OVERALL UNIVERSITY RATING
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
Overall, my university experience has been a generally enjoyable one. Of all the positive aspects of my university experience, the...
University rating
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
Overall, my university experience has been a generally enjoyable one. Of all the positive aspects of my university experience, the best feature of my time at the University of Liverpool has undoubtedly been the range of extracurricular activities on offer.
Indeed, the university provides a vast array of extracurricular activities, predominantly through its Guild of Students. These include a wide range of societies, volunteering opportunities, creative workshops, and even the opportunity to participate in University Challenge. I have had the pleasure and fortune of utilising all of these opportunities throughout my time at the university, and they have genuinely made my experience at this institution a pleasurable one.
Although I have enjoyed my studies for the most part, the opportunity to take part in these extracurricular endeavours has generally been what has sustained me throughout university. While I am fortunate to be in my sixth year of study, I would not have made it this far without having these extracurricular outlets independently of my studies. Joining the performing arts societies has allowed me to take part in student productions twice a year since my first year, and this has been a great way to meet new people and make friends in what can be an isolating environment, as academic sessions are generally not social occasions.
Being a commuter student who lives around 20 miles away from campus, I have had to make an effort to meet people in university, but that has been made a whole lot easier due to these extracurricular activities, which are very accessible through the student guild's marketing and advertising platforms, which are generally spot on in informing students in available opportunities such as those I have outlined.
Beyond the extracurricular enterprises, the provisions for careers support are also an excellent feature of the university - there are constant workshops organised by the Careers Department encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones and learn a whole host of employability skills in areas that would otherwise not be so accessible, such as modern foreign languages, enterprise and entrepreneurship and the music and creative industry to name three examples. These courses are either free or generally of a low cost, and, on the whole, rather accessible to those looking to enhance their employability.
Similarly, training opportunities to enhance your professional practice through various streams within the university are also abundant. From my own experience, those wanting to go down the teaching route at higher education can enroll in free courses to go down this route through "The Academy", a prominent training provider at the university that provides prestigious qualifications for those wanting to go down this route through rather accessible and insightful courses.
Being a commuter and a P.h.D student, I realise that I only speak for a vast minority of students, but I am struggling to think of ways to improve the university. To be honest, I would say that seminar groups are too big due to the university's recruitment strategy being based around taking in as many students as possible, and while I believe higher education should be accessible, it should not be to the detriment of students' education. This could be mitigated by hiring more staff in order to accommodate this lofty intake of students and enhance their education, but I know my department are working on this already so it's a massive step in the right direction.
My position as a commuter student also perhaps invalidates my word on student accommodation, but making accommodation more affordable and renovating it to make it more homely and presentable may be something worthy of attention to the powers that be if they are going to continue taking in so many students. As a commuter, I would like to see more accessible parking spots for staff and students closer to the university to make commuting a bit easier.
Facilities
How good are your university's facilities?
Location
Institution Location
Student support
How good is the support offered by the uni? Think both academic (tutors/feedback) and personal (counselling, etc).
Campus look and feel
Institution Campus look and feel
Student life
Institution Student life
Students' union
What do you think of your Students' Union in terms of student representation and facilities?
Course rating
Course rating
On the whole, I have found my studies to be enjoyable. The Soiology department has just last summer moved into a new, flashy multi-million pound building that has outstanding study and social spaces and outstanding offices for both academic and non-academic staff, so full marks for that.
Lecturers and teachers have a policy of having to respond to emails within 3 working days, making contact with them very accessible, so I've got no complaints there. My interactions with my own teachers have been excellent. For instance, my supervisor at undergraduate level pointed me toward a scholarship I had not even heard of to be able to study for a Master's without having to pay for it, and my Master's supervisor did the same by informing me of several available Ph.D. scholarships in order for me to continue my education.
My predominant issue, however, has been having contact hours spread out awkwardly throughout the weak - at undergraduate, I would only have days that would be 1-3 hours long around 3 times a week, when it would have been ostensibly feasible to get a weeks' worth of sessions done and dusted in one day. I realise that a timetable cannot cater one person, but I know other people - even those who lived on campus and didn't have to travel two hours both ways for one hour like I did - would have preferred to get all their sessions wrapped up within one day rather than drag things out for a week.
However, with my Master's impacted by COVID, I think that online learning was delivered very effectively, and the department has efficiently delivered blended learning with minimal disruption since coming out of COVID, so my credit goes out to the department here as I know it is not easy.
My only issue with the course itself, independent of timetabling, would probably be the excessive political bias within the curriculum, which runs the risk of discouraging students from being open-minded, as students tend not to be exposed to a wide variety of social and political thought. Most members of staff are of a similar political orientation, and it would be helpful to have a curriculum that looks at social policy in a more rounded way by covering different modes of economic thought and the contributions of a wider range of thinkers with different social, historical, doctrinal and political outlooks to make students more rounded scholars rather than have them just parrot out certain segments of political bias they stumble across in lectures.
Course content
Course content
Work placements and internships
Work placements and internships
Lecturers and teaching quality
What do you like most and least about the way your course(s) are taught?
Career prospects
How does your uni make efforts to increase your employability (careers department, work placements, transferable skills)?
Tutor contact time
Tutor contact time
Subject facilities
Subject facilities
University location
University location
Having grown up where I study, I cannot think of a better place to live, making me inherently biased. While the cost of living crisis is making the current financial climate difficult on a national scale, Liverpool is still cheaper than most other places in the country to live in, which is reflected in house, food and drink prices up here compared to places in the South, for instance.
However, the area isn't overly diverse with the exception of a few specific ethnic minority communities in certain areas, but this is something that has changed in recent years with the influx of university students. The city centre has completely transformed since I've moved to Merseyside, and is generally dominated by students by the time the weekend arrives, making it somewhat safer and friendlier for those coming from afar - albeit somewhat noisy come 8pm!
Graduate employment opportunities are however not as prominent as the rest of the country, but this is another area that has drastically improved of late - I have lost count of how many graduates I have met in the city that have said that they only came to Liverpool because of university and have not left since!
Part-time job opportunities are also abundant, and I am living proof of that - I have never been short of various part-time jobs since starting my studies, and every student I know has a different part-time job, whether that's in the universities, the retail, hospitality, catering, industries or delivery services, finding a part-time job will probably be the least of your worries here.
The one thing I'm not overly enamoured with here is the transport situation - we've got a lot to learn in this department, and the bus/train services are pretty inconsistent compared to other parts of England and Europe. Roads get very congested very quickly too, so it's a catch-22 situation whether you drive, cycle or get the bus/train into university as transport facilities are a mixed bag.
Cost of living
Cost of living
Public transport
Public transport
Part-time work opportunities
Part-time work opportunities
Graduate employment opportunities
Graduate employment opportunities
Have you stayed in your Universty's hall?
Have you stayed in your Universty's hall?
No