Further and Higher Education Act 1992 afforded Coventry Polytechnic university status that year, the name was changed to Coventry University.
In 2010, a campus in London was established to further attract international students to the university. In 2012 "Coventry University College" was set up within the main university campus, offering qualifications up to degree-level at a lower cost compared to typical university fees.
As of 2017 Coventry is the highest-ranked modern university in the UK in both the Guardian University Guide – in which it ranks 12th overall – and the Complete University Guide. It also places in the top 200 in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2017, which ranks universities around the world that are aged 50 years or under.
In July 2017, the university announced Margaret Casely-Hayford as its new chancellor, replacing Sir John Egan.
The campus in Coventry is undergoing a £430 million investment programme for the period up to 2022, with a new £37 million science and health building and £73 million student accommodation complex – opened in 2017 and 2018 respectively – central to the development scheme.
In September 2019, Coventry purchased the 22-acre farm Ryton Organic Gardens from the charity Garden Organic, who remains on site as a tenant along with the Heritage Seed Library and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme '5-Acre CSA' sitting alongside the university's own Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience.
== Campuses ==
=== Coventry campus ===
Coventry currently occupies a purpose-built 33-acre (13 ha) campus in Coventry City Centre adjacent to Coventry Cathedral and the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. It occupies a mix of new purpose-built buildings, converted structures, and those inherited from its predecessor institutions.
The centrepiece of the campus is The Hub which opened in August 2011. The Hub is the home of the Coventry University Students’ Union, student support services, a bar/nightclub, a food hall and food outlets which are catered by Sodexo …
