Our collection of real, honest student reviews of unis and courses is the largest in the UK, and help you make well-informed decisions about your future. Student reviews also form the basis of our annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards(WUSCAs), which highlight great work carried out by institutions for their students.
2023 WUSCA winners
Derby is a welcoming, friendly place that has become my new home
The facilities for film, tv and other media courses are phenomenal so I am able to get real-life experience
Derby allows an escape from busy city lifestyle, with still enough to enjoy and do.
Located near uni and town, safe, well looked after and good value for money.
Derby is a fantastic place to kickstart my career
I am able to work on exciting news stories, with the help from academics on leads, multimedia elements and publishing stories.
Centre of England means I can visit other parts of the UK. There's lots of bars and restaurants. There's also nice quiet places and parks. Not too busy or too quiet.
I like the location, modern building and fixed rent price which includes bills. It's also really safe
Wonderful staff, great facilities, affordable city
I am able to make use of the fantastic facilities. I am also able to have one-on-one contact time with academics who are able to offer real-life experience.
I like the location and affordability
Because of the available resources, such as the well-equipped classrooms, laboratories, library, and some other quiet places, the university has been a great place to study. well I am yet to experience any worst aspect and I pray not to experience it.
My course is taught both online and in-class. This has made the course hours flexible. My course has no placement or internship option because I am focusing more on research. Hence, I do lots of laboratory work now. My Program leader, Supervisor, Lecturers, and Module leaders were very nice people, ready to listen to my complaints with solutions.
Academics are so supportive and the international team are brilliant. I found Derby a little boring as I am from Auckland and its a bit quiet for me
As previously mentioned the academic team are so supportive and knowledgeable, with real word experience and practice not just researchers.
City is very diverse for its size with enough to do but is a but quiet compared to by home city
Halls were very close to my teaching site which was brilliant and close to city centre but looking a bit old and tired compared to the new ones and close to a busy road.
I like that Derby is a good base to travel to other parts of the UK. The campus is really modern. Library is great to find books, get your head down or meet with study groups.
I am taught in class and I can meet with lecturers to discuss my work one on one.
I like the spacious rooms, location close to uni and the safety.
Top aspects are the facilities and campus, location and approachable staff.
There's a mix of in person and online resources. This means that I can ask questions in person but also do independent study in my own time.
I like that it's close to the campus and city centre and it's affordable.
Me best expereince was being able to access university library 24/7 at certain times when most needed. I think it would have been better if shops at university were cheaper for students.
The best part about my course was the practical lessons and engagement during those sessions. The worst part was not having chance to engage in placements from year 1.
Derby is a great place to live and to study at university. if you prefer to stay in a quiet environment, it really helps me focus on my work. City can be a bit costly at times but affordable depending on your financial stability.
The University is great in many respects and has been amazing for me throughout my undergrad and masters, all my lecturers have been supportive and great, whilst also facilitating my growth. I think one issue a lot of us students are seeing is how the University is focusing more on its appearance and money than students themselves, for example the fact the University has announced a huge new construction projects but there are buildings already at the University that look worn down and old, a bit like a facade. Additionally course programmes are not always specific about what they do precisely want from references as referencing systems themselves have different rules in them (e.g. Harvard allows for both listing out all the authors names or just the main author followed by et al in the reference list)
My course is very in depth and thought-provoking, containing a lot of information, and the course itself is one of the few UK universities that offers a masters that combined disaster management with national security. That being said, the course does seem to heavily focus on disaster management more than Intelligence or Security which I do think is a shame.
The best aspect is feeling like there is support available in various area such as IT services and wellbeing. Moreover, the library services are also quite good. The worst aspects were mainly Covid related issues.
The university has really good lectures that are very helpful and allow you to expand your knowledge in your areas of interest. There are also good lab facilities. The worst thing was Covid, which was out of the university's control but made my colleagues and I lose a lot of valuable practical sessions.
It was good as a first year student to get to know people. The negative things about it have got to do with the people that you live with, depending on how respectful they are.