Student Life
What to expect in Lincoln...
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Where on earth?
The city makes us the ideal springboard for your future – a great mix of city connectivity and campus community. Opportunity is never far away here, with links to industry on our doorstep. Lincoln has undergone a lot of change in the past few years and is a thriving cultural hotspot. It’s a unique mix of old and new, with the medieval Cathedral and Castle dominating the skyline, overlooking the modern city centre below.
Roughly one in every five people who live in Lincoln are students, and it really is a city perfectly tailored to those in higher education. Navigating around Lincoln on foot is simple, from the cobbled streets uphill to the modern city centre and waterfront downhill. With a variety of live entertainment, cultural attractions and nightlife hotspots across the city, there’s plenty to keep you entertained.
In Lincoln, you’ll find everything you need and more – the perfect background to make memories that’ll last a lifetime.
Life in Lincoln
Lincoln is the most affordable student city in the UK (NatWest Student Living Index 2025)
Lincoln Bishop awarded Top 10 for Student Experience (The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026)
Lincoln Bishop awarded 2nd for Student Experience (Daily Mail University Guide 2025)
Lincoln Castle, awarded Visit England Gold, houses an original Victorian Prison and a Medieval Wall Walk. Recently, awarded the Sandford Award, Lincoln Cathedral also has much to explore and is a sight to behold, even for locals!
Discover your new home via car, train, or coach with local places to visit from the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds to the famous Woodhall Spa and charming Stamford - and direct trains to London in as little as two hours!
From music with Live at Lincoln Castle and comedians and performers at the Engine Shed as well as Lincoln Pride and the annual Lincoln Book Festival, there's something for everyone to enjoy throughout the city!
After all your hard work you can look forward to a special day of celebration with your graduation ceremony held at Lincoln Cathedral! It is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate your achievements with your friends, family and academics by your side.
From the vibrant New Theatre Royal and Usher Art Gallery to a collection of museums each exploring history made across Lincolnshire and the globe - there's a rich tapestry of culture to soak up when wandering the streets of the city.
With a gym on campus and even more throughout the city, there's plenty of opportunities to keep active! Green spaces are almost everywhere to be seen with The Arboretum and West Common close to campus.
Lincoln is a fantastic place to study - you've got the castle and cathedral in a very roman city!
Lincoln University News
Lincoln Bishop University returns to Lincoln Cathedral to welcome new students at Matriculation ceremony
On Wednesday 8th October, we welcomed the start of a new academic year with our Matriculation ceremony held at the prestigious Lincoln Cathedral in the Bailgate area of the city.
The celebration marked an official introduction to the University’s new cohort of students, not only to their dynamic academic community but the wider local community in heart of uphill Lincoln.
All newly enrolled undergraduate and postgraduate students were invited to attend the Matriculation ceremony. Here, they had the opportunity to meet their peers, alongside the University’s academics and supporting staff, while looking toward the journey ahead inside the venue where most will graduate once their studies are complete.
Matriculation signifies the formal enrolment of students in which their names are placed upon the matricula roll.
This year’s Matriculation ceremony featured addresses by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Gower, Students’ Union President, Stephan Bolton, and Dean of Chapel and Chaplain, Reverend Dr Peter Green.
Closing orations were delivered by second year student Lucy Castle, a BA (Hons) Primary Education with QTS student.
The ceremony concluded with a beautiful performance by the Lincoln Bishop choir. In line with tradition, the procession then made its way to the Dean's Green, located on the north side of the Cathedral, for the taking of the University’s photo of matriculating students.
Lincoln Bishop supports Lincoln Book Festival
From Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th October, Lincoln Book Festival is set to bring together authors and rising stars of the publishing world for an extended weekend of engaging talks, readings, discussions and workshops across the city!
Lincoln Bishop University is a proud patron of the event, with our Programme Leader for English, Professor of English Literature Claudia Capancioni, joining a variety of events – including a talk entitled Beginning with Austen.
