About Whatuni

Since 2007, Whatuni has assisted UK students in finding their future university. We collect and publish thousands of honest student reviews, build tools to simplify the search, offer expert advice on making the right choice, connect prospective students with unis, all with the goal of helping you make the best decision about your education. 

• 1996: Hotcourses is founded, offering physical booklets listing part-time and full-time courses.

• Eary 2000s: Hotcourses moves online.

• 2007: Whatuni is launched by Hotcourses to help UK students discover their university options.

• 2017: Hotcourses is acquired by IDP Education, a leader in global education services.

• 2022: The Whatuni App is relaunched to assist students in finding their right uni wherever they are.

Student reviews

As of November 2026, Whatuni has over 190,000 verified student reviews hosted on the site. Students review their uni, course and overall experience, rating important aspects on a 1-5 scale.  

To verify that our reviewers are students, we require them to submit their university email address, meaning Whatuni's reviews provide genuine insight for prospective students. 

Our reviews come from students of all different ages and years of study, offering a comprehensive overview of a range of different university experiences.  

Whatuni Student Choice Awards  

The Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs) are the biggest student-voted rankings in the UK. Every year, thousands of students review their uni, and we use this data to rank institutions on 11 important aspects of student life. 

The WUSCAs categories include: 

• University of the Year 

• Career Prospects 

• Facilities 

• Lecturers and Teaching Quality 

• International 

• Student Support 

• Postgraduate 

• Student Life 

• Small and Specialist Institutions 

• Students Union 

• University Halls 

The WUSCAs also includes a Submission Award, the winner of which is selected by a panel of students. Each year the topic of the Submission Award changes to reflect current issues students are facing. The 2026 Submission Award topic was Supporting Students Through the Cost‑of‑Living Crisis. 

Course and uni search

As well as uplifting student voices and experiences, you can also use Whatuni to browse courses from hundreds of universities and HE colleges across the UK.  

We have over 66,000 courses listed on the site (as of November 2026), and our helpful search and filtering tools make it easy to sort through them all and find the ones that most suit your needs. 

As you search through our database, you can Favourite courses and universities. We've also built a tool to help you compare your Favourites on important stats and put together a list of top candidates – your Final 5. 

Prospectuses and open day bookings

No need to hop between loads of different websites, you can get prospectuses and book open day spots for hundreds of unis all on Whatuni. 

In just a few clicks, you can order free prospectuses delivered right to your door from unis you're interested in. We can also send you digital prospectuses to your email inbox in seconds. 

If you find some unis that you want to visit, use our Open Day calendar to see when their next open days are and book your free tickets.  

Career Matcher

Whatuni's Career Matcher tool is an easy way to find out what jobs your interests and skills would lend themselves to, and what you'd need to study to start your career.  

Fill out our questionnaire and we'll show you which industries and roles align best with your interests. You'll be able to check out relevant career profiles across a wide range of different sectors, giving you an idea of what you can aim for and how to achieve your goals. 

Student Cost of Living Calculator

The Whatuni Student Cost of Living Calculator helps students to understand the costs of studying, plan a budget, and explore options to make uni more affordable. 

The free tool can break down all the costs of going to university, including accommodation, food, travel and more. It also considers the cost of living in different areas of the country, so you can compare costs in cities and unis around the UK. 

Results day and Clearing

Results day and Clearing is a stressful time for students, so the Whatuni Clearing Hub goes live right when Clearing starts every year in July.  

Using the Clearing Hub, students can browse Clearing courses with available spots as soon as they open and can see the chance that they will be accepted onto the course based on their grades. 

The Clearing Hub also has advice on how you should approach Clearing, whether you missed the grades you wanted, got better grades than expected, or changed your mind about your course. 

Expert advice

The team of education experts at Whatuni have created hundreds of step-by-step guides, explainers, checklists and more to prepare you with all the information you need to choose a university. We also have comprehensive sections on student finance, accommodation, careers, and student wellbeing.  

As well as advice from our resident experts, we also spotlight articles written by students, going into more detail about a specific element of their uni or career journey.  

Whatuni is a part of IDP Education, a global student recruitment company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Meet the IDP Education and Whatuni team!

• Simon Emmett, CEO

• Stuart Smith, Director of Product and Marketing

• Emma Bridge, Director of Marketing

• Camilla King, Director of Client Partnerships

• Amandeep Aulakh, Client Partner Director

• Murugan Hari Hara Puthiran, Senior Engineering Manager

• Prabha Ramamoorthy, Manager, Client Care

• Sam Smith, Content Manager

UCAS

UCAS, or the Universities and Colleges Admission Service, is the official admissions service for students applying for UK undergraduate courses. UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education. Millions of students have gone through its application process since it was formed in 1994.  

Whatuni works with data provided by UCAS to ensure that prospective students have access to the most relevant, and accurate information available, in order to help them find the right course at the right university. 

Higher Education Statistics Agency

The Higher Education Statistics Agency, or HESA, is the official source of data from universities and higher education colleges in the UK. HESA collects information from universities, higher education colleges, and specialist providers of higher education each year.  

This data is published as official statistics for use by a variety of stakeholders, including academic researchers and education providers.  

Whatuni uses HESA data to give prospective students up-to-date information about unis and degrees so they can make an informed choice about their future. 

Students are at the heart of everything we do, so we're always working hard to bring you expert, unbiased advice and real student experiences to give you the information you need to make your choices in new and exciting ways. We value authenticity, straightforwardness, expertise, and innovation. 

To keep providing support to students, we work with universities across the country. This means you'll sometimes see adverts in the form of 'Featured Results', 'Our Top Picks' or banners across the site, showing listings from our partner universities. However, to preserve the credibility of the information we present to students, our work with unis does not affect our editorial content or WUSCA rankings. 

We also try our best to give back to the community. UK employees at IDP Education are able to take up to two paid days off per year for volunteering. As a company, we are currently working to support WONDER Foundation, who empower vulnerable women, girls and communities through education. 

Within the company, we also have a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) working group. The DEI group organise events, listen to employees' ideas and concerns, and advocate for employees to create an inclusive and supportive work environment. 

For further information regarding compliance, please refer to Whatuni's Terms & Conditions and Whatuni's Privacy Notice.

Since launching in 2007, Whatuni has supported millions of students, teachers, and parents to find information about university life, applications, degrees, and much more. 

Whatuni supports over 5 million users every year to take their next steps in the world of education and work. Our impact is especially clear in the days after A-level results day, with thousands of users coming to our website to find a course in UCAS Clearing. 

Last year, over 42,000 students submitted a review to Whatuni. With over 190,000 total reviews published on our site and more being submitted every day, you can be sure that you'll find reviews from students with a range of experiences, backgrounds and opinions. 

IDP Education is always on the lookout for more great talent to join our team. If working with us is something you're interested in, make sure you keep an eye on the IDP Education Careers page to stay in the loop with all the latest opportunities.

We're always happy to hear from visitors to the site! Email editor@whatuni.com if you have any specific university related queries we can support with or subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates so we can keep you on track with your uni journey. You can also follow us on social media for reminders of important deadlines, student life content and much more!