1,274 Glasgow Caledonian University reviews

The job perspective in podiatry is horrendous, definitely not 100 percent like this page states.

Pros, Make good friends and some of the lecturers are very approachable Cons, Extremely difficult course, massive drop out and clinical fail rate. Horrible clinical environment, students left my year and switched to a different University to get away from the GCU clinic. In depth medical course with very limited scope of practice, your basically cutting peoples toe nails and reducing callus, whilst getting questioned on the arterial and neurological status of the patients limbs, it's embarrassing. Lack of opportunity at the other side, it states 100 percent employment rate however most they jobs part time in private clinics or graduates opening small buinsess cutting toe nails and reducing hard skin in a mobile basis. Only a few from my yr got nhs jobs!!

University is well situated within Glasgow City centre, exellent location

Poor “mentors” an embarrassment

Utter rubbish. “Senior” tutor arrogant & condescending

below average

Poor

You can tell it’s just a job to them

The uni has a careers department but I didn't find it useful for journalism at all. However, the journalism lecturers are brilliant in helping students find their own work experience placements and providing recommendations to help you find work. Plus the course gives you all the practical skills you'll genuinely need in the industry. The university is very proud of the rate of students in employment or further study within 6 months of graduation. BUT this is based on information volunteered by students. Not everybody takes the survey and if you make a mistake/click the wrong button the survey won't allow you to change your answer or retake. Due to this I highly doubt that the 97% in employment figure is accurate.

As only 20 people study journalism each year class sizes are small. This is great for more one-on-one mentorship from lecturers and is probably why so many journalism students do very well in their classes. Things I would change would be to be able to opt out of standard first year classes that the entire business school has to take because they aren't relevant to journalism. Also, providing journalism students with choices in classes would be nice. All the modules, except one in fourth year, are core and you can't choose different ones

18

Honestly, the vast majority of people at the university don't take interest in the electing the SU president or anything else like that. The Union has gotten much better than it used to be as they reinstated a bar after years and years of having no alcohol on campus.

Accommodation is pretty standard but it's right across the road from the university so it's in a good location. There is only one halls of residence at GCU so it only accepts first year students. If you don't get a place then you'll need to find private accommodation

In journalism the facilities are brilliant. There is only one newsroom and one studio but because there are only around 20 students in the journalism programme each year this is enough. The general university facilities are alright. The library is quite good but you need to learn how to use the compact shelving system. The gym is okay but you don't get an automatic membership for being a student. It isn't very big and it doesn't include facilities like a swimming pool.

The accommodation is right next to the university. It's a bit further away from supermarkets than I hoped so plan your trips by taking the bus, getting a lift with someone else or doing online delivery

GCU is smaller than a lot of other UK universities so the range of societies and sports is slightly smaller. However, this means you are more likely to be selected to play in BUCS leagues or other competitions because there are fewer students interested in each club. If you want to join a specific club that the uni doesn't offer you are sometimes allowed to join Strathclyde or Glasgow Uni clubs instead (eg. debate)

It depends on your personal tutor. My journalism tutors (one left when I was in third year) were both excellent. We had several meetings a year, discussing CVs, work experience, classes and my general wellbeing. They were very helpful and genuinely lovely people who want the absolute best for their students. As a whole, I wasn't aware of the university providing mental health services other than a prevention hotline.

I thought this was particularly poor, especially from biomedical science in particular where they take on too many students and most can't get a job

Very little lab time, university only there to make money, full time course felt part time. Falsely advertised at the start to get you on the course how important the industry experience you would get is in finding a job. Only decided half way through 3rd year there was small number of students to get it, then gave the remaining pointless modules to occupy the half term.

10

Poor

Average

City centre

Brief

Pretty poor if im honest, large course numbers. Very few tutorials. Only support given was with your final year project but by then it was already too late to get a biomed job for most.

Lots of careers and skills workshops, staff are eager to help and are always signposting to different events and fairs and lots of free help from the campus support team.

The amount of practical placement we get is great.

8

The students Union is brilliant, well represented and does a lot putting the students and health and wellbeing first. Plus a great bar!

Excellent facilities, lots of cafes and the canteen is good with varied options. Empire biscuits are fab.

It's a great location in the very centre of Glasgow, close to lots of train and bus stations and lots of accommodation.

