent international share is the number I would want on the table first, and the campus question second. Three locations across two cities and a valley town is three different experiences, and the one on your offer letter is the one you will have.
Frequently asked questions about the University of South Wales
Is the University of South Wales good?
It is placed 91st of 130 in the Complete University Guide 2027 with a score of 534 out of 1000. Its strongest measure by a distance is academic services spending at 21st of 130, followed by student satisfaction at 45th and the student-staff ratio at 66th. Its weakest are facilities spending at 129th of 130, continuation at 113th and research intensity at 112th. It has one subject in the guide’s top ten, Complementary Medicine, and in that table it is 1st of 10.
Where is the University of South Wales?
In south-east Wales, across three locations: Pontypridd, which carries the Treforest and Glyntaff sites, Cardiff, and Newport, where the City Campus came from the Newport side of the 2013 merger. The Complete University Guide tags it as city centre, campus, rural and coastal at the same time, which is what three locations in one region produce.
Is the University of South Wales accredited?
It is a United Kingdom university with its own degree-awarding powers, formed on 11 April 2013, and it appears in the Complete University Guide’s main table of 130 UK universities. Its two predecessors held university status before the merger: the University of Glamorgan from 1992 and the University of Wales, Newport from 2004.
Is the University of South Wales good for international students?
The Complete University Guide records 21% of its students as international and 2% from the EU, against 77% from the United Kingdom. That is a substantial international share. Wikipedia records that the university began in 2013 with students from 122 countries. What the guide does not tell you is what support looks like on each of the three campuses, which is a question to put to the university directly.
What was the University of South Wales called before?
It is not a renaming, it is a merger. The University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales, Newport merged on 11 April 2013 to form the University of South Wales. The Glamorgan name is still searched about 590 times a month in the United Kingdom, thirteen years later, and the Newport name about 110 times a month.
How many students does the University of South Wales have?
Wikipedia records 20,790 students in 2024/25, of whom 6,015 were postgraduates, and the Complete University Guide places the university in its 15,001 to 25,000 band, which is consistent. At its formation in 2013 it had more than 33,500 students from 122 countries and was the largest university in Wales. Both figures are published and we have not read anything that explains the difference between them.
What is the University of South Wales ranked highest for?
Complementary Medicine, where it is 1st of 10 in the Complete University Guide 2027 subject table. Across the whole institution its highest-placed measure is academic services spending at 21st of 130. Its overall position is 91st of 130.
Is the University of South Wales the same as the University of New South Wales?
No. The University of New South Wales is in Sydney, Australia. They are frequently confused in search, to the point that queries about the Australian university appear inside the search cluster for the Welsh one. The University of South Wales is in Pontypridd, Cardiff and Newport, in Wales, and its Welsh name is Prifysgol De Cymru.
Is the University of South Wales the right choice for you?
It is worth applying to if complementary medicine or one of its applied professional subjects is your field, if you want a large university in south-east Wales with a substantial international intake, or if strong academic services and a moderate entry profile suit how you want to study. The honest cautions are facilities spending at 129th of 130, continuation at 113th, research intensity at 112th, and three campus locations that are not interchangeable.
On visas, the published rules for the Student route are on GOV.UK, which is the only authority on them; we can put you in touch with our immigration partner for advice on an individual application. If you want help working out which campus an offer is actually for, or what a subject position is worth once you look underneath it, that is exactly the conversation we have every day. You can find out more below. Or for a free consultation, contact us now.
Sources: Complete University Guide 2027 league table, ranking breakdown, subject table and student statistics for the University of South Wales, the Complementary Medicine position counted off its own ordered table in rank order and checked against the guide’s own rank-number column; Wikipedia for the 2013 merger, the predecessor institutions, the campuses and the student numbers for 2013 and 2024/25; Semrush, United Kingdom database, for the search volumes quoted; GOV.UK for the Student route. All read 16 September 2026.