Biochemistry with Professional Studies - MSci (Hons)

Queen's University Belfast

The student union is a great addition to student life at the University due to both the atmosphere and reasonably priced drinks available at the SU bar.

Safe area, promotes independence, events always occurring, up to date facilities Could be improved by more career guidance

Belfast is a very small city compared to other parts of the UK. So, meeting people in Belfast can be alot convenient. The staff, students and people from Queen’s are very helpful as well.

The best aspects of my university is the McClay library, the PEC and the overall look of the campus. The worst part is the lack of student support and also that it feels like the University doesn’t care about its students.

I love the facilities at Queen's, including the Biological Science Building and the WWIEM where I spend most of my time in the labs. The labs have good equipment, and in particular the Biological Science building is new and has lots of new modern high quality lab equipment, which aids my education within the sciences and gives me the opportunity to learn many skills I would not otherwise be able to learn. The student support is good, I have made use of the Mental Health Support made available for students and this has been very good, with free therapy sessions and CBT therapies etc. These things, alongside a good student night life in Belfast has contributed to a good University Experience, however there are of course some things that could be improved. I think the Students Union building and facilities are very good, however the union itself has been (in my opinion) passive and inactivate in fighting for students best interests. During COVID I felt the SU could've gone out in support and solidarity with students striking and demanding money back for online education. Further, student housing (not owned by the university) can be terrible with landlords not taking care of the properties, resulting in poor, mouldy and bad quality student housing. This is an issue I feel, as the union representing students, that the SU should be engaged in trying to push for legal action to improve conditions for students, and when students are faced with problems with landlords, the SU should be a place of support, however this is not currently the case. Furthermore, students applying for University Campus accommodation were relocated when the University had promised more accommodation spaces than were actually available, in particular at the start of the year 21/22. Here I think the SU - as union representatives - should've played a bigger role in ensuring money back for the affected students and should've been key in ensuring safe and good quality alternative accommodation. Instead many students lived a year in hotel rooms with no access to kitchen and self-catering, and outside of the campus living areas, isolating them from peers etc., while still paying expensive accommodation fees. I consider this a failure on the part of the Student Union, and while all in all my review of the University is largely positive, accommodation problems and a passive Student Union (which in turn influences student support) are some of the worse aspects of the university experience and could be seriously improved upon.