194,786 university reviews

This year has been extremely difficult and disappointing. I paid £9,500 in tuition fees, yet I felt extremely unsupported. I was being treated as a problem simply for asking for help. Early in the year, I asked to attend an induction session I was not booked onto because I was worried about my clinical routine and wanted more practice before seeing real patients. The supervisor became angry and reported me to my personal tutor. I then had a meeting with my personal tutor, who told me I was not allowed to attend sessions I was not booked onto. I understood and accepted this. However, I was also reported to other supervisors, which made me feel as though I had gained a negative reputation simply for asking for additional support. I repeatedly explained that I was not confident with my clinical routines and had nobody on my course to practise with. In January, I emailed a supervisor asking whether I could attend one of the Friday catch up sessions simply to practise, as she knew I had nobody to practise with and other supervisors were complaining about me and refusing to supervise me. I was genuinely struggling in my routine. I was told no because these sessions were reserved for simulation catch-up. However, another student attended a Friday session for core-skill catch-up, despite it not being simulation catch-up. On one occasion, I asked a supervisor simply for feedback on how I could improve. Instead of answering my question, she became angry and assumed I was asking for another extra session. She said she had already given me one and that I should be grateful because nobody else had received one. However, that session related to a compulsory core skill I had not passed and needed for progression towards pre-registration. I was asking for feedback, not another session. On another occasion, I asked for advice via email because I did not know how to perform a routine and I was sent passive-aggressive response about it being covered in a tutorial I had missed because I was too busy requesting an extra session. On another occasion, after missing a session because I was ill, I asked whether I could attend another session to catch up. The supervisor responded, “you know you’re not supposed to…”, in an extremely emotional tone that sounded as though he was close to tears. I understood the rule, but I was only asking because I had missed the session due to illness. I was also repeatedly told that giving me additional practice was “unfair”. I genuinely struggled to understand this. I was not asking for an advantage over other students; I was asking for help because I did not feel competent with my clinical routines. I had already tried to find people on my course to practise with, but the students were already confident with their routines so I genuinely had nobody to practise with. I am paying £9,500 to be trained as an optometrist, and I do not think it is unreasonable to ask for additional support when I am openly saying that I am struggling. If I do not know how to perform a clinical routine properly, I may not be able to recognise serious or sight-threatening conditions, creating a potential patient-safety risk. Students who are struggling should be supported to become competent rather than made to feel guilty for asking for help. I also had a moment where I asked for feedback on an exam and the feedback was just ' if they ask u for 3 points u should add 3 points not 2 '. I asked if there were any topics u believe I need more revision on and she said she was not allowed to say which I believe is a lie. Overall, I felt extremely isolated, unsupported and discouraged from asking for help. I accept that I could have handled some situations better. However, I do not believe students should be made to feel like a burden or a problem for asking for support.

The best aspect of my Politics course has been the teachers. They are really attentive, supportive, and always willing to help students when they have questions or need additional guidance. I have also enjoyed learning about different political systems, ideas, and current issues, which has made the course interesting and engaging. The worst aspect of the course is sometimes the workload, particularly when multiple assignments or deadlines are close together. However, overall, I have had a positive experience, and the attentiveness and support of the teachers have made studying the course much more enjoyable.

Tutors were always available when ever I needed help from them either on campus or email

Rooms were really spacious and cleaning of kitchen were done twice a week and there was security personnel always on patrolling

My opinion is a bit mixed. As someone who didn't have a business background I struggled with entry-level theory that my peers had much more familiarity with, which made me struggle many times during my years at Westminster. On the other hand, My Arabic classes were so much fun and I benefitted from them immensely. I have my teachers to thank for my tremendous growth in my awareness of the Middle-East as a whole as well as my ability in the Arabic language. The only critique I have is that I believe the contact hours for learning Arabic were way too low which is quite unfortunate.

everything was the best

The best part of my course has been the range of topics we get to learn about and having lecturers who are supportive and easy to approach when I need help. The worst part has probably been the limited contact hours and having to do a lot of independent work, as I feel having more time with lecturers would have made some topics easier to understand.

The MSc I studied , which was in International Development Management was taught in a seminar-led format rather than through large lectures, which meant almost every session was discussion-based. With a small cohort, you couldn’t sit passively. You were expected to bring a position and defend it, and I learned as much from classmates’ field experience as from the reading list. Lecturers were accessible and responded properly to emails; office hours were genuinely useful rather than a formality. As Regards what I will like to improve about my course, a lot of the workload sat in independent reading, which is fine in principle but also meant the gap between strong and struggling students widened quickly without much intervention. Feedback turnaround on assignments was slower than I would have liked, and it sometimes arrived too late to actually apply to the next piece of work. I’d also have valued more practical, applied content: case work, data, or project management tools used by actual development organizations. The course was strong on theory and policy critique, but lighter on the operational skills you need on day one in the sector.

I would say the best thing about studying here are the lectures who explain things well and also the lecture materials is a lot helpful

Very knowledgeable

It's very big and beautiful

Best aspect of my course is you do active exams where your doing presentations and delve into it.