Campus is not comfortable, buildings like soviet style. However, academic personnel and student union are very good

Course is very good. One of the most successful department and this is on of the top sociology department in the world

No

The faculty members are amazing at this university, kind, loving and caring, full of goodwill, speaking from the perspective of an international student. It’s only with their support that I could have made this far in my study. However, the food and student support need some improvement. When the living costs are skyrocketing these days, the campus offers £2 hot meal for everyone, which only sounds like a bargain… when I tried several £2 items from different places on campus, I can tell you that the cost of the meal is way less than £2! This makes me wonder if they are making profit from students when they claim to help with living costs.

The compulsory course for 1st year PhD in the Department is a weekly colloquium. The lecture/seminar was of good quality at the beginning of the 1st year, but later it was impacted by the strike. Classmates and I can see the lecturer is overworked and cannot squeeze out enough time to prepare materials/contents for our class. To be fair though, this is the same with many other universities in the UK, according to some friends of mine who are studying. Overall, my feeling as a 1st PhD student is that most lecturers and supervisors are overworked. The only reason that teaching and supervising are still going on is because they are responsible staff and hold a great deal of goodwill towards students.

Colchester is a small town and the cost of living, although has been increasing day by day like anywhere else, is considerably cheaper than London areas. The public transport here is okay, buses are mostly running on time. You can travel to London in an hour by getting on a train at the hythe station. Most of the time you will find the uni is offering part time positions for students (being a rep etc.), but outside of the uni, Colchester cannot offer too many opportunities.

No