What is Discover Uni and what can you do on the site?

Updated

Discover Uni (discoveruni.gov.uk) is the official UK-wide source of data, information and guidance about higher education. You can use it to search and compare official data for undergraduate courses by course name and institution, read guidance on applying and student finance, and save courses to review later. It is most useful if you are shortlisting UK undergraduate courses and want one place to compare official course data rather than relying on individual university marketing pages.

What the site is for

The homepage frames the site around one question: "Thinking about your uni choices?" From there, it offers a course search and a set of information and advice sections. The site describes itself as the official source of data, information and guidance about higher education across the UK, which is the main reason to treat it as a starting point for research rather than a commercial comparison tool.

Core things you can do

Search and compare undergraduate courses

The main action on the homepage is a search box labelled "Search and compare undergraduate courses in the UK", with the prompt "Search by course name and/or institution". In practice:

  • Input: a course name (for example, a subject you want to study) and/or an institution name.
  • Action: run the search and open individual course records.
  • Expected result: course pages you can compare using the official data Discover Uni publishes for each course.

This is the fastest way to check what a specific course looks like at several universities on the same basis.

Learn what data sits behind each course

The "About our data" section explains the data published for each course on Discover Uni. Read this before you compare courses, so you understand what each figure represents and what it does not tell you. It is the section that answers "where do these numbers come from?"

Get guidance on applying

The "How to apply" section provides guidance on the application process. Use it if you are unsure about the sequence of steps or what is expected of you at each stage.

Understand costs and funding

The "How will I pay for it?" section covers applying for student finance and the cost of living while at university. This is the place to start on funding questions before checking the specifics for your own situation.

Save courses for later

The homepage includes a saved-courses feature ("You have courses saved" / "View your courses"). As you search, save the courses you are considering so you can return to them and compare without searching again.

Learn how to get the most from the site

A "How to use Discover Uni" link points to guidance on getting the most out of the information available. It is worth a quick read on your first visit, especially if you plan to compare many courses.

A practical way to use it

  1. Start with the course search using a subject and, if you have one, an institution.
  2. Open the "About our data" page and note which measures matter for your decision.
  3. Save each course you are seriously considering.
  4. Compare the saved courses on the same measures rather than mixing sources.
  5. Use the "How to apply" and "How will I pay for it?" sections to plan your next steps.

Things to keep in mind

  • The site covers undergraduate courses; do not expect it to be a full guide to postgraduate study.
  • It is a data and guidance source, not an application portal — the application process itself is handled elsewhere, and the site's guidance explains how.
  • The homepage notes that necessary cookies keep the site working and that additional analytics cookies are optional; you can accept or decline them via the cookie settings. The site states it does not use cookies for marketing.
  • The site does not present itself as a rankings table; its value is official course data you can compare on a consistent basis.