The availability of the lectures to help and guide you through your studies, outside of your lecture and seminar hours is really helpful at my university. Lecturers are always eager to assist you with any issues with exams or coursework, and it makes you feel supported. The only minor downside to the university is the the noise in the library, I always choose to sit in the silent study areas however there is often a number of students who are disruptive. It can be quite embarrassing to have to tell these students to be quiet yourself, so it would be nice is the librarians were to walk around more frequently to ask these students to be quiet. However this isn’t very frequent and doesn’t disrupt my studying everyday

The lecturers are always engaging with their content and very enthusiastic which is important to keep the students interested. The lecturers I have are very supportive and no question is made to feel like a stupid question. The two negatives of this course is firstly you’re often made to complete group work with people you don’t know, I understand you learn good skills in doing so but often you have to work with inattentive students and this can impact your grade when marked collectively, it would be better if the lecturers asked for feedback on the group work so they could see who made more inputs. Secondly, in second year we had to complete a weeks coursework trip to Scotland which we could not avoid. This cost students around £300, and for a trip we had to go on, seems unfair. Additionally, the trip was placed during the Easter holidays which impacted personal commitments such as employment or seeing family back home. As it was a course trip, it would’ve been better suited to have been completed during term time

The halls were a great way of meeting friends, and I’ve lived with my friends I made in halls for both second and third year. It also allows you to meet friends outside of your course who have different interests. The only concern with my accommodation was value for money, when compared to other accommodations who were also single bedroom but often not en-suite as I were, they often appeared to be better value for modern. Be that in a better location or more modern. Also, it would have been nice to have had a sofa or comfy seating areas in the halls to relax but we only had the dining table and chairs which were uncomfortable

The freedom in my course and ease at which I’ve been able to study subjects I’m really interested in is one of the biggest highlights for me, only supported further by fantastic lecturers that have done so much to support and guide us through the past few years including covid. There are so many shops, activities and facilities on campus that you always feel like there’s somewhere or something to do, eat, or study whether during or after “school” hours. Genuinely can’t think of any negatives for this uni that don’t apply to all unis.

For me personally, the best aspect of the course was being able to choose all of my modules, so that I could study what I was really interested in. The learning approach was good, I liked having online activities or lectures to do before or after the in-person sessions, as well as having time to be in a classroom and participate. Geography is a big ‘self-study’, coursework-forward subject so I didn’t have as much time on campus as some of my friends that did other courses, but I personally didn’t mind that. The only slight negative I had was placement support, which was sometimes patchy and sometimes we weren’t told about certain deadlines, opportunities or general information that might’ve helped (I was originally on a placement course but did not go ahead with it)

The cost and frequency of buses in Reading is great, and everywhere is walkable which is nice. The town and surrounding area is quite pretty, with lots of open green spaces and a great shopping complex and town centre for shopping and eating. It compares pretty similarly to most big towns in my opinion, in terms of safety, cost of living and work, pretty standard. The town and areas around the uni are very diverse, there are lots of cultural shops around and many different religious buildings everywhere.

The best thing about Benyon was the sense of community we had in first year, due to it being a little off campus and a ring of accommodation, I felt as though I got to know a lot of people from many blocks that weren’t my own, and it was really easy to communicate and find people in the same halls. Maintenance were another big highlight, they responded to any problems really quickly and efficiently, which was nice. It is obviously one of the more expensive halls, but I really enjoyed the room and the overall experience of living there.