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The overall ranking is decided by students from this institution rating them in a 2026 Whatuni review. This forms the basis of the Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs for short).
4.04.14.01113 Student reviews
Sort:Latest reviewsYork can get a bit lonely and boring but the uni life and experience improve everything. The tutors and modules are interesting and make it all worth it
The best aspect of my uni experience is the location that the York St. John campus is in. York is a beautiful city and the campus has a homely feel to it with always something going on.
The course and university staff are all amazing; very interesting and helpful. It is easy to access resources and materials and the staff are enthusiastic to exceed your learning potential. The only negatives are that the university does not feel as though it is a studious/ inviting place to go. Also, student accomodation is very expensive and hard to attain despite the high prices.
Facilities are modern. Lack of staff support
Apart from the lack of healthy food choices, York St John's has excelled in every area I have experienced. Firstly, I adore the buildings. The mix of the stunning old school with its Harry Potter style quadrant, with the new contemporary buildings works perfectly. I am also incredible impressed with how well the grounds are maintained. You always see the maintenance/ gardeners out doing their thing and, well it shows. The gardens are immaculate! I am looking forward to many a summers lunch time chilling in a deck chair in the quadrant, or finding a shaded spot underneath a tree reading, studying, chilling. As for induction week/freshers week, they were thorough! Obviously being a first year student, I had no idea what to expect from university, all the nerves of "can I even do this" and just the general feelings of excitement and fear. They provide talks on everything from welfare support, IT and library use support, religious welcome (inclusive to all faiths), amenities, and local information, subject talks about your course including meeting 2nd/3rd year students, student union welcome, freshers fairs, parties, get-togethers, mature student meets etc. The list is endless. After the initial week, I really did feel like I knew exactly what was going on and where to find help if I needed. As for York St Johns facilities, I'm not sure what else you would need or want from a university. The library has 3 floors, is welcoming and a great place to hang out with pals and study or take yourself off to the quiet zone and study in silent.... I am often here too. As for the library, the book selection in incredible. I have about 15 books currently on loan, which have everything I could possible need to study. I have not needed to purchase a single book yet. Plus, they are super helpful and friendly and should you need a book, journal, article that they don't hold, simple go to reception and they will see if they can purchase it for you. You can also get laptops to loan and use their printing facilities. Personally, I love being in the library. Its a lovely place to spend time, friendly and comfortable. I can only comment on the physiotherapy labs, but they too are great with all the equipment and tools we could possible need. With regards to physiotherapy as well, the lectures are really great. The whole course is taught in a very professional yet personal manner. The lecturers get to know you as individuals and are always happy to answer all your million of questions you have without compliant. On campus there are numerous places to hang out with some truly lovely spots both outside and inside. Of course there is the student union which is fab for a cheap cheeky alcoholic beverage. There is also a Starbucks, costa coffee and numerous other independent cafe/coffee shops with some lovely spaces to relax and eat cake. The waffles from the waffle counter are amazing! Actually on the whole, the food is always really tasty and reasonable priced . Unfortunately, my only complaint would be that it can be very carb heavy. I would love to see a salad bar whereby you could make yourself a salad box up, and I know from vegan friends that often they do not have much choice, so I think a salad bar would be a popular option. It is something that we are looking at suggesting to the student union to see if they could help make a change there. Just for the more health concise of us. But apart from that, there is no other complaints with the food. As stated, it really is tasty and reasonable priced. There is also many things I haven't mentioned; the medical centre, student clubs, the gym, careers office and more. It is all there, everything you could possible want or need. Thriving and busy. I have only been at YSJ's since September, and obviously don't have another university to compare it too, however, I love it. I like the togetherness of it, the friendly welcoming, inclusiveness of it. Its both calming and nurturing, busy and exciting.
York St John University has a really nice campus. It's not too small or big, making it easy to navigate. There's many different buildings with different aesthetics and calming places to hang out dotted around the campus. The staff are generally really nice, friendly and helpful. They seem to really care about students and their wellbeing - there's good support that is inclusive to minorities. YSJ dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic really well, making sure to support students and implement a safe guard in case the pandemic affected our grades. The library is a really good place to study and has spaces for group study as well as a silent floor. The main issues I've had are regarding the availability of books in the library and how long it can take the library to get books in. There were some core books for one of our modules that they did not manage to get multiple copies of until the semester after the module was completed. However, I don't think this is likely to be an issue for any courses/modules that have been run before as they will probably already have those books in.
