Having been at university for two years already, I can say that moving to Plymouth was one of the best steps I took in life - I've made some amazing friends, been given great opportunities within my course and the societies on offer at the university, and have a better idea of what I want to do with my life after university than I did when I first started my courses (both the Foundation and my current Filmmaking course).

University facilities are well maintained, and are accessible using the student swipe cards given out at the start of the year.

In terms of the support offered by the university, we get our feedback from our tutors promptly, either online via the Digital Learning Environment (DLE) or in a hard copy from the Faculty Office. The feedback is thorough and gives us advice on how we've received the marks we have, and there is the option of booking meetings with the lecturers to discuss the marks. Our lecturers also are able to counsel us if necessary, if we're having any issues with the course or within personal life that prevents us from doing the course. As well as this, the university itself offers various wellbeing services, like listening posts and the CALM cafe, which is useful for if a student just wishes to speak to someone they don't know without any means of judgement.

The Students Union has monthly meetings with members of societies in order to make sure all needs are being met by society members, and the Sabbatical Officers are always on hand to chat about any issues students may be having in their university lives.

The university is right next to Drakes Circus, and is only a 5 minute walk away from new entertainment and dining multiplex The Barcode, with shops close by. Accommodation ranges from being right on campus to being up to a 20 minute walk away from the main campus, depending on where you choose to live.

The university has a vast range of societies and sports clubs, and yearly offers Varsity matches enjoyed by many against Plymouth Marjon University. Prices for membership are good for the content you receive, and there is a yearly subsidiary fee of around £2 in order to ensure the SU is able to support these activities.

I really enjoy the more hands-on approach that the lecturers take for our lectures, and the fact we're given opportunities to just go out and create whatever we wish for the weekly tasks. The course has also opened up opportunities to watch films and media that we wouldn't normally consume, in order to further expand our knowledge of the filmmaking world around us. One thing I would wish the first years were able to do was to have some guidance to begin with on how to write various essays and written pieces, so that we don't get left in the lurch on how correct formatting and academic writing is meant to be done, so that we can be better prepared in the remaining years, and especially when writing our dissertations in the third year of the course.

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The university offers a career service, both online and in person within the library, and also offer internal opportunities for working around the university and Student Union, as well as working as a course representative for Open Days and Applicant Days.

For my first year, on a foundation course, I lived in university managed halls. Right on campus, it meant that I was safe and secure in the block, and for the price we paid it was a very good service. When actually starting on the first year of the Filmmaking course, I was living in privately-managed student housing, run by CleverStudentLets. Unfortunately, this experience was not as good as the experience I had dealing with the university, and I'm sad to say that the services Clever provide are not as good as they could be. For example, one of my housemates had to wait nearly a month once she had moved into the house for a skylight blind to be fitted in her bedroom, after being assured by the team at CSL that the blind would be in there by the time she moved in. As well as this, we had issues over the past year with one of our housemates, and even though we complained to the lettings agency about this housemate, the most that was ever actioned was an email reminding the rest of the occupants about antisocial behaviour, which we received multiple times. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, I would also like to point out that the lettings agency has still asked for payment from tenants for housing that we are no longer allowed to access, due to the university telling us to go back home if at all possible. They are also withholding landlord details, which, under the Landlord and Tenancy Act (1985), Section 1, they are legally required to do within 21 days, regardless of the "GDPR" restrictions they keep saying disallow them from doing this. TL;DR: Don't go with CleverStudentLets if you're looking for private accommodation - speak to the University instead for other accommodation providers.

I think the being close to the hoe and city is great and having lectures interested in what they do

I like the access to all the equipment and places but I would like more lectures and lectures involved using equipment

I liked the location but I had a problem ladt year of my flats power kept cutting