University of Hertfordshire — Attraction in Welwyn Hatfield

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...

I went to this uni from 2019-2021. I stayed in accommodation for three years, the first year no issues, the second year structural issues with my room with the door coming off, the man said that the uni rushed building some of the accommodation and built it cheap, they had nailed the door into the foam not the wood. It felt that the uni was always trying to get more money out of you, with accommodation charges left right and Center for sometimes unfair things. For my third year my flat managed to fight it but they had to literally argue with the accommodation team for a long time over a fire extinguisher tag which was broken when we got their that they tried to charge us each £15 a flat of 12. Similar things happened to my other friends in telford, they didn’t really fight it so ended up paying which the uni probably expects some students to be like, easy money grab. I came to this uni because of the high employment rate they said for my course, currently the people around me mostly did not make it into the industry I was studying in with maybe three or four people out of around 20. Some people I know have had to get jobs in retail. My course was mixed it had some good lectures that I enjoyed and also some appalling lectures that deviated from the course content or that felt more like a joke at occasions. The campus is the main selling point at the uni, having been around other universities, it does have a good campus pub and I did have more of a social life than other people I know at other unis. The shopping Center is not too far away just eatery places. The train station is about 45 minute walk from college lane, the busses are bad it takes an hr, it was better for me just to take a taxi. St Albans was where all the fun was at, we had to get a taxi a lot of the times but it’s a lot nicer than hatfield and has things to do there, the bus is an hour the taxi 15 minutes. Or if u have a car 15 minutes with parking. Personally as a uk based student, I had some issues with some international students, with my international partner at the time from India. She experienced stalking, sexual assault (forum) and unwanted behaviour around campus. It isn’t reported cause that community had normalised that behaviour and see it as normal, I wanted to mention that I think the uni should do more for women’s safety on campus. There should be a leaflet or note on, how we treat women . International students are the ones that pay more, but it seems that they had a hard time dealing with financial or other issues with the uni. For their joining day on campus there was no directions on where to go, or signs. When the uk students came there was directions everywhere and more support that was just one issue. An international student who went here could probably list more. She has one experience where she was stalked from campus to asda and back and had to go to reception to get away. The night club also had an issue with spiking at the time. Overall I would rate this uni a 2.5 out of 5, experience wise it was worth it, I had a nice time even during covid, it has a nice campus and St Albans and London is not too far with a taxi or Uber. Employment wise it wasn’t worth it could have done an apprenticeship or worked and saved my money. Education wise I don’t think it was worth it, me and my mate felt we learnt more at college than we did at uni. Campus wise it was worth it, good campus better...

Honestly, some of the best years of my life were spend studying here. Before I chose to attend this university, I’d heard some negative comments (around my school etc) about this uni compared to others. In my experience actually studying here, they were totally false. This is a modern, innovative and research-focused university with great facilities and a friendly atmosphere. I liked pretty much all of my teaching staff, they were usually passionate about their subject and willing to help you with whatever you needed. Sometimes, the books we were studying from had even been written by our lecturer. For the most part they made learning engaging and fun. It was easy to strike up a professional relationship with and get known/recognised by your lecturer too.

The 2 main campuses were nice and modern with a large library (learning resource centre/LRC) on each campus, with a large selection of books, computers, printing facilities, private study rooms, a modern cafe/study area, and more, to help you with whatever you needed for your work. Free shuttle bus (and uni discount for general bus travel) or 15 min walk between the two campuses.

I had fun joining in with various uni societies - seemed to be something for everyone, and while not into sports myself there seemed to be plenty of sports opportunities (plus 2 gyms, which I liked to made use of). I personally stayed in uni accommodation (on both campuses) and was generally impressed with the quality, particularly College Lane studio rooms. At this uni you can stay in campus accommodation after first year with no issues, there seem to be plenty of rooms available if you want one.

As for local amenities there are a range of supermarkets/shops within walking distance, plus a bus service. They have recently remodelled the Forum on-campus nightclub and I had some good nights out there during my uni days. Not a huge amount else to do in Hatfield, but it’s near enough to London and other places in Hertfordshire (St Albans etc) if you really want to go somewhere else.

Overall, this is a much better university that it may seem based just on uni rankings etc, and I had a great time here for various different reasons. Obviously depends on your course, how near you are to the uni, what you’re looking for etc (I did BSc Maths & MSc Psychology, plus it was my local uni) but if you’re considering this uni, I would definitely...