UoC has earned a hat-trick of accolades in the UK’s only higher education awards decided exclusively by students. 

The 2025 Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs) saw Chester retain its gold titles for being the best University in the UK for International and Postgraduate students. The University also won a bronze award for Student Support.

The awards ceremony took place in London on Wednesday, May 21, celebrating the best Higher Education Institutions in the nation and shining a light on those that have gone above and beyond to support students during the year. The Vice-Chancellor said: “We’re delighted to receive gold awards once more in the International and Postgraduate categories, to earn a bronze award for Student Support, and to be named as the best University in the North West.”

Read the full story here
 

Amy in the Alumni Office has been organising the many donations of photos, letters, programmes, and other objects donated by Alumni over the years. She’s come across a collection of University sports trophies and hopes that alumni will be able to help with some identifications.

The first is for the County Officer Hockey Seven A-Side in 1966. The following names are on the shield - D.H. J. Baker, D.W.T. Hughes, G.R. Bonfield, W.T. Mills, R.E. Honeybone, M.I. Lamborn, and P.J. Thompson.

The second is ‘Clubman of the Year’ for CCMHC, which we think stands for Chester College Men’s Hockey Club. The Clubman of the year is listed as Phil Grundy for 1993-94 and 1994-95, Ross Antrobus for 1995-96 and 1996-97, and Steven Day for 1997-98. 

Are you any of these hockey players and able to tell us more about your exploits? Let us know at alumni@chester.ac.uk.

Are you considering Postgraduate Study as your next step? Join us at our Postgraduate Open Evening to discover your options. 

We're hosting our next event in June, where you'll have the chance to explore your potential study areas in depth, and ask any questions that you may have about postgraduate study at Chester. You’re welcome to join us at: 

• Wednesday 11 June 
• 5.30pm–7pm 
• Exton Park, Chester  

You'll get the chance to chat with academic staff and learn about postgraduate finance and accommodation. Plus, you may be eligible for our Graduate Loyalty Discount scheme, which offers a discount on tuition fees for certain postgraduate Master’s courses. So why wait? Book your Postgraduate Event online today and visit us on campus to find out more.

Other postgraduate information events coming up in June include:  

• MA TESOL and CELTA online information event - Wednesday 11 June, 12pm-1pm 
• Part-time PG Education Online Information Event - Tuesday 17 June, 5.30pm-6.30pm 
• PGCE Open Day - Saturday 21 June, 10am-4pm 
• PGCert in Psychological Trauma and PGCert in Mental Health, Trauma and Attachment - Monday 23 June, 7pm-8pm 

Bookings are now open for the full, eagerly anticipated Chester Festival of Ideas 2025 programme of almost 100 free events. 

The final line-up of exciting, diverse, inclusive and accessible events for the four-day festival this summer, organised by the University of Chester and partners, has been unveiled. 

The festival is back after its inaugural success in 2024, with everything from the chance to hear from well-known, inspirational sportspeople and broadcasters to the opportunity to get creative at art workshops. 

Aiming to celebrate, entertain, inform and inspire, the festival takes place from Thursday July 3 to Sunday July 6, 2025. All the details are available and places can now be booked on the Festival of Ideas website. 

To our Alumni Community
 
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to inform you about an important update regarding our annual alumni reunion.
 
As I am sure you are aware, universities are having to work as efficiently and carefully as possible with more limited capacity. As such, after careful consideration, the University has decided to prioritise its resources towards enhancing the student experience. As a result, we regret to inform you that we will not be organising an alumni reunion event this year. You will recall that we had to cancel last year’s event due to limited numbers which resulted in a lot of lost hours of hard work.
 
We understand that this news may be disappointing, as the reunion has been a cherished tradition that allows us to reconnect and celebrate our shared experiences. However, this decision was made with the best interests of our current students in mind, ensuring they receive the support and opportunities they need to thrive in these difficult times.
 
We greatly value our Alumni community and the contributions you have made to our university. We welcome any alumni who wish to visit our sites and organise a smaller event directly with our hospitality and conferencing teams. They have a range of packages available, and our alumni relations team are happy to support a tour of campus etc. Please email: alumni@chester.ac.uk and they can then connect you. 
 
