International Sports Journalism MA

St Mary's University, Twickenham

It’s such a small university that it feels very easy to speak one on one with students/staff/support and has such a community feel. Many including myself do not approve of the way that mass funding is spent, especially feeling like it does not affect or benefit current students. Additionally considering that casual student pay rates have been cut

The location, close to so many different places and lots of nice places to go out and see. The home of rugby as well which helps

The best part is that St. Mary's is a small university so it feels like a very supportive community. We have great well-being resources and events, such as Wobble Week, and campus is really beautiful. The worst part is probably that the Students' Union could be a bit more modern and cosy. I would also love some better quality tennis courts.

The location is safe and feels like home away from home - it is always very clean as we have cleaners in our accommodation who are lovely, the outside is always clean too, no rubbish etc. The night life is very quiet on campus but Kingston is very close and has a great club and night life and easy to get to and from and it is also cheap for London. The SU on site is great prices but it is never very busy and vibes are low but Kingston is great so doesn't really matter, The only thing I find is that due to it being such a nice part of London it is quite far away from everything - it takes like an hour to get into central or St Pancreas, so doesn't really feel like London but that I do like as it feels really safe. We dont have tube station so everything takes longer and the station has trains only every half an hour or something but again it is not bad once you get used to the timetable and out of the every 30 second London train mindset. The train journeys are really cheap so it doesn't matter too much and also strawberry hill station is only like 6 min walk away so is really accessible and Twickenham and Teddington main town is only 10 ish minute walk away!

Great small community where we all in the same boat, making it like you are valued and an opportunity to learn new things and become the best version of yourself. However, the social and sport culture is a bit hostile in my opinion. They encourage socials so much but at the end of the day they are based on pure drinking alcohol (even drinking encouraged by the sports teams). This is amazing for someone who loves to drink alcohol, but for the people who are abstemious or just don’t enjoy that culture makes them feel left out. In addition the sporting culture it’s just a battle of egos. The uni is advertised as a sports uni but when you actually head down to the sports facilities and open your eyes you’ll realise that opportunities aren’t equal for everybody. Groups have already been formed around teams and that already means that there’s already at least 30 positions you cannot make because a group of “popular students” will boycott you and make sure they are in the team and not you even if they don’t put the effort. In addition, they’ll feel like they have the right to talk down on you and because “they are already in the meeting without even trying” feel like they won’t be in any trouble. This can be seen as just “the students fault” but it is also the university’s fault for allowing this. Instead of spending the right budget on what matters, e.g., hiring coaches for the sports teams to ensure a good and equitable sports environment, they rather spend the money on something else and let immature students run the clubs and be like “it’s up to them whatever they want to do”, causing other students who just want to have a good time to not be able to.