To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore in depth, the perceptions and experiences of students and staff following delivery of a mass SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19 testing programme in a university setting. This study demonstrates the perceived value of the mass testing approach to students and staff in a higher education setting, although the economic and health impact of this approach is yet to be established. Study findings will inform future deployments of COVID-19 virus and antibody testing on university campuses and may provide insights to inform the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines in the future. However, these findings should be considered in the context of the environment in which this pilot deployment was delivered (a single campus of a multi-campus university, in a semirural location), at a time of frequent changes in patterns of virus transmission. The data were collected prior to the second surge of COVID-19 in the UK at which time the participating university deployed mass testing more broadly to include students living on its other campuses closer to the city. In these subsequent deployments, a large number of positive cases were detected, leading to high numbers of students self-isolating, and this was coupled with lower uptake of mass testing among students. Therefore, our findings may not be directly transferable to different settings or across rapidly changing national and local contexts. The reasons for the subsequent reduction in testing uptake, apparent changes in students’ attitudes to testing and the barriers and enablers of self-isolation need to be explored. This is particularly pertinent in the light of the government’s adoption of a phased return of students to UK universities in January 2021, whereby students returning to campus first may be subject to successive waves of virus exposure bringing the possibility of needing to self-isolate more than once.