As always, we will keep you updated on any future plans and events that are taking place across our sites.
 
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
 
With best wishes
 
Professor Eunice Simmons
Vice-Chancellor

This year’s Cheshire Prize for Literature awards evening will take place on Thursday 3 July, 7pm-8.30pm, in the School of Education, Exton Park. The event is free to attend.  

The Cheshire Prize for Literature showcases the literary talents of writers with a connection to the Cheshire area. Now in its 21st year, the awards evening will announce the winners in the primary, secondary and adult categories for poetry, short stories, children’s literature and scriptwriting. 

Guest speaker Paul Dowsell will provide an insight into his writing career. Paul is a prize-winning author. His best-known work is Auslander, described by the Financial Times as ranking ‘among the very best of wartime historical fiction.’ Eight of Paul’s other novels have won or been short-listed for The Historical Association book awards. He has been a visiting professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and is a frequent visitor to schools across the UK. His most recent book is the non-fiction Aliens – The Chequered History of Britain’s Wartime Refugees. 

Book your ticket here. 

A variety of six-week modern languages taster courses, designed to be suitable for all learners will run from this week to the week commencing 30 June (weekly, 6.30-8pm). A taster course is a great way to satisfy your curiosity about other cultures whilst unlocking new listening, reading, writing and oral language skills. Courses available: 

• French (Wednesday evenings) 
• German (Wednesday evenings) 
• Italian (Tuesday evenings) 
• Japanese (Thursday evenings) 
• Korean (Tuesday evenings) 
• Spanish (Wednesday evenings) 
• Welsh (Wednesday evenings) 

These courses provide a friendly and fun introduction to the language of your choice. Please contact ahsstudentrecruitment@chester.ac.uk to find out more. 

Find out more about our languages taster and evening courses. 

After providing for your loved ones, a gift in your Will to the University could help shape lives at Chester. Whether supporting students in hardship, assisting with research or supporting a specific area close to your heart, your gift matters.

A pledge to leave a gift, large or small, will cost you nothing today, but will help us plan for the future of the University and our students in years to come. You can truly forever be part of Chester, as Chester will forever be part of you.

If you are thinking of leaving a gift in your Will, or have already made arrangements to do so, please do get in touch giving@chester.ac.uk.

Each month the University shares a wide range of news updates which you can follow on the website’s ‘News page’.   
        
Highlights this month include UoC being awarded a major grant to deliver heat decarbonisation project across two flagship buildings, training future nurse leaders in Pakistan and much more!
      
Head over to the website now to read more.

Doing a spring clean? Send your items to a new home! 

With the new, brighter season comes the desire to update our wardrobes. The best thing we can do is redirect good-conditioned items from going to landfill, whether that be via British Heart Foundation (BHF), your local charity shops or online second-hand shops like Vinted. Last year our students donated over 1,500 bags of items to BHF as part of the University’s ‘Moving Out’ campaign – making a positive difference both for the charity and our environment! 

A Professor from Keele University will be giving a free talk in the Wheeler Building (CRV012) on Wednesday 4 June (4pm-5.30pm) focusing on nursing during the 100 years before Florence Nightingale’s birth. A patient of the Devon and Exeter Infirmary in 1809 critiqued the attitude of hospital nurses as ‘fury in a human shape’, but there are good reasons to unpick the stereotype of pre-reform nurses as drunken and brutish.

Professor Tomkins’s talk will consider a variety of evidence shedding light on nurses’ relationships with patients and with doctors to reconsider women’s attitudes to (and competency in) nursing. Professor Alannah Tomkins has worked as a historian at Keele University in Staffordshire since 1995. She is a researcher of poverty, medicine, and nursing and is the author of Nursing the English from Plague to Peterloo, 1665-1820 (Manchester University Press, forthcoming). 
  
All Alumni are welcome to attend this in-person talk free of charge. To book your place, email fhsc.histsoc@chester.ac.uk.  

Full events listings here.   

Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO)

T: +44 (0)1244 512477
E: alumni@chester.ac.uk
W: www.chester.ac.uk/alumni

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