University Of Hertfordshire

Well managed university

Don't go here. I asked to withdraw here 2 weeks ago before the withdrawal date and the business administration team said thats perfectly fine and that they will send the withdrawal letter which I never received. I called a week after and they said the 25percent has already been taken out and I'm allowed to pick up the form from the office. How does that make any sense? All they care about is taking your money and I never received my timetable till a week later. The university is very unorganised and the teaching is rubbish.

My room was dirty upon arrival. Quite spacious however. It had En Suite bathroom which is great. Shame there were dubious hairs in the plug hole. Toilet was caked in limescale. Shower flooded bathroom and hot water did not work at first. Hot water not too hot when working. Electricity was reliable in the room. Internet was very temperamental but fast when working. The walls are basically like newspaper so you can hear everything around you. Not good with noisy flat mates or a couple having an argument next door. Not a single bug or insect though or cobweb. Windows don't open properly so it is hard to cool down in summer. Believe me, the room becomes an oven. The view is straight into another flat window so blinds cannot be up unless you want a weirdo staring at you while you sleep. The doors slam all the time which make you jump whenever somebody leaves or enters their room.

Now the main flat was pristine on arrival. Sofas are incredibly comfortable. Hobs are easy to use. TV is big which is always a bonus. However I was shocked to come in one morning to find a cleaner asleep on the sofa. Didn't spend a lot of time in the main area. The lifts always broke down and gave you a horrible electric shock when you pressed the buttons. Whenever you walked out there was always someone smoking outside the block. Fire drill was at 3am which is unacceptable.

The Oval was full of very helpful and smiley staff. They always came quickly to sort problems out, if it was not a weekend. On a Wednesday I asked for someone to unlock my room at 6am and they came in 10 minutes. On Saturday at 7am it took them nearly 2 hours. Never lock yourself out on a weekend. The Oval had a gym which I obviously never used. Had a couple of pool tables and TVs showing BBC1 (good choice).

Lectures were good if you were not in the Prince Edward Hall in the back row. Lecturers were very interesting and quirky. Seats were comfortable but came with broken tables so you could not write neatly. Rooms were always immaculate.

Tutorials were a different story altogether. They were lacklustre, rushed and very little help was provided. It was usually just some vague instructions, in pidgin English and then get on with it. Chairs were very temperamental. My chair's back actually broke and I fell back and hit my head.

The labs were very clean. Come early if you want to use them though. Don't use any of the little rooms though as you will be rudely asked to leave by a lecturer mid way through your studies. The same applies to the LRC work stations and labs.

The main restaurant was average. Staff were rude sometimes and other times very polite, depends on who you got. Food was bland, thank goodness for salt. Dining area was clean and had interesting shapes on the ceiling. Plenty of space and usually quite quiet. Food was incredibly cheap.

Starbucks was a place I used to visit every Friday. That was until the Frappé machine broke and a member of staff was incredibly rude to me.

The shop is expensive, poorly stocked and had no opening times stated anywhere. However the staff are lovely. They charge for bags and have odd contactless payment rules.

The little areas of woodland are peaceful. You may come across a group of smokers or even a camp fire if you are lucky. There is a very friendly cat that roams the campus as well. Litter ruins the woodland's beauty.

Parking is a joke. There is very little and it is impossible to get a permit.

The location is near The Galleria, which is alright. There is one area of green (albeit small). Avoid the Town Centre if you don't want to be shouted at by an eccentric and have cigarette smoke blown into your lungs.

The learning support is absolutely infallible here. They are friendly, professional and really show the best of the university. They organise a group which go out on trips and meals. It helped me through my first year.

Overall the university is not the best but it has good points to it amongst the numerous bad points. Like they say, every cloud has a silver lining.
3/5

A lovely campus. Recently a massive project has involved building new accommodation. The accommodation is good compared to most other student accommodation. The quality of teaching here is fantastic and their are many facilities. Very noisy at night though.

This place has a lot of greenery and has some cool tech for being near the sticks. (Boonies or rural area)

Refurbished, accessible to LRC, as a former student I do tend to visit once in a while and the scenery looks so much better on campus, new builds everywhere and easy to locate rooms now. Wish I was actually back there

Best place for studying. It's very peaceful place. Not to crowed. The university has the best Library with full facilities and books. Staffs and tutors are friendly, enthusiastic and professional.

I was going through some comments about the university and thought i should write my experiences during my study time at University as it may help someone decide if they should choose to study here.

I have studied at different countries and renowned universities. Undoubtedly this is one of the best UK university and i can see it emerging as one of the best universities in the world in the near future especially in the field of Life sciences and Engineering. I have been working in the industry for a long time and have been part of the top management of some very good companies and i firmly believe that the value of a university degree shouldn't be judged by looking at the University ranking list (it is often misleading) BUT how the industry values it (industry value skills). Having been on the key positions in industry i can confidently say that this university is one of the most respected universities in the industry.

I have read a few negative comments (just to see how the university is progressing) and i was glad to see that most of such comments were about lack of partying, study burdens, boring place, can't locate class rooms, no buzz, no spoon feeding, no high street etc. This shows that its too bad for the lazy and non-serious students and that's only a good thing.

If you are ambitious and have the will to achieve something great, having studied here i can say that you should definitely study here.

There is a slight need for improvement and that is to make the admission criteria strict enough so that when someone decides to leave due to not been able to keep up with the work burden, they are able to leave a constructive criticism.
Hope my comments will help someone make their decision and hopefully it will be for good.