You couldn't ask for a more varied selection of societies and sports clubs, they are brilliant!

They have excellent counication systems for staff and students and brilliant personal tutors who reach out to support students in any way they can.

My course offers opportunities to work with real companies and give us time to work on our portfolios.

Practical tutorials. We are taught step by step through a range of ways like videos, lectures and we get homework to help us.

18

Has a few facilities, and they even have a bar there. There's also a computer room downstairs. Perfect for everyone.

Plenty of facilities. A few canteens. Okay-ish food. Could be more diverse.

Yes. Plenty of accomodation. Nearest is right across the road from uni.

Plenty of societies. Not a lot of sports here, but we have a gym in campus.

Feedback is alright. We sometimes get given questionnaires to help make our course better for the year before us. Haven't experienced personal counselling yet.

As a first year, I’m not too sure on this one, but when I was researching all of my potential universities I saw that they had good employability rates for their students after graduation. And numbers don’t lie.

I like how all of the lectures are face to face, I find it easier to learn that way. And I appreciate the seminars because they’re smaller classes and if you don’t understand something from a lecture you can ask your seminar tutor for further clarification. Overall, I think my course is taught well, but if I had to bone pick I’d say that when it comes to assignments sometimes it’s really vague on what we have to do and the lecturers don’t go into much detail about what’s expected of us. As first years, I feel like we should have a bit more guidance on that front.

10

I can’t say too much on this, as I’ve only been a student at Cale for a semester, but from what I’ve seen so far they’re committed to ensuring all students have a voice, and that’s great. Although the Student Union building is small, I quite like it, it has a relaxed vibe to it and the food there is mad good and reasonably priced so honestly I can’t complain.

I think they’re really good. GCU Learn/Blackboard is excellent, the library is excellent, from what I’ve heard the gym is really good and it’s quite cheap compared to other gyms in Glasgow.

Glasgow Caledonian Uni is in an excellent location in my opinion, it’s next door to several private and university-owned accommodations as well as Buchanan Bus Station. It’s located in the centre of Glasgow, which means that it has a multitude of stores nearby. Queen Street and Central train stations are also extremely close.

I think for the size of uni that it is, it’s done well in terms of all the clubs/societies that it has. They do have a lot of things that would suit all different types of people and I think that’s what matters the most; that everyone has something to enjoy.

For the ratio of student to staff, I think the uni does well in regard to personal tutor time. It’s entirely up to the students whether or not they want to use that time or not, which is good because it invokes a sense of independence and responsibility.

my uni makes a huge effort to increase employability which has been emphasised from the moment i stepped through the doors which i have been highly impressed with. the careers department is very strong, staff frequently send around opportunities for work, placements are abundant, ex students who are now employed in the industry give talks, and we are encouraged to apply our studies to the 'real world' at every turn.

i really like how practical the courses are and that we are assigned a eprsonal tutor, and i like the ammount of academic support and the way it is built into the course itself. i dislike the lack of one on one contact with professors, i cannot fill out the contact hours question as i am really not sure of the answer

i think its very nice but could certainly be bigger, there should be an additional room for chilling out and/or events.

yes, in the city centre

decent but could be higher, sports seem to be more invested in than societies.

the personal support is really great and i like how academic development is a part of the course in itself which we attend classes for etc. there is high learning support for everyone and so it doesnt need to be sought out.

Seems to be lots of links to employers. As a doctorate student these are less relevant to me, but my course does include lots of professional placement hours.

Too many courses taught with emphasis on majority of students - i am in minority course. Enjoy the focus on theraprutic practice.

7

Facilities are limited

Mixed

Yes, very central.

Not involved so cannot comment

Wellbeing centre is excellent. Tutors are over-stretched.

It serves the purpose of achieving a degree and there are some slight aspects where they try to assist but feel that the application is not that successful.

I enjoy some of the lecturers but other are patronising in feedback and the support is not alway there.

20

There is not a lot going on at the union and feel it is never busy and does not have the same excitement and atmosphere as previous student union.

The facilities are good and modern enough, however feel the library is always overly busy and not enough spaces to study.

It is a reasonable location from Glasgow Central Station where I have to get the train from.

There are a great deal of them however with the busier schedule of fast track and work I am not a member of any.

I feel it is a very search them out to get support and feedback takes a long time to get back and lecturers can be very degrading and have superior attitudes.