548 University of Surrey reviews

It is the best possible course to choose for job prospects, its integrated placement year is unique and extremely vital for students progression into the industry. During my placement year I managed to gain work within a professional theatre company where I worked my way up and eventually created a new department and produced a festival. I now have a potential job lined up for when I graduate, and none of this would have been possible without this course. If students decide to not take a placement, sadly they miss out on the amazing opportunity that is available to them.

The world-leading academics who teach us are inspiring, treat us with respect and push us to become the best individuals, and professionals that we can be. Their teaching is unparalleled and we learn a very wide range of topics that cover every area of theatre, be that research, production, performance, business, technical etc. What I like least would be that we are refused access to vital facilities, materials and adequate funding from the school where it is available to other courses under GSA's management.

8

In the four years that I have been at the university, I have not seen much support from the Students' Union. Sadly I have only now seen the benefits of it as the Guildford School of Acting are closing our course. The SU's events have never been of any interest to me, they focus purely on club nights with some sub-par events on the side and don't cater for students who don't like clubbing barely at all. Saying that, student societies are generally very good such as the Theatre Society, though they are given significantly less support than sports clubs for some reason.

University Halls are of nice quality and not too expensive, private housing is very competitive and quite expensive however

The facilities are good but many are off-limits to our course such as the whole of the Ivy building, including its main theatre. Our course is severely under-valued within GSA sadly, hence why the programme is being cut over other courses which are financially less profitable and have smaller cohorts. This has resulted in a systematic removal of our access to facilities so even though the facilities there are of good standard, we are not able to access many of them.

Guildford is safe, there are plenty of shops and it's easy to navigate, however there is little to do and you have to go to London to find any good forms of entertainment.

Pretty good, I did make use of a few societies during my time at uni which gave me some great experience and allowed me to find and make new friends in my first and second year at Uni. The sports clubs were much less accessible as I attended many open sessions in Freshers week and found that unless you were of a good standard in that sport already, you would generally not be made to feel like a valued member of their team. That is just my experience however and I know that sport is a huge part of Surrey that many, many people enjoy so it must have just been bad luck.

Academic support is generally very good, however many confounding factors such as the school cutting the course and not being transparent about their reasons for doing so, have made contact with tutors a bit more difficult, though they do what they can. Support offered by the uni is good, as long as you know where to look for it. In the case of our course being cut, no support has been offered to current students, alumni or applicants who have had their offers revoked. The facilities that are there such as the centre for Wellbeing are very good facilities indeed, but they are oversubscribed.

They do have employability workshops to help with skills.

HERE IS WHAT I DISLIKE AS ITS THE MOST IMPORTANT SO PLEASE READ IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING SURREY UNIVERSITY! Firstly, the lectures are mostly unhelpful in my opinion as the teachers usually read from a powerpoint presentation at a rapid speed without really making it understandable for the students. Even worse when the lecturer has really poor English, in these cases I just don't see the point to attend as it can be accessed online. Secondly, the modules in my opinion are awful in terms of actually preparing you for real work or understanding business effectively. The contents of the course is simply outdated textbook information that has no relevance to whats going on in the real world. You are crammed information into your brain just to pass an exam - in which you will forget soon later. I honestly believe that my BTEC Business course at college was more useful as the lecturers all come from a real professional background in industries such as marketing and can give you some great methods and information, where as at this uni, all the lecturers seem to just know what the textbook says, and are basically Uni graduates themselves which boast a silly 'academic title'. Thirdly, the modules are not taught to a standard where it will give you what you need to pass an exam. They make it clear at the start that they are not responsible in any way if you do not perform well. Which I disagree because I shouldn't have to pay over 9k a year to basically self-teach myself everything. I honestly don't find the majority of the lectures useful and often more confusing because if you have more than 1 lecturer for a module they may have different opinions which conflict in a result where you don't know the right answer. I feel like the teaching standard is poor for how challenging the exams are.

10

I got very lucky and live on campus which is convenient. My Band C room is £100 a week and share a flat with 7 people. However I am lucky to be with good people but I know others who have had bad experiences, such as being at Hazel Farm which is like a 40 min bus ride from campus in the middle of no where.

If you want a good city/night life... then go to somewhere like Portsmouth or Sussex because Guildford is d.e.a.d. You can have a good night out if you have a good friend group at uni and if your flat mates are decent like mine but overall look up reviews on the guildford night clubs and you will know what I mean. The town is nice though for a walk and to do some shopping.

I haven't joined any clubs or societies and only a few people do. You probably wont either if you come to the uni. You sign up at freshers week and go once then you cant be bothered any more.

I haven't really required any support yet but I've heard its good.

The university allows students to take a placement year and provides support whilst looking for a placement as well as during the placement year. There is also a compulsory personal development module which allows students to critically reflect on their CV.

I like the diversity of modules and how easy they are to access on the system (Surreylearn) however there is very little interaction between the lecturer and the student with information sort of "thrown at" us and expected to be retained. For example, one of our second year lectures was incorrectly informed of the information we had be taught in first year and as a result we were left to complete an assignment without very much support or knowledge.

10

I like the student union as a venue for a nightclub however societies have never really interested me and i prefer to hang out with a wide variety of friends made either through my course or through my hall's accommodation in first year.

This can vary depending on the lecture hall. For example, some are brand new others could do with updating.

Very expensive but you get what you pay for. Beautiful surrounding areas and lots of things to do. Clubs are fun but lack in variety and location.

Tutors are more annoying in first year (mostly provide A-level feedback) then become better. The centre for wellbeing needs a wakeup call as it is currently a shocking slow and poor service. ALS is currently so overbooked that I am unable to be seen by a university 1to1 staff.

There are regular opportunities to increase employ-ability

There's a lot of practical modules but not enough hours of each

It seems to be quite good but I've barely been

They're adequate and the library is good but overall it's not outstanding

Guildford is quite dull

They're pretty good but drama societies are not as good as other unis

There seems to be really good support but I've never sought it

Sim Suite

It's dead

We get a lot of support

My radiators leaking

Dead

Wish placement was mixed with theory in same term

Most- Sim suite with actors Least- Big lectures, small contact hours

Toilets aren't clean in library

Yes

Don't know

Good

Good

Don't know

Good