Manchester University Open Day. Did anyone on here go?

[LaDeeDa123]

How did you find it. Specifically did you go to the accommodation talk and how did you find that?
I live quite locally to the university and have seen lots of news reports about problems with accommodation. Dc1 has friends there and has advised dc2 not to go because of what they’ve said about the university accommodation. I was expected some quite serious issues to be addressed and what we got was what felt like an hour long stand up set from the head of accommodation with about five minutes of actual information. Boiling hot day, massive lecture theatre packed with people and this man is telling us about his wife, where she’s from, what her job is, how badly she’s paid, what their house is like, what their kids are called. It was absolutely bizarre at best and at worst a cynical ploy by the university to divert attention from the issues they’ve had. It’s seriously put dc2 off applying.

Nobody? I thought it would be swarming with mumsnetters.

I have a child at Manchester. There were problems last year but everyone who wanted accommodation was allocated it in the end but yes the situation wasn’t ideal tbf increased numbers of people meeting grades was the root of the problem and many universities experienced similar. I imagine this year and the return to 2019 levels should ease the problem. Overall Manchester halls are cheaper I would say then many places. York / Bristol and others have shipped students out to neighbouring towns in recent years due to over capacity so it’s not something specific to Manchester they just attracted more press coverage.

The other problem was that Owens Park / Tower was no longer in use. They are starting demolition / redevelopment of it this autumn / winter.

Manchester halls aren’t as glitzy as other unis - Oak House! But it is v social. Obv Unsworth is all singing all dancing and that is the sort of thing they are building going forward.

Rental accommodation is plentiful and there aren’t the issues with availability you get in some places (Durham for eg).

When you say you wanted serious issues addressed what specifically do you mean?

Sorry I’m answer to your question no I didn’t go to the Manchester open day yesterday. I will say that in all the open days I’ve been to the accommodation talks have been dire though!

Hi @KittyMcKitty Thanks for your reply. The serious issues I’m thinking about are things like rodent infestations and water leaks. We weren’t allowed to look at any accommodation which I thought is odd. I know they are improving some halls but. It all of them?

My daughter has just finished her first year at Manchester and was in Oak House. She has had a whale of a time. Yes the Accomodation is dingy but very sociable. I saw a dead rat 🐀 on the ground when we went to collect her last week.

They are demolishing Owens Park / The Tower this year and building new.

Tbh it’s only really Oak House which is the issue. My dc was there - it’s not fab and does have prison vibes but it is v cheap and social. There were some nice but I wouldn’t go as far as rodent infestation- I think Oak House folklore exaggerates it. Tbh if students possibly washed up / took their rubbish out it would deter mice? Maintenance issues were all resolved fairly swiftly.

As I understand it Oak House is scheduled for redevelopment after they’ve done the tower.

The Victoria Park / City accommodation is glitzier but of course all students want Fallowfield. Unsworth is as good as any Uni has to offer - 2 years old big rooms etc etc. It’s really just Oak BUT the students do all enjoy their time there.

Manchester allows you to chose I think 5 accommodation preferences and then allocates - you will prob get one of your 5. So if you really don’t want Oak don’t put it on yr list.

Thanks for this. I don’t think the talk included any student who was currently living in Oak House. Possibly deliberate. They showed photos of one hall which had been set out for a wedding. I felt we were being a bit tricked in all honesty.

Tbh I think you’re over thinking. It’s a great university but if your dc doesn’t like it there are other great universities. I honestly don’t think anyone’s trying to trick you 😊

I am quite experienced with unis having older dc. I know there are other universities. It just felt a bit dishonest given there was a time when the state of university halls was never off our local news. Oh and we came out of the talk and students had put up signs saying ‘Don’t pay your rent.’ I know anecdotally from students there the accommodation is not great. Not sure I’m overthinking it but thanks anyway.

I didn’t say you weren’t experienced. You asked for opinions and were given them from parents who have children there.

Yes there is a rent strike - Manchester has a highly politicised motivated student population (it’s a shame this isn’t the case in all unis) - it is fantastic that young people are voicing their opinions.

All I am saying is you don’t like the Uni - and that’s fine 😊 I don’t know what else you want from the post?

Also you are local to Manchester so here about issues there - if you were in another part of the country you’d hear about other issues elsewhere.

