Considering the circumstances I have enjoyed my year at University. It has caused my curiosity for science to grow and we have covered a large range of topics, many of which were informative and interesting. There are many enthusiastic lecturers who make learning fun. I have become good friends with my flatmates and also managed to meet a few people from my course too through group work and personal tutor. I look forward to a more conventional university experience in years to come and am excited to learn more about biomedical science.

Although I only lived in halls for 3 months, I had a positive experience. The room I was assigned to was spacious and had all the furniture I needed. The communal kitchen was on the small side for 5 people and we ran into some difficulties as we only had one small fridge freezer between us and no couch, so any socialising had to be done around the kitchen table. The cleaning service was good and if we needed repairs in the flat, someone would be sent quickly.

The tutorial groups were great as they allowed us to create a bond with the tutor, which was nice as we had no in-person teaching. Some course organisers were better than others at providing mental health support, although on a university level I am unsure of the services available to me. I think this is something that could be advertised more within the university as it could help more people if it was made more accessible. I can't comment on the disability support as this does not apply to me.

The biomedical course has been fully online this year due to Covid-19, however the staff have been extremely understanding of the circumstances. Most lectures were delivered through prerecorded videos, followed up by Q&A sessions with lecturers. More live classes could have been beneficial as it would allow for a more personal and 'normal' approach to teaching, although I understand that this isn't always possible. Labs were also provided online to aid in the understanding of practical work which although not ideal, will prepare us for lab sessions when in-person teaching can resume. The small group online tutorials with our tutors were really useful as it gave us the opportunity to go over any materials we didn't understand or had questions about. These sessions also gave us the opportunity to receive/ask about feedback from pieces of coursework and clarify marks. Although this hasn't been the ideal first year the course has been of great value. I have felt supported throughout the year and can't wait to learn more about biomedical science in the years to come. (For the following question I was unsure of the timeframe for the contact hours. It was around 3 hours per week, so 30 over the semester)

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We have been contacted regularly by the careers service and hopefully this is something that will be easier to be involved in once in-person sessions can resume. We had a couple of guest speakers and interesting debates that were outwith the course requirements but related to the current science world.

This year has been a strange year due to the pandemic which has limited the amount of experience we were able to gain from the first 6 months of the degree. The next 6 months are looking brighter and I truly believe that if I had done this course a year later a lot would have changed. The university is great, the location is lovely, the people are friendly and the lecturers are super helpful.

Online this year due to COVID-19. The course consists in class once a week and two 6 month ‘lab’ projects.

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No