Gaming in the UK’s Coolest Design Town: What is the University of Abertay Like?

Study at Abertay and immerse yourself in a pixel-perfect world of game history. From Minecraft to Lemmings, the university, which got its start in the 1800s as a technological college for the growing industrial city of Dundee, is now a global star in gaming. Game development is certainly the top attraction here, but students outside game design find the university offers more than just a chance to level up their arcade skills. Student reviews say the uni is a close-knit family with a new student union, stunning facilities, and some of the UK’s best student satisfaction. 

But what’s the University of Abertay like? What do Abertay’s students say? We asked a few, dug into their Instagrams and their YouTubes, their reviews, and our own questions to find out the basics.

University of Abertay Stats

Degrees: BA, BSc, BEng, LLB

Majors: 43 degrees, including the first-ever degree in ethical hacking and a notable computer game applications development.

Location: Dundee, County Angus, Scotland

Cost for out-of-EU: £14,000 annually for all degrees outside the computer science and gaming department. It’ll set you back £15,500 to study Computer Arts, multiple games degrees, Computing, Cybersecurity, or Ethical Hacking.

On-campus housing cost: Abertay University accommodation is privately owned. Their partners offer Abertay students a discount, but 43 weeks is as little as you’ll be able to spend per year in student housing, and that’s just one of the three residences (the others expect a 49 to 50-week stay per year). Costs range from £6,063 to £12,305 for a 43-week residency, and all rooms have an en suite bathroom. 

FAFSA Funds: Yes

Abroad from abroad: Yes. Partner universities provide between 2 and a dozen options, depending on field, for a semester or a full academic year. Partner universities are all European and North American.

Student body: 4,000 students from 60 countries. About 20% come from abroad.

Five adjectives: Futuristic, practical, intimate, team-spirited, hands-on

Hanging in Dundee

Abertay is located in the northeast corner of Dundee’s city center. It’ll take you over an hour and about $40 to get to Edinburgh by train, so many students are content to call Dundee, Scotland’s fourth-largest city, their home base for most of their time in school. With close to 150,000 residents, Dundee is a small city by U.S. standards, rivaling college towns like Gainesville. That makes it feel less like an urban metropolis and more like a college town. For students here, Dundee is an accessible, easy-to-live-in city where newcomers can get around and soak up the sites without even hopping on a bus.

One significant drawback is that international travel be difficult. Air travel from Dundee can be limited and expensive, and many students hack the trip by starting our with a train ride to Glasgow or Edinburgh, then fly onward to London to take another tiring another leg to their final destination. Some students make the trip in multiple days since it can be difficult to get out of Dundee early enough in the morning to make other scheduled flights.

The upshot? This small, close-knit community has transformed itself since it held the nickname “Scumdee” in the 1980s. Today, Dundee is one of the safest cities in Scotland, according to the Complete University Guide 2021. Other reports rank Dundee as one of the least safe. For example one report says reported crime rates of 688 per 10,000 tops all other Scottish cities, though the report also concedes that a third of these crimes are for fraud. That includes theft, but also white collar crimes like embezzlement which may skew the degree to which students feel they’re actually living in a crime-filled town. In fact, the students we spoke to said they feel safe in Dundee.

The West End and city centre of Dundee are very safe. You’ll see addicts in your time in Dundee, but you won’t ever need to go to rough areas of town. Most students walk around at night without worrying in the central city.

Students typically head south from campus to center city attractions: they can hit UK institution Wetherspoons for cheap drinks or Coffee and Co. right across the street for cheap grilled cheese (Scots call them Toasties, and they typically include onion). Or hit up the Bach. With multiple levels, you can easily find a spot to study while inhaling a truly fab avocado toast with bacon. Just a few steps off campus, it’s also next door to Dundee’s art museum, the McManus Art Gallery. Like many UK museums, entrance is free, so recharge your batteries and get inspired before class starts up again Monday.

Dundee is one of the least expensive cities in the UK for students, and while the cost of living crisis here is real, it’s cushioned by the reality that students here pay much less on rent and food than elsewhere in the UK (fun fact: consumer prices plus rent in Dundee is almost 50% less than in London).

