University rating
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
I have been out of education for few years before deciding to follow on my passions and get a degree in Illustration.
As an adult with responsibility and no economical support for living expenses, I expected it be very hard to start and follow on my studies and to my surprise the staff at Glyndwr is not only very welcoming but also very understanding and caring about their students.
I have a clear feeling that a key factor for the Uni is employability and a personal course of studies. I have had instances where I was given access to animation labs through a Fine Art module, because I choose to try and do a stop motion animation. Instead of convincing me to stick to what is most commonly done in Fine Arts, they supported me and went the extra mile to help me complete my project and even rewarded me for the extra effort.
There are some truly great people working at Glyndwr and the Uni have plans to expand even further with their GLyndwr Campus 2025 plan.
Facilities
How good are your university's facilities?
the Regent Street campus where I study is dedicated to all Arts and Design subjects and it is an old but cozy building. Some of the areas have heating issues but they have plans to demolish and rebuild those areas.
The main campus, known as Plas Coch, hosts all the fancy stuff, like Photoshop labs and even the BBC Wales radio station. It is very modenr and they have all the latest technology available, including various Oculus VR for game design students.
All in all I feel safe to say it is very good, not perfect but we can see improvements every year.
Student support
How good is the support offered by the uni? Think both academic (tutors/feedback) and personal (counselling, etc).
We have a good amount of availability in the tutors and often I've seen lecturers go beyond their working hours to help students that were "falling out" of interest, to understand their situation and help them through what could be personal issues or problems with using/accessing facilities.
For counselling, I haven't used the service in person but I have thought of doing it and I have gathered information about it. They have expert psychologists available for personal issues and they offer for free the same service that would be available for 80/100 £/h from some NHS experts.
Students' union
What do you think of your Students' Union in terms of student representation and facilities?
Our SU facility have been recently renewed and it includes a large lounge area, computers and consoles for playing videogames in a social environment and a bar which serves alcohol (this helps students staying safe, by providing the chance to stay in campus for a weekend beer and avoid the city crowd).
During the week we can have pizza for lunch, freshly baked in the house and various events in the Uni take place in the SU building, taking advantage of the large screens and good quality speakers that are available around for speakers to give presentations and speaches.
Local life
Is your university in a good location in terms of distance to accommodation and local amenities?
Glyndwr and it's art specific campus in Regent Street are very comfortably reached from the city centre and there are plenty of things to do around the campus. Just outside of it, you can find a shopping area, tennis court, 2 different gyms and the town's centre, all within 5/10 minutes walk. There is a fuel station right in front of the main campus too, for those who need to travel by car and the Uni's parking is very large and well maintained.
Societies and Sports
How would you rate the variety of societies/sports?
I recently joined 3/4 different societies but can commit to only 2 at a time because I lack the time to do all of them. There are societies for movies fanatics and sci-fi fans, boardgames and videogames, book readers and many different sports, including football, tennis, even jogging groups.
The list is very long and in the beginning of the year there is a specific event to allow new and returning students to familiarise with them all.
P.S. there is even a society about middle-aged battle reenactment, which is as cool as it sounds!
Lecturers and teaching quality
What do you like most and least about the way your course(s) are taught?
There is great freedom in the briefs that we receive. The system used to grade our work is well explained and clear. As long as we complete the requirements of the module we are free to develop our work in the way that suits us the most, not being limited to specific materials or style or even subject, allowing us to develop a personal portfolio since day 1.
How many contact hours per week do you have?
12
Career prospects
How does your uni make efforts to increase your employability (careers department, work placements, transferable skills)?
This is where Glyndwr truly shines, as their focus and programmes are largely oriented towards a realistic goal of employment. They focus on skills building, both on a personal and team effort levels.
One great example is the Creatives Futures Week, a yearly event that provides art students like myself with a chance to listen and ask questions to a whole lot of professionals from BBC managers to freelance comic artists, from graphic designers to fine artists and videogames developers.
On a personal level, the Careers and Eployability office helped by reviewing my CV, for free, to help me find employment outside Uni, since I do not have the rights for living expenses loan. In a week I applied to 12 positions and got called back from 10 of them and I found work in Wrexham within a 3 weeks. They know what they are doing!
University halls
What do you think about the safety, condition, location and cost of your accommodation?
I live in a privately rented house, because I live with my girlfriend and our cat and most student accommodations won't accept us.
We choose to live in an area close to the local campus and we are satisfied with the safety of the area as a whole, although the house is a not greatly insulated from humidity and the heating feels like it's making an effort.