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.

Maybe it was just a shit talk 🤷‍♀️ I’ve certainly sat through enough of them at Uni open days.

We went to the Open Day -lots of things we could “criticise” tbh. Although we got the info we needed, so it wasn’t a completely wasted day.

We don’t ever bother with the accommodation talks -just ask random student ambassadors -find that gives a more balanced view, especially regarding 2nd/3rd year accommodation. Saw the leaflet handed out by the protesting students -accommodation looked bloody awful.

DC vaguely interested (prefers Warwick), but I really disliked the way they dealt with students during the pandemic, fencing them in, deploying security guards etc., so it’s not somewhere I’d like DC to go.

DH and DS went to the open day yesterday. We live in Manchester so he won't be looking for accommodation. However they did notice a demonstration by students with banners saying "Students for Better Accommodation". I did vaguely remember stories of some students having to get trains to Huddersfield last year, because of lack of Manchester accommodation. I don't remember the stories carrying on though, I presume because they managed to accommodate everyone nearby eventually.

Manchester is a great city for students. I'm sure some accommodation is pretty grotty though, as it can be anywhere. Did you ask questions about possible upcoming shortages? I thought that there were issues at quite a few popular unis owing to more people achieving high grades, particularly after some people took years out for Covid etc.

Thanks @Georgie8. That makes me feel better about yesterday.

I read about my DC's accommodation being rat infested before they started at Manchester, but no rats were seen. It was very basic but they had a whale of a time.

I'm not sure how the accommodation man could have spoken for an hour on the topic, he was probably filling time and letting you know he was also a parent and could empathise.

They didn't fence them in due to pandemic. Manchester students have always been outspoken and rightly so. It's probably not what your child is looking for culturally.

Metal barriers were placed around the Fallowfield campus. Students said they felt fenced in and pulled them down. The university apologised.

Another one who has just had a daughter in Oak House this year. Yes, it's a bit basic and dingy but is cheap, sociable and in a great location for the rest of the 1st years and the bus to the uni and town. Mine was one who was allocated to Liverpool and just escaped that Oak House so she was incredibly grateful to be anywhere in Manchester. She had friends in Unsworth which has newer, brighter rooms but is more expensive.

I'd happily send one of my younger ones to UoM too if they wanted to go and I'm sure it's not that much of an outlier in terms of what other similar universities offer.

The other thing re Manchester is that they have all students a non means tested cost of living Payne t of (I think) £150 last December. I don’t know any other Uni who did this without means testing (which is basically parental income)

They did!

Wasn't that due to an intruder in Fallowfield though?

Vice-Chancellor Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell last night apologised for the 'concern and distress' and said it was meant to protect students from non-university visitors but would be removed today.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dame Rothwell said in an email to students at around 8.30pm: 'I sincerely apologise for the concern and distress caused by the erecting of a fence around our Fallowfield Halls of Residence. This was not our intention – in fact quite the reverse.
'The fencing was intended as a response to a number of concerns received over recent weeks from staff and students on this site about safety and security; particularly about access by people who are not residents. There was never any intent to prevent students from entering or exiting the site.

Apologies, DF extract. They didn't communicate it with students well enough though.

We went to the offer holders day earlier this year. I really questioned the accommodation issues and was completely fobbed off with a selection of, it wasn't actually like that last year, it's all fine, and the one I didn't like at all was how they actually seemed quite pleased with themselves that they booked extra accommodation in Liverpool before Liverpool Uni (leaving them short) - as they'd realised earlier there'd be a problem!

Sufficed to say DS is nit going to Manchester in September.

When I think of Manchester University, I think of The Young Ones with Rik Mayall, etc. I doubt the university accommodation is as bad as the house The Young Ones lived in! 🤣More seriously, as someone who does not live in the North West, I remember being far more concerned by the complaints about Durham’s accommodation, as Manchester seems plenty big enough as a city to have the capacity to sort out most of its accommodation woes before the end of 2024, now covid and grade inflation issues are not making sensible planning impossible; and it should hopefully still be able to offer affordable options. Durham will find it far harder to expand and improve, as it’s a tiny, historic, expensive and hilly city; and Bristol is vastly expensive. York seemed to be sorting its accommodation issues out, too, but is also fairly expensive in general. So, Manchester is not top of my list of universities to worry about, accommodation-wise - not if the course is good, anyway - although obviously it was one of the places that did have issues during covid, probably to a large extent because it is a university with an excellent reputation, so more likely to attract a clientele with a low threshold for complaining if they do not think their accommodation is up to scratch and do think their courses overcrowded.

The Young Ones was actually filmed in Bristol 😊

But the people who wrote it went to Manchester. 😀

The rats thing is grim but not new. I went to Manchester uni in 2000 and saw rats. I was in Owens Park tower (great memories) and had friends in other halls. Dead rats were seen. Once there was a dead rat lying on the grass in Whitworth park for a week before it got moved 🤢

@Walkaround - I didn’t know that 😆

My DD was in Unsworth last year and a student house this year. She has had no major issues. They did have mice in Unsworth, but as others have said bins are not taken out etc.

My DS had halls on campus at Nottingham, that was far more dated and in poor condition.

Really @youhavenoidea123? which is the accommodation to avoid at Nottingham?

DF went on Saturday with her DD and said pretty much the same. I think it's completely put her off from applying, which is a shame because she's an excellent student and it wax high on her list.

it interesting to her that someone else who attended felt the same as me @SiouxsieSiouxStiletto

Which ones were poor at Nottingham? DS is due to start in September.

Yes they both found it really bizarre and off putting from what she's said.

There have been a few people who didn’t attend the open day but who were quite happy to let me know I was wrong about my thoughts about it, so thank you again @SiouxsieSiouxStiletto for making me realise I’m not actually wrong 😀