There are a couple of indoor shopping centers plus all the usual high street stores in Dundee, but you can’t spend days shopping here like you would in Edinburgh or Glasgow. And you won’t get the same variety of musical acts. But there’s some good clubs and most everything is within walking distance.

In short, students told us they loved the small-scale nature of Dundee, and especially Abertay. It’s a big part of why they chose their university. You’ll bump into classmates out in Dundee. You won’t sit on a bus to get to class from suburbs far afield. If you’re looking for a neighborhood vibe, Dundee might be it, with a good balance of culture, activities, and small-town chill.

Campus at the University of Abertay

Abertay is a small university that comes with a small student body and compact campus spread throughout Dundee’s city blocks. Yet, Abertay has put in significant work to offer students the perks of a bigger environment. For example, it takes part in a library resource-sharing program with the universities of Dundee and St. Andrews, and shares events, like balls, with University of Dundee students. And it partners with an outsized number of outside organizations to give students real-world experience.

However, on campus, Abertay University comes with a small size that has its benefits. For example, on the first floor of the library, you’ll find the Support Enquiry Zone (SEZ) which aims to be a single source of information for student problems. Administrative confusion? Personal meltdown? Start here. It’s a decent idea that keeps students from hesitating about which of 20 student service windows they should approach, and makes the university support system feel more personalized and welcoming. 

The modern library is a campus highlight. With a café, study rooms, and plenty of floors full of quiet spaces to hit the books, it outshines the overcrowded libraries of much larger universities. Other facilities are tech-forward, too. As befits a university with programs aimed at propelling grads into space-aged careers, its food innovation center, forensics, engineering, sport performance, and medical facilities feel state-of-the-art. The computer games and ethical hacking departments also boast modern labs and the newest technology (along with some arcade machines students can play to let off some steam).

Campus is beautiful and the new facilities are amazing. But it would be great if Abertay students didn’t have to share with Dundee. For example, the gym is small, and if students are really interested in sports management, they don’t get teams and facilities here to work with. 

The student center is a shiny new, purpose-built building made to elevate student experience and start to provide the foundation for a multi-discipline university, complete with active student societies and services. The university is built around one intersection on an interrupted street in Dundee, so cars don’t come racing through as students scurry to class. The Kydd Building, Graham Building, Baxter Building, and Old College all converge on this corner where most campus bustle takes place.

The only cozy, historical vibe you’ll get at Abertay is in the Old College, with its neoclassical stone facade and green interior quad, complete with a small koi pond. Social science, law, and business students spend some time there.

Abertay is a new(ish) university with limited facilities, so you could find yourself living in Parker House accommodation with students from the University of Dundee, or attending some courses at Dundee’s facilities. The University of Dundee is a 15-minute walk away, across the city center’s wide boulevards lined with brown stone buildings.

Accommodation and Housing at Abertay

Housing is all privately owned, and students might share their dorm space with Dundee students. It’s brand new, but faces critiques that it’s overpriced. With some one-bedroom flats running 272 per week, it’s easy to see how students would fare better in the independent market if they were able to maneuver applications, credit checks, utilities, and flatmates. Without those privileges, they’re left with student housing’s ready-made solutions. 

While there are plenty of critiques of private company housing solutions, one huge benefit to the system is that not all available rooms were occupied in fall semester 2023, a feat that few other universities can match. While Abertay students are so-so on their housing, it’s impressive that those who can afford it will likely get student housing without venturing into the private market.

There isn’t a great accommodation social experience. There aren’t events and there’s no halls staff putting things on to bring students together. There’s no hall catering where students see each other every day. So the experience feels less communal than in unis with halls.

Choices are Parker House, Meadowside Court, and Lyon Street Terrace. Parker is a gargantuan, new build block of en suite rooms with showers run by a well-known private student housing company. There’s a rec room, laundry, and a gym. Kitchens are shared between flatmates, which are all co-ed. A second private company runs the other two student housing options. 

In Meadowview, you’ll find the configuration is different, and students here share flats of 6 or 9 total rooms with a shared kitchen and living room area. Lyon Street is an affordable option without en suite bathrooms, also privately run. The building’s flats consist of 1-3 bedrooms. 

