Nottingham Trent or Swansea

[twosoups1972]

Dd's first choice of university is Birmingham. She wants to put down a safe choice for her insurance which is either Nottingham Trent or Swansea. Unfortunately she missed the Open Days so hasn't seen either.

Her course in English Lit + Lang. Does anyone have any experience of these universities in terms of the course, the university itself and the city? Many thanks.

Depends how they judge it. The Guardian tends to look at things in a different way!

Has your DD had offers from anywhere else? She doesn’t have to have an insurance if she doesn’t want one.

I'd probably say Swansea.

Swansea is where you'd go if you didn't get into Birmingham.
Nottingham Trent seems to be where you'd go when you couldn't get into Swansea

NTU has just won Guardian University of the Year

Don't know anything about NTU, but my ds loved his years at Swansea. It is the nearest University to the sea. He LOVED walking along the beach to get to University each day. Beautiful part of the world and easy travel to, and via Cardiff.
There was a lot of building work going on when he was there and his graduation ceremony was in the new part - it seemed really lovely.
If she isn't going for another year, then surely she will have time to go and have a look ?

Guardian uni of the year is judged on guardian league tables, retention of disadvantaged students and ability to rexruit BAME students.

Just heard on another thread that Swansea's language department is being culled. That might suggest some financial issues there, but I am sure that applies to many many unis.

Went to NTU and stayed in Nottingham (15+ years ago...) Clifton was a great base easy to get into city for first year and then lived in West Bridgford (in between city and uni) and a really lovely place- still live there now! Would highly recommend and had a great time

Hi Piggy, I don't think it's being culled, they are offering 7 modern languages and a combination of those. I think it's just that they've stopped joint honours modern languages with English degrees. Neither individual department seems to have been affected at all. It's possible that either timetabling or outcomes with this particular joint honours are an issue. What has been happening in recent years is that Swansea University has been expanding onto Bay Campus and departments have been moving there, actually freeing up more space for expansion on Singleton for remaining departments. Its
number of students has increased by 50% over the last 4 years. I'm wondering if one of the two departments is planning a move to Bay in the next three years (just my own thought!)

www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-archive/2018/swanseauniversityranked30thinthetimesandthesundaytimesgooduniversityguide2019.php

I got the impression (maybe wrongly) that Swansea was heavily investing in some departments whilst perhaps strangling others. Sadly, MFL is often a victim of this approach. But, it's true, Swansea has generally had an excellent reputation in Languages, and in English.

Dd loves Swansea. She's totalĺy dithering as Bath is more prestigious

Faz, if it's Uni of Bath and not Bath Spa,

your dd would be crazy to take Swansea over Bath... they're worlds apart

Lots of English Courses at Swansea, including many joint honours, so they haven't stopped Foreign Language/English joint honours (sorry my mistake!)

English Language
Applied Linguistics and English Language, BSc (Hons)
English - Chinese Translation and Interpreting, BA (Hons)
English Language, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Language and English Literature, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Language and Media, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Language and Spanish, BA (Hons)
English Language and TESOL, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Language with a Foundation Year, BA (Hons)
French and English Language, BA (Hons)
German and English Language, BA (Hons)
TESOL and English Literature, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
TESOL and French, BA (Hons)
TESOL and German, BA (Hons)
TESOL and Spanish, BA (Hons)
English Literature
Ancient History and English Literature, BA (Hons)
Classical Civilisation and English Literature, BA (Hons)
English - Chinese Translation and Interpreting, BA (Hons)
English Language and English Literature, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Literature, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Literature and American Studies, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Literature and French, BA (Hons)
English Literature and German, BA (Hons)
English Literature and History, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Literature and Medieval Studies, BA (Hons)
English Literature and Spanish, BA (Hons)
English Literature and Welsh (a Pathway for First Language Students), BA (Hons)
English Literature and Welsh (a pathway for Second Language students), BA (Hons)
English Literature with Creative Writing, BA (Hons)
English Literature with Creative Writing with a Foundation Year, BA (Hons)
English Literature with Gender, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad
English Literature with a Foundation Year, BA (Hons)
Media and English Literature, BA (Hons)
Politics and English Literature, BA (Hons)
TESOL and English Literature, BA (Hons), with or without a Year Abroad

However, that list comes from their current website, which is exactly the one, no doubt that the other person's DS consulted and used to make an application, so I'd still be wary. That's really too many courses for viability , these days. Stick to single honours or very obvious combos, I'd say!

You can study welsh at university ?

She will almost certainly put bath first but she's really fond of Swansea! Hasn't actually seen bath yet (tomorrow) And I think she's not confident enough to really believe she has a chance of bath despite getting a good offer.

Hope she likes Bath, beautiful city. Got my fingers crossed for her then, she can only try her very best Wherever she ends up I'm sure she'll be happy

Thank you! That's a nice thing to say

Why is that odd conception ?? It's a Welsh university!

Hi Piggy, if you look at the other thread, it's English with Italian that has been cancelled which isn't on the list, so I do think the list is current.

Faz, I know the situation well, DS was in that situation himself, did put the very high grade, very high ranked Uni as firm and Swansea as insurance. As he was getting to offer day he then decided if he made his firm he would turn them down for insurance. As it happened he didn't make his firm grades anyway so got what he wanted! :)

Ah. Thought it was Spanish. As you were.

As he was getting to offer day he then decided if he made his firm he would turn them down for insurance. As it happened he didn't make his firm grades anyway so got what he wanted!

Which was indeed fortunate, because if he had made his firm offer, the insurance one would have melted away, so to speak - you don't get to choose between them on the day. He would have been dependent on his 'firm' releasing him promptly into Clearing, plus Swansea having the place available to offer through Clearing.

if someone has to choose for engineering specifically material sciences what do u suggest specifically for international students

I'm going a top up degree at NTU. I've been impressed with the quality of the teaching. I like the Clifton campus. But it's an absolute ballache to get too, unless you live in the city centre, it's two buses or a bus and a tram. It's geographically close to where I live but can't walk or cycle, and can't park on campus!