University of Bradford — Local services in Bradford

I'm just about to go into my second year. This review will be based on my experiences of the first year. Faculty of law.

Bradford wasn't my first choice, but when the cost of living crisis occurred, it quickly became too convenient not to at least give it a go. I was quickly surprised by the standard of teaching here. My chosen topic isn't simple, yet the way the lecturers phrased certain concepts, and gave explanations about difficult topics very much helped my comprehension of the subject overall. The professors themselves, most of them, have real world experience, and this is absolutely invaluable.

The University offers MANY opportunities for students to seize, and what is sad is that many students do not take these opportunities; rather they brush them off as a sort of nuisance. The opportunities are fantastic, and the department actively encourages students to undertake them.

The students themselves are another matter. I have never seen such disruption in a classroom ever before. Ever. Not even at GCSE level have I seen some of the things students pull. Chatting at the back of the lecture hall, sometimes drowning out what the lecturer is saying, literally taking phone calls in the middle of lectures not giving a damn about others, giggling like children, playing videos and music on their phone, arriving late. It's unbelievable that at this level such juvenile behaviour is exhibited.

When these concerns were raised with the department heads, we were told that nothing could be done unless we got their ID number but how is that possible? "Excuse me, lad, can I just quickly jot down your ID number"?

It got to the point where we had to pick out faces that we recognise disrupting the lectures from their student profiles.

I hope these students aren't back for a second year.

The university is located in a convenient place in city centre, it is, however, surrounded by beggars, drug dealers and drug addicts. You cannot walk down without seeing something bizarre. Your senses will always be under siege here.

Overall, it's a good university located in a bad city. That's its major flaw; it has this stigma about it because of the city, yet expectations will quickly be subverted and replaced by a sense of "wow!".

In November, 2023, a friend and I were representing the university at a competition in London. I work at a hotel part time, and I get a discount for the hotel in any city. I told the lecturer who entered us about this, and he asked if I can temporarily pay for the hotel room and transport and that the university will reimburse me. I agreed, and it was £400.

The night of the competition, about seven hours before it was due to take place, I receive a call informing me that my grandmother had suddenly passed away. I was devastated and rushed back to Bradford to be with my family.

To this day, as of 24/02/2024, I have still not received my £400 back from the University despite sending receipts and following up with the Student Union, the lecturer who entered us, and the head of our undergraduate programme. I was told it was because I didn't actually compete, and I was also chided because I could have booked earlier for cheaper.

I emailed a lecturer about being falsely accused of academic misconduct, with high priority. He ignored me. He has me on LinkedIn and has been reposting frequently. He has not got time for my urgent email but has time for social media. Wow. Staff also know some students cheat in assignments but cannot prove it, so the rest are marked against that

I have finally received my money back as of 15/03/2024. I had to go to the Vice-chancellor to get it done. The reimbursement team even noted how aberrant it was for a student to book.

I was then called into a meeting with the head of my department (who was late to the meeting she organised), who then berated me for going to the VC. It was very unprofessional. She even admitted she knew about my situation but forgot.

Despite winning two academic prizes, the University has again failed to dispense my monetary reward. It's been...

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!!

My experience studying Law at the University of Bradford was profoundly negative and, in my view, damaging both academically and personally. From the outset, it became clear that the institution operates less as a place of learning and more as a profit‑driven business, where student welfare and educational quality are secondary to maximising revenue. I have direct evidence of being charged additional fees I should never have been asked to pay, with requests made in vague, underhanded ways that made it difficult to challenge them. When I attempted to dispute these charges, the process was obstructive, lacking transparency, and offered no genuine support — a pattern that, in my opinion, is designed to make it as hard as possible for students to recover money they are wrongly charged. This behaviour is especially troubling coming from a university, where integrity should be a core value. The teaching quality was consistently poor. Skilled and committed lecturers rarely stayed, leaving students with underqualified, disengaged, or poorly prepared staff. Some lecturers were extremely difficult to understand due to language barriers, yet no action was taken to address this. Lessons were often uninspiring, with minimal participation from either students or staff, and it was rare to have an engaging or enjoyable class. The course structure was chaotic, with no logical progression between modules, essential topics for legal practice rushed or skipped entirely, and weeks passing without clear direction. Assessment and marking were inconsistent, slow, and lacked transparency, with feedback so generic it was of little practical use. In my own case, administrative failings even caused me to miss an assignment submission because I was denied access to the system; despite having evidence that I was not at fault, I was penalised and forced to pay to retake the module. Support for students was virtually non‑existent. Academic guidance was minimal, mental health services were inadequate, and urgent matters were handled slowly, often with serious consequences. The university’s approach to pastoral care was superficial at best, leaving students to navigate stress, workload, and personal challenges alone. Facilities were outdated and insufficient, with unreliable online platforms, broken or limited study spaces, and poor access to legal research tools. Opportunities for career development were almost entirely absent — there were no meaningful links to law firms, no local placements, no mooting competitions, and no networking events, unlike other universities in the region. The campus itself felt neglected, with little to do for students and far better value for money available elsewhere. The surrounding area also raised serious concerns. There was visible criminal activity in the vicinity, which the university appeared to ignore, and safety for female students was a particular issue, with multiple instances of inappropriate behaviour from both students and lecturers going unaddressed. Administrative staff were often rude, unhelpful, and prone to errors, while senior leadership, including the Vice‑Chancellor, showed little interest in student experience — even failing to attend graduation ceremonies. The culture among staff seemed to be one of protecting each other and covering up failings rather than addressing them, creating an unprofessional and untrustworthy environment. Overall, the University of Bradford’s Law course offered extremely poor value for the high tuition fees charged. The combination of low‑quality teaching, lack of support, outdated facilities, unsafe environment, and exploitative financial practices left me — and many others — feeling scammed out of both money and the education we were promised. These were not isolated incidents but part of a wider, systemic pattern that undermines trust in the institution. Based on my experience, I cannot in good conscience recommend this course or this...

Disgraceful and unprofessional university in my experience and my fiancés. Their complaints procedure as outlined on their website is a non-existent shambles, the procedure is false and the university does not follow it. Why publish a policy and claim to respond within a certain timeframe, to then ignore communications sent within policy guidelines and fail to respond at all?

The University of Bradford cancelled my fiancés masters degree course but didn’t think to tell him that it had been cancelled until 3 days AFTER the course start date. As a full time engineer, he had taken annual leave days to support with the start of the course, days he now cannot claim back. My fiancé had bought a tablet and other university supplies to support him with the course that now can’t be returned (opened & used) as the university did not have the decency to inform him of the course being cancelled within an acceptable timeframe. The course fees had been paid from the student loan company - if we hadn’t reached out to the university to query the lack of communication, we could’ve been at risk of financial fraud. We are full time working people - the university claim to cater for and support those in full time work to complete a degree but this is simply false. Unless you are a teenager, fresh out of school, you have 0 chance of a professional degree at this university as a full time working adult.

My experience was very similar, I attended the open day and was told I was eligible for a course by numerous people, including professors. Only to be told via email that the information I was given was incorrect and I was not eligible for the course. Upon querying, I was bounced around and the university just couldn’t make up their mind due to lack of knowledge.

It’s a real shame - we had heard some excellent reviews of this university beforehand and all we’ve had is...