Food Sciences MPhil

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham has three campuses; the main campus, Jubilee campus (Business school) and Sutton Bonington campus (School of Biosciences) . All three campuses are well connected by the free hopper bus service. I am a second year PhD student and I am based in the School of Biosciences, Sutton Bonington. The overall the facilities are great on the campus, you have access to cafes, libraries, sports centre, plenty of study rooms and parking! The professors are very friendly and approachable. The campus is situated in a village, far away from the city. Therefore commuting to the city may be a problem, especially for the students living in the campus during the non-term time as the frequency of hopper bus is limited during this time. The main campus is gorgeous and green, situated near a beautiful lake and has a fair amount of hills and geese. It has well kept buildings, lots of libraries and great facilities. , with all the main facilities and buildings within walking distance of each other. The sports centre has been recently updated providing state of the art facilities including numerous classes every week, and there are many sports teams to get involved in. Student members have access to the sport centre in all three campuses. There are a number of activities organised for students all year round. The well-being of the students is taken care of.

It's a beautiful campus uni with great facilities - lots of libraries (each with a different feel), lively SU, good student job opportunities (I worked in the shop in the SU throughout uni), huge labs and lots of societies. It's a v quick tram ride (10 mins) or walk into town. Nottingham town is great fun for a night out whatever you're into. Also beautiful parks nearby, Wollaton & Colwick - if you're into nature or enjoy a nice coffee outside. Science subjects in particular are really well funded & there are great opportunities for extra training etc. I've had great careers support & my course has a 100% employability rate after graduating - however I've heard that this isn't the same for other courses (philosopohy, physics etc.). Also, in some subjects (e.g., English) there have been alot of strikes - students have lost out on weeks of learning at a time as a result. I went on an industrial placement year, where the uni supported me and kept in touch well, however there was an issue when I returned. The uni hadn't registered online that I was taking a year out, and returning back for my 4th (technically 3rd) year. So when I returned and tried to enter buildings and join societies I wasn't able to, my card wouldn't work. I spent hours queueing up for student services and security, being passed between departments just for one person to finally fix it (and admit how lazy of a mistake it was). By the time this fault had been fixed on my account, the deadline for certain societies had passed - I was unable to attend the training needed for me to join archery society, so this opportunity was taken away from me because of how lazy the uni had been when setting up my course return date... This is obviously a rare mistake, but is the only bad experience I have had during my 4 years here so felt relevant to share.

Central location with easy access via train, plane, car, bus and tram! 4 great campuses with loads to do and explore. Good accommodation on catered and non catered. Great night life and a very active students union who are constantly putting on events.