The location of the uni is fantastic and majority of the facilities are good. While we do have access to support from academic staff. the uni also has other members of staff that are available for students to go to for support if academic staff on the course are stretched for resources.
i like everything except the prices for international students are even higher, too expensive
Great location and lovely staff, the library could use more seating areas
Honestly it’s just really relaxed and calm, the only thing currently is the weather is too cold to sit outdoors
25-34 years
The campus is lovely, it's really small and cozy and I love all of the hedgehog friendly stuff! I wish there was more help for disabled students, lecturers are encouraged to record their lectures but the majority don't "because then people won't show up". I can record them myself but then I end up picking up all of the conversations of the students around me.
It makes it a great place to study because it’s in a lovely location and the university itself it’s brilliant. The facilities it has are brilliant, especially with my course being law as we have an amazing law clinic, the library it’s great to study in and has all the resources I need.
The university has helped me so much through so tough times throughout my education including my studies and personal life, along with financial struggles I have been facing. All my lecturers and my tutor have been amazing
Great, modern and supportive university
The faculty and teachers are great, as well as the staff on campus. Very supportive environment. Timetables can be difficult at times.
it is a very supportive uni and has lots to offer, they really give you everything you need and have a really good system to evertthing.
Having attended three universities I can confidently say that YSJ is fantastic all round.
18-24 years
First gen student
There are lots of different areas around the university that can be used to study, making it very easy to sit down somewhere comfortable and focus on your studies. In the library there is lots of access to computers as well as a wide range of books, perfect for research. The online system is also perfect for when you can't make it to the library, with plenty of ebooks available to download on your computer, which has served very well for my studies. I love using the starbucks cafe, the library and the booths in the holgate building as my areas to study in. The toilet facilities are all kept very clean and access to them is great around campus. The campus is beautiful and the gardens always look well kept. The location of the university is perfect in regards to the city, as it's not too far to walk too from many different private and university accommodations, and has a stunning view of the minster right opposite. There is also easy access to many shops and cafes for a lunch break, however I always enjoy having meals from the university cafe, where there are many options of hot and cold food that is reasonably priced for students! I do believe, however, that there isn't sufficient enough parking for commuting students, as it can be very difficult to find a space at the accommodation car parks provided and the York council car parks surrounding the university can become very expensive, when parking for hours at a time. The parking situation has also caused me to be late to lesson on many different occasions, when in search of parking space. Luckily I haven't felt the need to use student support whilst at university, as the majority of my time at uni I have been commuting into York, but it's very useful to have been made aware of all the support available if I was to need it, whether that be around mental health support or study support. The best parts of my uni experience were the friends I made and going to student union nights which are always fun! I also really enjoy planned trips that my course does and the incorporation of placement into the studying side of the course. The worst part of my university experience is when it all had to be taught online and the effects that students have had to face due to covid. Also missing out on certain lessons due to teachers striking hasn't been the best, as we pay so much money for university as it is and to miss certain lectures and seminars isn't great, however I recognise that this isn't the university's fault and many other universities have struggled with the same issues. Another aspect of my studying that I found particularly disheartening was the fact that you can only have the opportunity to study abroad in the specific semester that has been paved out for your specific course in second year. There is little help when wanting to take a gap year on your course and it seems very difficult to chose somewhere that you want to study as there is already a list of places that you have to chose from. This is one thing that I haven't enjoyed about YSJ, and believe there should be a lot more attention brought towards the topic of study abroad, as some students aren't even aware that they have the opportunity in the first place until it's too late, as the only chance to apply is in your first year of study. Overall however, my experience at York St John University has been very positive and I would recommend anyone to study here! It's a very beautiful place to come and I look forward to my commute from home over in West Yorkshire whenever I have my scheduled lectures and seminars!
The University lectures offer you lots of support and advice when you need it. However, the student union could organise more freshers activities that don’t always involve drinking. Just to become more inclusive.
4.4
York St John University is a great place to study as the campus and facilities are new and modern and it promotes a nice fresh studying environment. The academic staff are lovely and helpful and are always there to provide any support for students whether it’s academic or personal advice. The only area that could be improved would be the amount of contact hours with academic tutors, having more time with academic tutors.
For the course all our hours are in the forms of lectures, workshops, tutorials and practicals. All these hours are in person and we have a good amount of contact hours per week with each of our lecturers for each of our modules. The only area of improvement would be to have more contact hours with our academic tutors.
The boulevard is a good accommodation and it’s very safe as it’s gated and has 24 hour security. My room is a good size and has its own bathroom. The building staff and maintenance are very friendly and helpful and it has a very good value for money. The only downside is the distance of the walk for the accommodation to the university.