Sheffield is a great university city and is well set up to be one. With two universities there is a huge range of student accommodation, facilities, and activities. Plus amazing (cheap) night life (if you find the right places). But university as a whole leaves me with a feeling of wasted potential. To say you pay £9250 a year, I haven’t finished my first year with the absolutely amazing Uni experience you hear so often. It all just feels a bit dead. I’m sure Sheffield Hallam has some amazing courses but the one I’m currently studying falls flat. I haven’t really learnt much this past year partly due to a lacklustre syllabus but also due to the awful facilities we are given. It has been common for me to be stuck with a computer that is so slow that for a whole two hour lab session, I was unable to do any work and was forced to just sit and watch. To say that my course is entirely technology based and resides in a building specifically made for computing, this is simply not good enough. Sheffield Hallam provides great courses and experiences across a great spectrum of fields, it’s just a shame that it’s let down by inadequate facilities and in some cases lecturers, if you are even lucky to see them seeing that they are constantly on strike (I have had 3 strikes so far during my first year). One of Hallam’s strengths however is it’s locations. If you are located on the city campus then you have the whole city centre on your doorstep and if you are located on the collegiate campus you have the great range of shops on Ecclesall Road and the city centre is in walking distance (only around 15mins max). There is also a wide range of student accommodation very close to both campuses. The students union at Sheffield Hallam always has events on with their “Give it a go” initiative which offers a wide range of activities to get involved in. Overall, Sheffield Hallam offers a basic University learning experience you will pretty much find anywhere. Don’t expect “blow you away” services in certain courses, but if you’re looking for ‘the’ student experience, look no further than Sheffield.

Sheffield Hallam has some amazing courses but the one I’m currently studying falls flat due to a lacklustre syllabus and the awful facilities we are given. It has been common for me to be stuck with a computer that is so slow that for a whole two hour lab session, I was unable to do any work and was forced to just sit and watch. To say that my course is entirely technology based and resides in a building specifically made for computing, this is simply not good enough. The lecturers seem knowledgeable in the field but some are not well suited to the roll and leave you feeling more confused than before. Some are bad at providing adequate feedback as most of the time you receive a small comment that takes time to actually understand due to its poor grammar. However, there are a few gems in the course who clearly love their job and that shows through their teaching. You definitely want to develop a good relationship with these.

The environment and the labs are really great, just wished that we would have better lecturers and my experience would be a whole lot better if there was no covid

Said it I. The first one