If you want to see pics of the Uni rooms there are many many of them on TikTok.

I really don’t think not having Oak house was deliberate. My DD put it on her list twice to ensure she got it and as I said has had a great year.

I’m not looking for anything from your post. The thread is about yesterday’s talk. It seemed weird with all the issues they showed photos of rooms set up as wedding venues. We know students at unis all over the place and we heard a lot about Manchester. It was dc1ms insurance and I was relieved he got into his firm. I really don’t see what I’m doing wrong asking about yesterday’s talk?

Many unis have issues with accommodation but would not mention this at Open Day.
My dd (19) is at Bristol and struggled to get a place in halls. It got to the point that we started to look for accommodation in Bath.
Fortunately she got a place because a student dropped out

I didn’t say you were doing anything wrong OP - you say you were relieved your ds didn’t get into Manchester so all I’m saying is it’s obviously not the Uni for your dc that’s all.

@Lampzade i hear what you are saying but equally I was expecting some reference to them sorting out past issues. I know UoM students were asked to live in Liverpool and Huddersfield last September. I thought there may be some reassurance this wouldn’t happen again. Perhaps I’m expecting too much?

@KittyMcKitty i don’t know how you can say it isn’t for dc2? It ticks a lot of boxes for them.

@LaDeeDa123 haha I give up! I said it wasn’t for you because you seem very angsty about the accommodation. Current parents with children in oak house have told you honestly about the accommodation. You basically discounted this and have said you felt you were being deceived at the open day. If I felt a university was deceiving me it wouldn’t be on my list hence I extrapolated that it wasn’t the Uni for you. I am sure you dc will chose the Uni which they want to go to - which at the end of the day is what it’s all about not what parents think.

As I said earlier I genuinely don’t know what you wanted from this thread - people answered your questions and you basically disregarded them.

As others have said many many unis have problems with accommodation - York spent a couple of years bussing students to Hull before they opened the two new hall. Some of the Manchester accommodation is grotty but tbh I was worse at Hatfield College in Durham and that was considerably more ££££.

As I said earlier you are over thinking. let you dc choose the one they like most.

I'd suggest your DC signs up to the halls Facebook groups? They might give some insight

All UofM students were eventually offered halls in Manchester last year.

I haven’t disregarded anyone’s advice! I don’t know why you would think that. I know to avoid Oak House now which is really helpful.
we live in the north west and there must be about 15 universities here and I genuinely never heard of any problems to the extent of UoM.
We’re not on Facebook sadly but thanks for the suggestion.
There’s no suggestion it isn’t anyone but my DC’s choice here. I am merely getting some information about halls which we didn’t receive yesterday. My dc are not the type to let their parents decide anything like this and I wouldn’t want to do that anyway.
I remember why I flit on and off this site now 😂

Living in slightly grotty accommodation is all part of the Uni experience. Your DC will have a blast in Manchester

Yes @GodessOfThunder I am university educated myself (degree plus 2 MAs). I’ve lived in my fair share of grotty accommodation. I think for the amount of money UoM want it’s fair to expect it to be half decent and in Manchester.

Tbf with Manchester you get what you pay for - Oak House is £4600 and Unsworth £7800. Compared to many unis (York and Bristol to name two) they at least offer more affordable options. York is £7700 for a shared bathroom for instance with much at Bristol in the 7k - 8k bracket for a shared bathroom. Durham is £8k for a shared room (although it is catered).

So I would say that Manchesters accommodation is fairly priced for what it is. As stated previously all students did get accommodation in Manchester and this isn’t a problem specific to Manchester. Also worth noting that in general students only live in hall for 1 year and many towns have huge problems with regards the availability of rental accommodation- Durham made the national news this year. Manchester does not have this problem.

As I have said previously I genuinely think you are making this into something it isn’t - no one is doubting your experience either as a student or as the parent of students. But I really think you are massively over reacting with, to use your words a “cynical ploy” to “trick” you. Very honest photos of the accommodation are on the Uni web site and there are no shortage of TikToks of accommodation. As I said right at the beginning Oak House has a certain amount of folklore surrounding it and I genuinely feel people like to exaggerate it’s awfulness.

Ok thanks. I just thought the photos they showed were odd and it seemed like a distraction tactic. I’ve been to a few open days over the years and it was quite peculiar.