OVERALL UNIVERSITY RATING
Tell us about your overall university experience so far.
Overall, my university experience has been disappointing. I was told from previous student nurses before starting my degree to not attend this university. However, I was naive and wanted to live close by and study at the hospital was I was currently working in, so that is what prompted me to attend this university.
I wish I listened to those student nurses. The lectures involve the lecturers reading off powerpoint presentations, we continuously get moved to different rooms because there is no set building for healthcare students. Our skills lab is up a random corridor within the university building. The lecturers show no enthusiasm as to what they are teaching us and blame the students when there is bad feedback. When the NSS came out, a lecturer explained the complaints they had the year prior and told us "it has nothing to do with the course, it is to do with the university". This is a course at the university, so I do not understand why they do not take any responsibility for the state that this course is in.
Lies were told before I started this course and during this course and it has become very difficult to trust what anyone teaching this course at this university.
I will commemorate those nurses who teach, mentor and work with students at the hospital because not only are they doing their work, they are also doing the work of the lecturers who have not shown enthusiasm to this profession.
If you want to be taught on how not to be a nurse, come to this university, because through these three years, this is what I have learned. I have learned how to be a better nurse and what kind of nurse I want to be during my career. I want to mentor my students the best I can and show them that they are worth so much to this profession. I want to inspire them to become better people and better nurses.
Still, I would advise you to go and get taught by nurses who are already an inspiration to this profession rather than waste your time and money on this course.
Job Prospects
How does your uni make efforts to increase your employability (careers department, work placements, transferable skills)?
We have not received any lecture on getting a job interview or what we would expect in a job interview. However, being on placement in the hospital, the healthcare professionals there have spoken to us about interviews and what area we would like to specialise in. I have received an invitation for an interview by one of the charge nurses. It would be easier if the university addressed the importance of job interviews, especially as a third year student, as we will be required to go straight into the profession when we register.
However, you will get support from the nurses you meet at the hospital more than you would from the lecturers at the university.
Course and Lecturers
What do you like most and least about the way your course(s) are taught?
I like placements most about my course. The people you meet at the hospital will become your mentors, friends and colleagues for life. Any problems you have they are supportive and accommodate to your needs. You learn a lot more in the hospital than you ever will at university. Of course not all personalities will get along, but the majority of nurses I have worked with have been amazing.
In regards to university, if you want an experience where you teach yourself, then this is the place for you. There is not even a handful of lecturers who get engaged in the lecture and inspire us to become nurses. Any questions you have will get passed from one lecturer to the next without receiving any kind of answer. The lecturers are constantly on holiday/off sick and will rarely reply to emails that you have sent. During this COVID-19 pandemic, we have had 10 lectures at the most in the last 10 weeks and our grades are being delayed. Why? Because the lecturers are "on leave". This is not the first time our grades have been delayed because of this reason. For the past three years I would say a maximum of 4 of our grades have been released on time.
When we were starting this course, we were told that us students were not allowed to attend weddings (even for close relatives), go on holiday, during term time and only go on holiday with the allocated annual leave given to us, yet they can go to such events during their teaching time.
We are supposed to have set number of hours in the skills room. We have only spent five hours in the skills room in both 2nd and 3rd year.
In third year we have had 7 hours contact per week, but we should have more.
£9,250 a year we have paid for this course and they go on holiday during the time that I an others have paid for them to teach us. Then they come back a week later and boast about it.
For the last three years I and my colleagues have scraped through assignments by teaching ourselves and managing to cope with different emotions by sticking with each other. The suicide rate of student nurses is at an all time high, yet the lecturers here do not recognise the support that we need. Sticking with your fellow student nurses, midwives and mental health nurses is the thing that will get you through this course at this university.
How many contact hours per week do you have?
7
Students' Union
What do you think of your Students' Union in terms of student representation and facilities?
They have come round and communicated with us, but only really took interest in third year students to complete our NSS. Other than that have not really had much to do with the representatives.
You are better off buying food in the shopping centre than at university as the food and drinks are expensive and you can walk up the road for two minutes and buy something cheaper.
Uni Facilities
How good are your university's facilities?
The library is a good place to study. However, in busy periods where everyone has assignments due in, it is very difficult to find space to work in the library. There are group work, silent work and presentation rooms where you can sit and study. You have to book the rooms so no one else can use them. You can use printers to print and photocopy work when you need to. The library is open 24/7 so if you're a night owl you can pop to the library in the late and early hours.
Local life
Is your university in a good location in terms of distance to accommodation and local amenities?
Yes. Access from the train station and bus stops.
However, there is only the shopping centre and cinema, other than that there is really nothing else to the university and student life. If you do not live on campus, car parking is available, but it will cost you £8.00 a day.
Societies and Sports
How would you rate the variety of societies/sports?
Have not had much to do with societies and sports outside of my course, so cannot comment. There is a gym within the university, but have not been there.
Student Support
How good is the support offered by the uni? Think both academic (tutors/feedback) and personal (counselling, etc).
The support at the university has been extremely disappointing. After experiencing three close, personal bereavements during my time at university, I was only offered little support for one of them and only that was to guide us to reach out for support.
Again, the nurses at the hospital were very supportive and when I disclosed a recent bereavement to them, they offered me an immense amount of support and catered to my needs during my placement.
I would have accessed support from the counselling service at university, but felt that I did not need it and our friendship group relied on each other to get us through this final year.
