Forestry PhD

Bangor University

Great location being so close to Snowdonia and the mountains makes climbing and hiking easily doable midweek, only shame is the climbing club who don't actually do anything outside thanks to the uni be controlling.

the mountains are nice, and the variety of clubs and societies is awesome. the town itself isnt amazing and the quality of education isn't amazing.

The location is great and the work all lectures and su members as well as other staff is incredible. So much work is done behind the scene to make the student life great and a lot easier. Feedback on work is very good and their responses to any emails and questions are quick and detailed. I haven’t found the need to send follow up emails for anything. If I’ve had any problem about work where I’ve needed some extra time or guidance they are there to help and support you always. The sporting facilities are great and also have an amazing volunteering group. They take part in many community projects which makes student life more interesting as it gives you a chance to meet new people and do new things. Food is also provided as a £2 meal to help students with affordable warm food everyday.

Lecturers are routinely kind and informative as well as easily contacted. Support services have been fantastic is aiding me after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease and the steps I need to take to stay healthy. Location is outstanding for the course I am on and I could not even consider to have gone anywhere else after coming here. I can only ever ask for more fieldtrips to make the most of the location and the gorgeous scenery of the local area.

Bangor as a city isn’t the best due to the closing down of most of the high street from Covid-19 and it’s inability to recover, but the location for someone doing a conservation and forestry degree is unmatched. I really believe there’s no better place, Bangor is easily surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of woodlands with breathtaking views. It’s such a great study place because of the constant field trips, ability to get outside and work hand-in-hand with nature. We have access to some amazing minds of lecturers from all walks of life with different area of study, who are all willing to answer any questions we have. I’m lucky to have a tutor who is willing and able to support with anything I ask of him, where no ask is too big. Any issues I have are quickly resolved and the University is very lenient and understanding of mental health issues and extenuating circumstances. It’s easy to find a quiet place to study due to the University being out of the way. As for student life, the nightlife leaves much to be desired and is incredibly unsafe. When speaking upon my issues with senior members of staff I was offered insurmountable support and advice. However, rent is affordable as one could get for university standards, and the student accommodation I lived in last year was everything I needed, and breakages/living issues were quickly repaired. The ability to get private student housing is more difficult, as a lot of the decent housing is taken early in the academic year, but again the pricing is appropriate as you could get for renting. University facilities are widely accessible and available, although in larger lecture theatres there are no desks available to left-handed people which leads to an uncomfortable couple of hours during lectures - all the desks in these bigger theatres are side note-taking desks for right handed people. Student services are helpful, and changing course was made very easy to me - it was all quickly and efficiently dealt with, and there was minimum fuss. The centralised request centre makes it easy to get help for most issues you may be having and otherwise, all members of staff I have encountered are extremely helpful too. The main problem I have with regards to my study is that it is oftentimes not made clear on when and what will be in our assessments, making it difficult to prepare for as a student who likes to be well-informed in advance of an assessment, and lecturers are often also unsure of what assessment will be.