Chemistry with Foundation

University of Reading

The central university has endemic inefficiency, and can issue communications which leave more questions than answers. However, despite this the staff work hard to deliver good teaching. The facilities on campus are generally good, although some of the specialist equipment can be antiquated.

There is very good access to the academics. The university is well connected to the town centre, which, in turn is well connected to airports and London making it easy to travel for both study and leisure. In addition it's well connected to the UK's synchrotron facility resulting in good academic connections with the scientists there. The campus is great with plenty of green space, a good gym, a reasonably large Co-op , and good shops/food outlets. The Student's Union is typically helpful, however some of their initiatives feel like they're taking actions for the sake of taking actions, rather than doing it because they think it'll be positive. The management of the University don't seem to understand they need people do make the university run. The administration of the University seems to take a very long time to do anything because they can't cope with the work load. In addition, the university doesn't create enough time for staff to work on their research, which reduces the amount of grant funding the University secures. The University seems to care about the cost of living and is trying to provide ways of helping students through it.

I think the chemistry department and library are great and modern. Most of the staff are happy to help students if you email them or knock on their office doors. There needs to be more correlation in what we have done to the assessments at that time because sometimes we get assessed on material that we haven’t covered from the lectures. But overall okay.

The campus is beautiful and has lots of great facilities. There are a few older buildings and the only major bus route is from the town centre. Great staff and friendly atmosphere around campus in the student union.

Overall I've enjoyed my uni experience, the course is interesting and engaging, and socially the university provides alot of societies etc. So I am never bored.