Human Neuroscience BSc (Hons)

University of Birmingham

The academic facilities are incredible for my course, neuroscience. There are many research centres and institutes that are linked to the university, enabling close ties with research. The campus is lovely and green, and everything is within walking distance. It is also so close to the city centre, allowing for great nightlife. There are so many societies, and the university always has some free activities to take part in. Unfortunately, due to Birmingham City Council bankruptcy and the waste(bin) collector strikes, the local area where students live in private rentals is often overflowing with rubbish, and almost no recycling is taken over the year. This is not the university's fault, but it contributes to a not-so-great part of student life. Additionally, the crime rate in the area is rather high, and some students do feel uncomfortable. Depending on where they used to live before uni, this can be quite a shock for some. A criticism I have of the university itself is the appalling response to the student call to divest from weapons manufacturing and Israel. The University stated that its primary focus when investing was ensuring world-leading teaching and research quality, as if that excused a £4.5 million investment in companies that were breaking international law (as of 2020). While I deplore these decisions by the university and their continued platforming of BAE systems, the overall teaching, facilities and student life have been good during my time at the University of Birmingham.

I love the campus and the course. However, some modules have been irrelevant to my course and there have been issues with being told limited information about assignments and limited feedback on assignments occasionally.

Best = easy to talk to people and get support. Worst= most socials are either drinking-focused or not commuter-friendly, so it's harder to build friendships outside the course for commuters

Being a campus based university, it is very convenient for students, the city Center is just a 10min train journey. There are so many clubs and societies and opportunities that you never feel bored. It’s an environment that pushes you for excellence, hard work while keeping a healthy life balance. One thing that could be improved is the mental health aspect; it can feel isolating and not knowing how to manage the stress can lead to burnouts. The LES college and school of psychology can also improve their communication system and create a more centralised system for when students seeks academic support and mental health help. A final thing would be to provide timetables in advance; the short notice timetable changes and delayed upload of timetables made it difficult to plan in advance

Best: the opening hours of the library 24/7 Worst: I believe there must be more efforts to support international students especially in the accommodation part