Like most privately-managed student accommodation in the UK, the student housing at Abertay is clean and well-maintained, but can feel like living in a small apartment without a choice of roommates. 

Abertay University Academics & University Rankings

Many of the tech-forward programs at Abertay, like computer games, emphasize project-based learning. That means graduates often have experience working on real-world projects, often with local businesses. For instance, Abertay’s cyberQuarter houses partners like the national heath service, the Scottish Business Resilience Center, Techscalar, and Cyber Scotland, all of whom get access to academic expertise in thwarting cyber-threats. They also get access to up-and-coming talent in the field, while students get to work on meaningful projects that impact the real world.

Games students take the lion’s share of resources and the program’s students are treated very well. Other programs don’t get the same attention.

Students pursuing sports degrees take on a work placement as part of their degrees, allowing them to get out and work with teams or organizations that give them a glimpse into training in the real world. And students in food sciences, biomedical sciences, engineering may spend a semester working for credit, too. Students in other disciplines may also have an open invitation to find a work placement to apply to their studies.

Work-study placements are a huge draw that looks familiar to career-minded American students. Yet they might be put off by Abertay’s unfamiliar course schedule. It’s a semester-based schedule with some quirks. First, semester one continues after a 2-week winter break. Second, a third term after spring semester lasts just three weeks and exists to help students bridge the gap to the next year of their program and to let students complete exams.

Years are called “stages” and an undergraduate honors degree takes 4 stages to complete. Every stage comes with its own requirements and credentials, so students who leave before their degree take some qualifications with them. And stages are comprised of single and double “modules” (typically just a set of classes in a semester). Not all degrees include optional coursework, though some do allow students the freedom and flexibility to build a broad-based degree.

What Abertay does offer all students academically is the opportunity to have direct, personalized contact with lecturers in the field and have active discussions. Abertay ranks highly every year for teaching and student satisfaction, suggesting students are pleased with how much personal attention they get in class. We asked some current students, and no one disagreed.

You know everyone in your course right away in freshers’ week and you’re in courses almost daily for your time at Abertay. The best advice I can give is to also get to know your lecturers. They’re a wealth of knowledge and most people are too shy to ask.

There’s no reason not to pull your American extrovert card and make the most use of the resources Abertay offers, from accessible professors to rich community connections. Because Abertay students feel supported by a small group of humans on campus with whom they nurture a personal relationship, the idea of a “family” of students is more resonant at Abertay than elsewhere in Scotland. 

When you come to Abertay, you can’t hide. You’re embraced by the community and if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll enjoy your time here.

There are three primary schools that house Abertay’s degree programs. Design and informatics is where you’ll find games and hacking. Business, law, and social science students can take up programs like criminology (enjoying that cool forensics crime-scene lab), but also marketing, accounting, and business analytics. You won’t sociology or other academic subjects as stand-alone degrees at Abertay, where the focus is always on combining theory with an occupational pursuit, as with “criminology and sociology.”

In the school of applied sciences, you’ll find popular sports degrees, from conditioning to team management. You’ll also find mental health nursing, food science, and the only civil engineering program in Scotland to guarantee a work placement. At the end of the day, Abertay is a fairly new university, having only been upgraded in 1994 from a city tech school. As a result, its rankings are niche. Abertay doesn’t even get ranked by the Times or US News. Students treasure Abertay for its great teaching and a world-leading video games degree, not an “overall” university experience.  In the future, if Abertay can hang on to its niche appeal, it will continue attracting international students who want to drive in the shadow of its prestigious Grand Theft Auto legacy.

Apply

USA students can apply to Abertay with a high school diploma and a GPA of 3.0 with a minimum SAT score of 1100, ACT score of 25, or three AP tests of 3 or higher. Students applying to video game programs are encouraged to submit additional evidence of participation in related activities or games they’ve developed. Games requirements for entry are a little higher than the university’s entrance requirements as a whole: you’ll need a 3.0 GPA and either an SAT score of 1200, ACT of 27, 3 AP scores of 4, 3, and 3 or higher, or 3 SAT subject tests of 650. Apply through UCAS by January 15 with your transcripts, test scores, letter of recommendation, and personal statement.