Zoe Andrews, an English language and marketing third year student at University of West of England gives us a tour of her university.

Being a student in Bristol

Bristol is a lively and diverse place, so it’s great to be a student here. With two universities in the city, Bristol is full of students, and with that comes a huge array of student entertainment.

There are plenty of buses around, so it’s easy to get around the city. However, some buses can be a bit pricey, so getting a bus pass is useful. Alternatively, the university runs its own bus services around the city, at a lower cost than the privately owned bus companies. For more info go to www.uwe.ac.uk/hsv/transport/bus.shtml. There are also good train links with two main stations. Bristol Parkway, which is approximately two miles from UWE’s main campus and Bristol Temple Meads, which is in the city centre. So home is never too far away when the washing needs doing.

UWE is a campus based university and has four campuses spread across Bristol, plus some associate faculties in Gloucester, Bath and Swindon. UWE’s main campus, Frenchay, is located approximately five miles from the city centre, and this is where the majority of students are based.

Prices in Bristol tend are similar to the rest of the UK. The Student Union’s two bars, Red and Escape are the cheapest places to drink but many bars and clubs in the city centre have student nights offering cheaper drinks. The cost of eating out in the city centre varies depending on the type of place you go to, but in the majority of restaurants a decent meal can be had for between £10 and £15. Nightclubs entry prices also vary, but it is possible to have a good night out for less than a fiver.

Study time

UWE has a wide range of resources to help students in their studies. There is a library at every campus, with the Bolland library at Frenchay being the largest, with the widest range of resources. The Bolland library holds a number of different books according to subject, plus many different journals (as well as online journals). The library tends to be well stocked so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. There is a library catalogue which lists all the books in the library and says which are in stock, so you can see if the book you want is available before you go traipsing up to the top floor!

The division of exams and coursework for assessment varies from subject to subject, but for the most part you can expect to be assessed in both of these areas for each module you take. However, some subjects do place more emphasis on one or the other, so if either of those is a particular forte or weakness of yours, then it’s best to check with the faculty before applying.

As with the issue of coursework vs. exams, the level of lecturer/tutor to student interaction varies. There are variations between subjects, depending on which lecturers you get teaching you, but the variation can also be dependant on how much you instigate contact with your lecturers. If you put more effort into making appointments to speak with your lecturers when there are issues, then you are likely to have more interaction than other students!

Amount of time spent in timetabled activity is, again, dependent on which subject you take. Time that students spend at UWE can be anything from 2 hours a week to more than 30! So, if you want a rough idea of what your timetable will look like, it’s best to ask the faculty in charge of your subject.

Play time

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