OVERALL UNIVERSITY RATING
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
Overall, it has gone quite well. The quality of teaching is good and most staff really want to help and support you where possible....
University rating
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
Overall, it has gone quite well. The quality of teaching is good and most staff really want to help and support you where possible. First year was hard at times socially because you are in halls of residences with no proper chill out space and can either get really outgoing students or those who keep themselves to themselves which is hard if you are quite social. Although starting second year has been a lot harder academically, I feel happier in my accommodation as I am in a house with less people to share with and good facilities like a lounge with a sofa!. I am happy with my choice of course - I have made some good friends and already it has opened some brilliant employment opportunities.
Facilities
How good are your university's facilities?
Overall very good. You have just about everything you would need actually on site. There are bars, a nightclub, shop, eateries, bank, waterstones book shop, library, sports centre, pharmacy, dentist, doctors, bike repair store, and even an art museum!
All we need is a barbers, takeaway and a large supermarket round the corner!
Student support
How good is the support offered by the uni? Think both academic (tutors/feedback) and personal (counselling, etc).
Academic support by the teaching staff varies. Some lecturers are very good and will often answer emails, give hints on how to tackle assignments and open up forums for discussing work. However some will give you the bare minimum and you will feel lost. The student support service has been very good in offering coursework and exam study advice.
Students' union
What do you think of your Students' Union in terms of student representation and facilities?
Facilities wise, the SU is great. We have a mini supermarket on campus, and in the SU building there is a nightclub, coffee shop, bar and postgraduate only bar, plus a radio station!. The only downside with the SU facilities is that the shop can be rather expensive for the bare necessities compared to other local stores, and the quality of the drinks in the coffee shop are a bit poor given what you pay.
Unfortunately, the union really lets itself down when it comes to student representation. They have been known to make changes without consulting and communicating properly with the students first, and societies feel that the SU don't do enough to assist them.
Local life
Is your university in a good location in terms of distance to accommodation and local amenities?
UEA is in a good location in terms of accommodation, there are plenty of student house rentals within a 15-20 minute walk, some are just outside the campus!
Although there is a Tesco Express and Co-op nearby, it would be nice to have some large supermarkets nearby, the nearest supermarket is Aldi which is a good 20-30 minute walk.
For other amenities like doctors, dentist, takeaway stores UEA is in a good location. We have a doctors, pharmacy, bike repair hut and dentist on site, and takeaways, newsagents etc are within walking distance of UEA.
Societies and Sports
How would you rate the variety of societies/sports?
UEA has plenty of societies and sports you can do, from water polo to garlic bread societies. The availability of sports is partly down to the brilliant sports facilities we have on site, we have a large sports centre building with a swimming pool, rock climbing wall, running track, tennis courts e.t.c., plus we have lots of parkland with UEA being built on Earlham Park
Lecturers and teaching quality
What do you like most and least about the way your course(s) are taught?
I like that lecturers try and make lectures interactive with quizzes and kahoots etc. However, it would be nice if teaching was in the same rooms every week and that lectures, seminars and labs could be bunched up together so there aren't like 2 hour breaks in between.
How many contact hours per week do you have?
10
Career prospects
How does your uni make efforts to increase your employability (careers department, work placements, transferable skills)?
UEA makes a lot of effort in helping students with employability. There is a dedicated careers service on site and the team can help you with anything employability wise from mock interviews to finding funding to set up your own business. The careers service hold a annual job fair in the Sportspark and work with study schools to hold careers fairs tailored to the courses themselves throughout the year. In addition to this, the university offer courses with sandwich years in them. The careers service give you access to a website full of job resources, from available work at any stage in your degree to CV help and interviews/psychometric tests.
University halls
What do you think about the safety, condition, location and cost of your accommodation?
The condition of the house is very good and the location is very good as well.
The property is only 20-30 minutes walk from UEA, we have an Aldi nearby and there is a bus stop for town 5 minutes walk away. The neighborhood is rather quiet which is handy when you have lots of work to do!
Our rent is reasonable, the only downside is we have a top up gas/electric meter and no water meter so electricity, gas and water can cost a little bit more than other students would pay.
Safety is okay but could be better.