Bournemouth city itself isn’t the best student city, but the university itself has an incredibly welcome atmosphere. The university works hard to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible, and you can tell that most the people working here really care about the students. It’s a much kinder environment than most other arts university I’ve been to. Just a shame there isn’t better gluten free options around campus, as it makes eating at university pretty tricky. I’m aware the university management issues with caring for its staff properly, so tragically the only thing that let the course down was the amount the tutors had to go on strike (an act that every student I know wholeheartedly supports and agrees with.) If anything could be improved for this course it would be listening to and supporting its staff, who care about the courses they run a great amount.

The staff on the illustration course are incredibly kind, and go above and beyond to help the students. There’s room for many different styles of learning, with brilliant tutoring and lectures both in person and over zoom. There’s been a good transition to better online learning access for the students that frequently work from home (the set up of online timetabling and course recourses through canvas needs improvement, but it’s getting there.) There’s also an impressive careers support department and lots of visiting lectures from professionals to help educate students on how to make a career out of their degree. More scheduled contact hours with tutors would help students feel a bit more guided in final year, as I appreciate the aim to help us stand on our own two feet but there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty around whether projects will be acceptable for the marking criteria. Staff are very available to talk to if students take the initiative to reach out, but a lot of students don’t know how best to do this or don’t realise it’s an option, and then there’s a battle to book the limited available tutorial slots. Because of this, many students I know easily go the majority of the project without having their work looked at. A few more scheduled work check ins would be ideal. This issue is mostly worsened by the poor timetable display on the my.aub website that make it hard to spot important lectures and tutorial events in the sea of “independent study sessions” and other everyday scheduled items. Having a colour scheme for different types of events (particularly vibrant colours for the most important irregular events) would help this system greatly.

Been in Bournemouth 5 years and it sucks but it’s got some highlights. Here’s my list: Recommendations: The beach is the only real draw of the city. Go to boscombe beach to avoid the crowds or go to alum chine cause it’s gorgeous (the forest walk is beautiful in summer) Bournemouth pier is always where it’s most crowded Go to a couple student event nights but expect them to be terrible. Foreverland is okay sometimes. Fire station is best for student events, cameo is overrated. Alt has the best smoking area but it’s mostly an art student scene. Do their halloween event. Best bars and clubs: Four horsemen (best bar around imo) Sixty million postcards (book in advance) Silverbacks ale house Winton (locals are lovely and pints are tasty and cheap) Buffalo in Winton (best 2nd year venue, student night Tuesdays) Alt (student night Thursdays, it gets packed) Cameo is worth experiencing but expect it to be bad Halo is similarly bad but if u get 10 friends to all pay £10 you can get a booth with great seating area above the pit, access to a quieter bar, and it comes with a bottle of vodka and a massive bucket of ice for all your drinks Toast Tuesdays at REVS (only reason to visit revs) Karaoke night at o’Neills Places: Cat cafe is cute Look up BEAF for the art event that happens every summer Ice skating and Christmas lights are good in winter Russell cotes gallery is pretty and fancy and 1 day a year there’s free entry Skate park and velodrome in Winton at slade’s farm Mini golf at mulligans is alright So many escape rooms VR centre in old Christchurch Road shopping centre (might shut down tho cause no one knows it) Food: Kori is amazing (Korean food) Flaves is cheap and addictive (Jamaican grill) Koh Thai (personal fav) Kumpi (Cheap loaded cheesy loaded potatoes) Sambal Tumis (Malaysian restaurant) Art sushi in Westbourne Espresso kitchen is best coffee (one in boscombe and one in the triangle) Otto’s in Winton Boscanova in boscombe (does pancake mornings) Vegan: Mad cucumber (tasty as hell and cheapish, shuts at 3 on Sundays though) Twelve eatery (expensive but WORTH IT. So good) Otto’s (I dream about their pastrami bagel) Gay scene: DYMK is dodgy but it does drag events New dymk bar has just been opened Alt is queer art student venue of choice, most go every Thursday New “Pride” bar also just opened Gay cafe “Flirt” does loads of events, including drag bingo and quiz nights Bournemouth is a mess. So many drunk people, real problem with addiction and homelessness. You will be approached for money every 5 minutes. There’s not a great sense of community in this place but you’ll find it in some bars and clubs, and mostly at uni. The city has a bit of an issue with stabbing, be careful around boscombe gardens or Bournemouth square at night. It’s is pretty monocultural and not very queer friendly (I know a fair few people who’ve been beaten up, and there’s a notorious screamer who cycles around and screams at ppl that dress flamboyantly) but if you stick with your friends you’ll have a good time. And if you don’t make friends easily, go to the uni extra curricular clubs. There’s always community there

For the positives: it’s the cheapest of all the local halls of residence, there’s a bus stop with direct transport to uni right around the corner and the halls themselves are in easy walking distance from shops, the beach, and the city centre. Most of the security guards are chill and friendly, and the accommodation feels fairly safe. Public hallways were kept very clean. For the negatives: there’s a silverfish infestation (staff deal with it fairly quickly if you alert them but the bugs always come back). I lived on the ground floor in a studio flat that got pretty much 0 sunlight as there’s a tall fence about a meter away from the window, and the whole flat rattled anytime anyone entered the building (the bed was against the wall next to the door.) The oven could easily have been from the 60s, the induction hob was pretty awful. As far as I could tell all the cooking facilities could do with an upgrade. Sofas in shared flat living rooms were very comfortable. There was only one communal area for the entire building (that wasn’t shared flat living rooms) and it wasn’t very inviting (again ground floor and very dark.) The decor in the flat was all grey black and white which made it extremely depressing and cold in appearance, and the communal room was similarly cold but with a harsh red wall for its only pop of colour. Enlist some student to repaint it with more whimsy and fun. All in all it’s better facilities than most independent student housing, albeit with worse decor, terrible window light, a silverfish problem, and for an extortionate price. Worth the experience of living next to so many other first years which we ultimately will pay any amount of money for, but terrible value for money.

AUB is a great place to study because it is a place where you can belong without any judgements. It is a safe space to learn and improve and be yourself. Especially, with the brilliant Wellbeing support, it does not get any better than this!

Although MA is supposed to be a self-directed study, still, we are no PhD students BUT we still need support! Both academically and personally. Both scholarly and from MA curriculum point of view.

A tad cheaper would be helpful! Thank you :)