121 reviews for ARU Writtle (formerly Writtle University College)

Really enjoying my course, facilities are great

Living with my best friends is the best thing ever. Halls are slightly outdated but it really doesn’t affect me or anyone I know that badly.

The course is a face to face course. Which is good because online learning would not suit me. The lecturers do the best they can with the time they have, however the university decided to shorten some teaching hours which was not helpful as it made everything very rushed, therefore more difficult to learn, but otherwise a good experience, plenty of interesting bits of technology I have never seen before!

All lectures face to face, no option to attend virtually which could be addressed. Quite lecture heavy but in contrast this provides more value for money. All theory based after yr 1 which is a shame as it should be at least one practical a week and too much business content for my purposes. Also course content is focussed on food growing sector and not balanced with ornamental sector and other areas that are becoming important like urban greening and landscape design. Lecturers are mostly good, not all!

I've found the course really interesting so far, and the majority of modules have been useful. There is a lot of extra content given to help us and the lecturers are supportive and mostly happy to explain things in more detail. Although the extra content can be good, there is a lot to get through which I'm not sure I will have time to cover.

My room is spacious and my flatmates are nice. It's easy to report a noise complaint or contact maintenance if necessary. Our accommodation fee includes a budget to spend at the canteen ir other stores around campus, however if we do not spend it all it goes to the university. I would prefer if I was able to put the leftover money towards future accommodation installments.

Some lecturers are really knowledgeable and some others "cannot teach to save their lives". Tutor non existent and course content not current and comprehensive, consequently really low career prospects. Ancient non sustainable facilities and work placements and internships not really suitable for your degree. Really outdated facilities and university overall !! Lack of basic necessity and technology in class and around campus, like sockets for charging your laptop or video recording equipment in the classrooms, WI-FI also non existent and really difficult to connect to your devices. You will never be able to attend lessons from home if you are sick or bed-bound or you live far away and you only need to attend 1 hour lesson. If you want to study anything related to agriculture, better go somewhere else (like Harper Adams university or Norwich university) where they will offer you more advance programs and you will finish your studies with great knowledge and a better accreditation; which will make you more competitive on the job market and in your future career. Unfortunately, Writtle University College is more like a college than a university!! I learned more during my High School diploma in Agriculture (finished 2001) than here at Writtle 22 years after. Also when they will contact you before the beginning of your course, they will lie to you about what you will find at uni (i.e.: vertical farming, hydroponic, sports facilities etc.), just to enrolled you and take £10,000/year from you. My course is Agriculture (Regenerative Systems) and we (I am student rep) are not learning anything about sustainability, climate changes and regenerative systems, which are fundamentals for the future of agriculture and interlinked with climate changes all around the world. There is a farm at Writtle but is not managed properly and they keep changing the Farm Manager, creating discontinuity and lack of progress within the project the we started in open-fields; also, what we study in class we do not transfer to the farm (i.e., ploughing is not good for the soil biome etc., but in the farm they carry on doing it and so on for the rest of the farm practices). On your first year they will ask you to do a sustainability report based on Writtle campus itself, but they do not collect data, consequently they will mark you down or fail the assignment because you will not be able to find data anywhere, which is crazy so they basically set you up for failure before you even start. I attended University of Surrey before moving to Writtle and the difference is like Venus and the Sun. Make sure that you check the university ratings before you enrol anywhere and do extensive research on the programs they offer. My suggestion is to AVOID Writtle University College like the plague, run away from it as fast as you can!!!

Being in the middle of Essex countryside is relatively safe but the campus does not close at night, so outsiders can access at any time. Outdated accommodations and not worth the weekly price and if you think to rent apartment in Chelmsford (nearest town) think twice, because the public transport toad from the campus is very limited. The village (Writtle) only have two pubs and nothing else. The two canteens serving awful food, unhealthy and of poor quality (I am a development chef myself and I offer my services for FREE to improve the menu making it more sustainable, healthy and still keeping the costs low, but they refuse saying that they improved from the previous year). Make sure to do some shopping on your own if you want to keep your health in check and AVOID the canteens, for your own sake.

Hours and course delivery is fab

The lecturers are knowledgeable and well responsive. Occasionally there is mess ups in regards to old courses not having been updated to the current year or updated in general Where lecturers have been made redundant it has left other lecturers to have to pick up other courses they previously did not teach. It's sad to see the course shrunk so much

Course ran really well

Noisy and too expensive for what it is.

Lecturers for the most part are great. Could be more focus on how to advance career and find it.

Close to London makes it worth it overall central.

It's central on campus and decent space. Poorly maintained and not much is done when there are issues. Meal plan that follows is alright, good isn't great.

It is taught in person for the most part, but sometimes lecturers are not able to cover everything we need, more time could be allocated for actual lecture time, more student support

Some of the facilities we have are out dated and could use an oven as well, easier to make oven meals as cafeteria food is not great. Management takes a while to respond to complaints. Not always hot water etc.