The University of South Wales has been named as the best university for supporting graduate start-up businesses in Wales.

The university has earned the accolade for the fourth consecutive year.

Moreover, in 2022/2023, the University of South Wales ranked 11th out of 220 UK universities for new start-up businesses and now holds the 9th position for the number of active graduate businesses.

During the last academic year, the University supported the creation of 96 new graduate businesses, bringing the total number of enterprises supported to more than 500.

USW’s strong track record on graduate start-ups was highlighted by the University’s vice-chancellor, Dr Ben Calvert, who said: "These figures from HESA again show that USW is the ‘Entrepreneurial University of Wales’ and continues to be a leader when it comes to developing graduates who go on to run their own successful businesses."

Jonathan Jones, USW entrepreneurship manager also commented on the achievement, noting the University's tailored support for budding freelancers and entrepreneurs through strong partnerships with the institution's Incubator, USW Careers, and Exchange Business Network.

He said: "Creating accessible and diverse start-up programmes is what we do best at USW".

Graduates who benefited from the support, such as Will Langley, founder of music production company c-Bloc Productions agreed that it played a crucial role in his enterprise's success, saying: "Without the incubation space, access to equipment, funding and business support I wouldn't have been able to do the job I love today."

Almost a quarter of the USW's new graduate businesses were from the faculty of life sciences and education.