Lovely campus which is closely spread across the city. Lots of public transport links for commuting students. Lots of accommodation options for international students.

Good mixture of lectures, workshops, and practical sessions. Small course size which allows staff to know each student - their interests and career intentions. Great facilities to support learning.

The university is at a great location. Close to the town centre, train and coach station, it provides easy access to other cities and towns, allowing for an easy commute if not living on the island. The campus look and feel, along with facilities are started to feel a bit dated. Equipment and rooms just looks "used" and dull - this includes the library and the students union. It doesn't provide an inspiring environment for learning/relaxing. Student life, hard to comment as a PhD as simply too busy to socialise. It doesn't feel particularly safe to walk around Portsmouth at night. There is, however, a lot of business networking opportunities if you know where to look.

PhD is hard. I don't recommend it for everyone. Also, I can tell that the school's research money is dwindling by the lack of updated facilities, and how absolutely difficult it is to order through the finance department. Not sure if it's because only ONE person in the entire building is processing orders, or the system to place orders is outdated and is therefore very manual/time-intensive. The system to order materials is slow, archaic and clunky using excel spreadsheets and individual invoices. Find a supportive supervisor and it would be helpful to get you through. Thankful that I can contact my PhD supervisor easily through his office (face-to-face) or email.