Art and design degrees in Southern England

Best aspects: Good location towards city centre, quality food, many diverse and organized events for me to choose, different useful facilities and student support services Worst aspects: Lack of advertising in student support services

At Bedfordshire we have a vibrant and cosmopolitan student population that includes around 20,000 students from over 100 countries. We are a modern university that believes in nurturing our students to become educated, employable and entrepreneurial global citizens.

The University of Westminster has been a life‑changing and incredible place to study. The university embeds employability into everything, from lessons, employability awards, and career mentoring, and beyond the classroom there are endless global and practical opportunities, even for students who may not have prior experience. Before coming to university, I had never travelled internationally, but through Westminster I’ve been able to visit South Africa, Barbados for a Microsoft programme, and Scotland for a leadership retreat to support my professional development. The university also supported me financially, making these experiences possible. These opportunities exposed me to new cultures, helped build my confidence, and strengthened my communication and networking skills. I’ve also developed professionally through roles such as being a FAN (Friend of Arriving New Students), where I supported new students during their transition into university by signposting services, offering guidance, and delivering presentations during induction week. I’m also had the opportunity to become an e‑mentor and student caller as well, continuing to support students as they settle in. These roles have helped me build strong communication and active listening skills that prepare me for life after graduation. In terms of improvements, I genuinely feel Westminster offers so much already. However, one possible enhancement could be increasing awareness of the opportunities available, sometimes students only discover schemes or programmes after they’ve taken place.

The best aspects are that the teachers are helpful and experienced and so it helps with learning, however there could be more help with exam resources such as more practice questions for the exam to get the most support

WIFI is absolutely awful and there are many dead zones around campus. How can a top-level engineering university provide such poor internet connection, especially when all of our assignments are internet based and due online? I am constantly searching for places around campus with any useable connection and the VPN speeds when you're off campus are just unusable. It's the year 2024. How have we not figured this out yet? It's absolutely unaccusable. You have the money to build an entire new campus, but can't fix the internet at your main campus? Awful.

What makes my uni a great place to study is their student support. They try to help their students in any way possible to ensure that students get the best out of their education. I think it would be better if the university put more effort into societies and clubs such as sporting clubs and teams . It would help the university to have more of a community and really showcase other talents other than what students already study on their courses. My university do have societies and some sporting teams, however some of the societies don’t run anymore and it’s not made to be as big as it was when I first heard about it before I joined uni. I think it’s important to have that feel of community and university culture and to also show the inclusiveness of different cultures, groups and activities in which people associate them selves with.

As a final year student, reflecting I can confidently say this course has been a great place to study and grow both professionally and personally. I love the course and I have made some of my closest friends here in Bournemouth, which has created a supportive and collaborative environment throughout my time studying. The teaching staff are highly knowledgeable and have had so much experience in the industry to share, they are approachable and genuinely invested in our toolkit. One of the strongest aspects of the course is the opportunity to collaborate with the Bournemouth Film School. This has been an invaluable experience, allowing me to work on graduate films, understand professional screen practice, and begin building industry connections before graduating. Overall, this course has been an extremely positive and formative experience, and I would highly recommend it to any student looking to develop their craft! Go for it!

My favorite thing about Rave is how industry focused we are. Translating our work into the real world is discussed very often. We get talks from guests who have tons of insight and our tutors are also knowledgeable. In terms of improvement, Rave is lacking in the student life area. There are not many active societies and it can be difficult to meet people or create student lead events.

Solent is a fantastic place to study, it's directly in the town center, the night life is fantastic and the uni is amazing. My lecturers are completely hands on, they want to know about all our work, it's a small class but u learn more that's way.