Since this was the first full academic year during the pandemic, I understand that it was a lot of effort for the staff to provide us with all the necessary guidance and teaching. Currently I've got the hang of it and I should do much better next year, but it was a bit of a struggle to wrap my mind around things at some points. I did get to meet/talk to new people and I did learn new things, so I guess it is all right in the end.

I wish that the library was open 24/7 and that there were more study spaces open on the weekends.

This year was a bit stressful, and at one point I was trying to find how I could get some help, but I could not really find anything, as it all seemed to be for people with diagnosed issues like mental health disorders. Other than that, there were quite a few 'buddy' programmes which were interesting and I took part in some of those.

This year for most part has been online and as a first year student, it has not been the best experience. The effort from lecturers can definitely be seen in the lectures and they have provided us with materials to study from, but the seminars over Zoom until the very end of the year always made me anxious because I don't think the students were approached the same way and given the opportunity to engage with each other and the lecturer as they would have in in-person seminars. Open discussion boards online were very useful, because that meant that I did not have to speak individually with a lecturer and they only had to answer the most general questions once, so I wish that was an option in all of my modules. I enjoyed being able to plan my own time since the lectures were pre-recorded, but I think a bit more guidance on how to approach learning and a bit more of the very basics in the content would have benefitted me. Overall, I enjoyed the year, but there were some teaching aspects I lacked.

4

There were a lot of webinars on career's advice, discussions with people working in different fields, and they were really engaging and fun. There wasn't a discussion for a career that I personally wish to pursue but that's understandable, I still enjoyed the insight into similar careers.

My university experience has been very pleasant so far. However I am doing a course that requires so many contact hours and is mainly in a building situated outside of campus so sometimes it feels like we are very isolated from the rest of university itself. So socially it’s difficult to make friends from other courses. We are always being sent emails about welfare and mental health so that’s been great and it’s good to know that the service is there for people who are suffering

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