Taking place on Sunday 5th October from 4:30pm to 6pm at The Blue Room, The Lawn, Claudia is joining literary scholars from the University of Lincoln to offer new ways to think about Jane Austen's fiction! Following a series of short talks, attendees will be invited for a lively conversation about Austen and her legacies.
To book your ticket, please click here!
The event celebrates the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth and will be the first of a variety of public events inspired by Jane Austen's anniversary – run by the Lincoln Bishop English team, both on campus and at the Ermine Library.
Also taking place on our university campus is an event showcasing the publications of three local history societies. Entitled a Local History Afternoon with a Watery Theme, the event will take place on Sunday 5th October at 2pm in the Eliot Room.
To book your ticket, please click here!
Claudia is also due to attend and introduce an event on the first evening of the festival at the Lincoln Arts Centre, alongside some Lincoln Bishop University staff and students who have been awarded tickets.
Hosted by BAFTA-nominated, award-winning writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, the event will light up Lincoln's National Poetry Day with poems from his collection Let the Light Pour In: Morning Poems.
A poem from the collection, chosen by Claudia:
Dawn is a riddle
From the middle of the night
Born in a ripple
In a giggle of light.
To book your ticket, please click here!
Claudia said: “The festival offers many free events for a variety of audiences and links directly to Lincoln Bishop’s social purpose of creating positive change in our community.
“This the second year that the festival is funded by the Arts Council and our hope is to continue reaching wider audiences of different generations and in different areas of the city and county.”
To find out more about Lincoln Book Festival and read the full festival programme, please click here!
2025 Sandford Award Winners: Celebrating the stories that shape us
We are delighted to announce 19 winners for this year’s Sandford Award, including a dynamic mix of museums, historic landmarks and an archaeological park, that are all reshaping how we connect with the past.
As the UK and Ireland’s top accolade for heritage learning, the Sandford Award is delivered by Lincoln Bishop University in partnership with the Heritage Education Trust and supported by Historic Royal Palaces.
The Award recognises and celebrates organisations that engage and inspire learners through creative and inclusive programmes, and this year’s award ceremony will be held at St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday 20th November at 2pm.
A medieval hall, a 21st-century archive, and one of Britain’s most iconic bridges are among the extraordinary heritage sites honoured in this year’s 2025 awards, alongside the local and prestigious Lincoln Cathedral.
A list of all winners can be found here.
Professor Andrew Gower speaking on behalf of Lincoln Bishop University, said: “As a university committed to heritage education, lifelong learning and the positive difference education makes in the lives of individuals and communities, we greatly value our longstanding partnership with the Heritage Education Trust.
“Lincoln Bishop University is delighted to celebrate the success of the organisations receiving a Sandford Award this year. Winning the Award is a widely recognised mark of success for high-quality heritage learning in action. Many congratulations to the 2025 winners of a Sandford Award.”
The Sandford Award has been providing independent recognition for high quality in heritage learning since 1978, celebrating programmes that go beyond the expected to create transformative learning experiences.
From creating prehistoric clay pots to journeying through the history of bread, this year’s winners are helping to redefine what formal and informal heritage education can be.
Dr Tracy Borman, OBE, speaking on behalf of the Heritage Educational Trust, said: “This year's award winners represent a rich and diverse range of heritage sites, from archaeology parks to aviation centres, iconic buildings such as Lincoln Cathedral and Kensington Palace to the treasure trove of history that is The National Archives.
“Every single recipient deserves the recognition and profile that securing the prestigious Sandford Award brings and I would like to offer them all my heartfelt congratulations.”
The Sandford Award are always looking for bold and brilliant heritage learning programmes which bring history to life. If your site delivers exceptional learning experiences, we want to hear from you.
Applications for 2026 open on Monday 1st December 2025. Please contact Jayne Ellis, Sandford Award Administrator, to register your interest: Jayne.ellis@lincolnbishop.ac.uk
An open day gives you a chance to visit and experience a university first-hand
There’s so much more to discover beyond the prospectus. Come and see for yourself at a Lincoln Bishop University Open Day.