Aberystwyth University at 150: Students praise small town feel

Old College at Aberystwyth University, which is celebrating 150 years

Learning in a close-knit Welsh town by the sea makes Aberystwyth University one of the best places to study in the UK, students have said.

"You know everyone in Aber by the time you leave," said third-year politics student Amy Tomkin.

After opening in October 1872 with just 25 students, Wales' first university will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Sunday with more than 8,000 enrolled.

Among its most famous former students is King Charles III.

The university was only able to open after 70,000 people donated money towards its creation.

Elgan Philip Davies, a historian and former student in Aberystwyth, explained how the "pennies of the poor" got the university started at a location that has been drawing students ever since.

"Everybody contributed. Ordinary people from the quarrymen of north Wales to the coal miners in south Wales to the agricultural labourers and farmers in mid Wales," he said.

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The university has regularly performed well in league tables measuring student satisfaction.

In the 2022 National Student Survey, of the universities featured in 2023 Times Good University Guide, Aberystwyth ranked as the best university across Wales and England and second in the UK for student satisfaction.

The university - as it looked 100 years ago

Current student Amy said: "It's a really nice close-knit community. Everyone's really welcoming... if you put the effort in they're really happy that you're doing it.

Amy, who is learning Welsh, said: "I really liked living here, so much so that I stayed over the summer and I worked."

Amy Tomkin says a lot of students have a "happy" university and life balance

Nathaniel, a third year international politics student, said: "It is easily the best town to come to uni for.

"Being on the seafront in a very nice, small community university, with staff that you can just drop in and talk to, you make so many friends, meet so many people - and because they're all so close, I don't think it's the kind of thing you'd get in a big city uni anywhere.

"They're very proud of the history."

The campaign to establish a university in Wales was launched in the 1850s by a London-based Welshman, Hugh Owen. The university library is named after him.

'Kicking the bar' has become a tradition performed every year to celebrate the university

By 1867, enough had been raised to buy an unfinished hotel on Aberystwyth seafront for a price of £10,000. It became the Old College and the new university's first home.

Because donations came from wealthy and the less well-off, Mr Phillip Davies said Aberystwyth became known as "the people's university".

Its creation also paved the way for the formation of the confederal University of Wales in 1893 after similar establishments opened in Cardiff in 1883 and Bangor in 1884.

This year's anniversary celebrations include the publication of a new book telling the university's history through 150 objects.

Ceiniogau'r Werin - The Pennies of the People - is an illustrated volume containing short essays on a wide range of historic artefacts, including the handwritten register of the first students from 1872, early X-ray apparatus, cheese-making equipment and works of art.

Vice-chancellor Prof Elizabeth Treasure said: "Much has happened since we opened our doors in 1872 but we remain true to our founding principles of delivering an inclusive education and innovative research that responds to the needs of Wales and the wider world."

A view of Aberystwyth, including the university, from 1895

'It's about the community'

Alex says Aberystwyth's community spirit is key to the university's success

Alex, a third year theatre, drama, film and television student, said: "It's a special place... unique... like the capital of mid-Wales.

"The location is probably the biggest selling point where you have so many picturesque places to film and make productions.

"I think it's just absolutely wonderful. It's not just the campus and not just the university, it's about the community."

The soon-to-be Prince of Wales being welcomed to Aberystwyth - and learning Welsh in a language lab at the university

Possibly most famously, King Charles III spent a term at Aberystwyth in 1969 learning Welsh ahead of his investiture as Prince of Wales.

His time in Aberystwyth was featured during a recent series of The Crown.

Former First Minister Carwyn Jones graduated with a law degree from Aberystwyth University in 1988 and Elin Jones, Llywydd of the Senedd, studied rural economics there.

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