Education for all From its inception, Cardiff University set out
to offer equality of opportunity to both men and women. Indeed,
the highest entrance scholarship offered to a student in the
1883 intake was made to a female student. Aberdare Hall, a
women-only hall of residence, was opened in 1893, providing
female students with respectable and very comfortable
accommodation near the University. It was only the second
women’s hall of residence to be built in the UK, and gave women
from outside Cardiff the opportunity to attend university
without the stigma associated with living alone in rented
accommodation. Times have changed, and today around half of the
total student intake is female. Most now choose to live in
modern student flats on mixed sites around the campus, but
Aberdare Hall is still a popular hall of residence, offering a
home-from-home to 125 women every year.