Sheffield University?

[Suffolker]

It doesn’t seem to crop up very often on here, so I thought I’d see what people’s experiences/opinions of it are.

We went to an offer holder’s day today. Dd has been offered a place for geography and seemed pretty impressed with the course/department. I’ve always thought of Sheffield as a great city, friendly and accessible. Cheap and plentiful accommodation, lively (but not too lively) and easy access to the beautiful Peak District.

Just curious as to why it doesn’t seem to get mentioned on here very often? Manchester/Leeds/Newcastle seem to be more popular. Interested to hear any views!

My DS went there - finished 2021 and is still there. He loved it for uni and work after. He did mech eng which was a fab course for him. And has a brilliant music scene

What course is this? A lot of humanities courses are similar contact hours in most unis tbh.

To the PP who mentioned strikes and another DC at Liverpool not experiencing strikes – I think the strikes or possible strikes are or are set to be an issue at a lot of unis tbh. If another DC had no issue with strikes, that may be bc they were in the future IYSWIM. DD at Leicester had no issues with strikes but they have affected courses there since she left (three years ago).

6 to 10 contact hours is standard for humanities everywhere.

@Littlefish 6-10 contact hours was the norm when I did a history degree at an RG uni in the 80s!

Hi! An alumni from Sheffield, and DH is also from there (we met there). We don't live there anymore but mostly because of jobs. Recently brought DS up to check it out and it's changed so much (city improvements!) and so many new buildings as part of the university. Met up with some ex-colleagues who are now professors in our old department - I think that speaks volumes that we all did our PhDs there and many continued there to bring up the next generation etc.

One thing I did notice as I was walking about was the cost of student rooms/flats - they seem v reasonable (we are down south)...!

Regarding the name brand thing - I think those places perhaps benefit from other world-recognisable things like football teams...and international access (airports).

To echo past posters, mine was the same on a humanities degree in Sheff back in the late 90s. It went down to 3-5 contact hours in my final year. Now that degrees are so expensive, I definitely wouldn't pay for that. To be fair, I think this is more an issue with humanities (lots of self-directed reading) than Sheffield particularly, but I think the science or professional programmes might be better value for money!

This value for money argument is so stupid. Lecturers are not school teachers... more time spent bring lectured at in the classroom does not equate to better learning. The only way to learn is by doing - reading, note taking, drafting essays, working through lecturer feedback, researching bibliographies, talking to peers...all that is the equivalent of hours in the lab.

Yes indeed. Getting vfm is surely not a great argument for doing STEM at uni. I doubt it would have held any weight with my dd (Eng lit grad). Or me tbh (Mfl grad). Not that I paid fees back in the Dark Ages.

Interesting to hear that the number of contact hours is both historic and current for humanities in other universities - I suspected this might be the case.

I still consider it to be poor value for money when compared with the contact hours offered by other subjects.

Luckily, for us, the university experience was at least as much about giving our dc the opportunity to live independently and develop fulfilling friendships (after some challenging years at school) and follow a line of interest.

They wouldn't be able to do the reading, or write essays. Workloads look different in different ways. Lecturers need time to mark essays and feedback : and that constitutes value ,too. DS says in his history degree he did as much actual work, if not more than, scientists. ( he is extremely hard working, mind).

On his masters, he now has lots more contact time and is struggling to keep on top of essays, revision and a necessary very part time job.

I'm glad she likes it, I'm originally from Sheffield.
It's not really a small city though, it has borders with Chesterfield (Derbyshire), Rotherham and Barnsley.

My dd attends Sheffield.

l wouldn’t call it a big problem over strikes. Just strikes. And all the missed lectures have been delivered again this term.

I went there, ages and ages ago. it’s a very nice city, and very good value . I’ve got fond memories of my time there. One thing I would say is that I did feel a bit of a fish out of water as someone from the South of England with broadly conservative views.

I live in Sheffield. It’s very left wing and very green. I think the council is made up of Labour and Greens. It’s also a young city.

No Reform seats.

Yet.

Go to outlying areas and it's FlagsRUs isn't it?

Well there was one reform seat that disappeared in the last election.

The outlying areas aren’t Sheffield. Places like Rotherham have Reform but they don’t come under the Sheffield boundary.

They may return one Reform seat again, but l don’t see more than one.

Will be interesting to see.

DS's journalistic patch of SE Sheffield has opened his eyes to new viewpoints. He's only been told to 'fuck off , leftist libtard scum' once!

@Suffolker “not too lively” - are you joking!! It’s always been lively. Are Momentum still a thing there? DH went there and students always did like it. Humanities courses never have much contact time but students are meant to research and write essays! Try doing MFLs with no work outside taught hours!

DD first year humanities student. Loves it. A great big little city, fantastic music scene and reasonable living costs. Contact hours are similar to mine in the 1990s.

Daughter is in her last year at Sheffield uni. She absolutely loves it there.the house she shares is on the door step of everything.she studies a lot in cafes nearby.the place has a very good nightlife and she definitely doesn’t want to come back home.

Not really, far less input from staff, so what are humanities students paying for? Maybe some courses should cost a little less?

I agree this is a uni wide issue, not picking on Sheffield which my kids will likely consider.

Does anyone know what its like for SEN students?

If Humanities costs less STEM will charge more, as it crisssubsudused. But fine, go ahead!

I think it has been pretty good, both specifically and because universities all have so many SEN students that problems would drag dien the Student Experience rankings. Sheffield is The Times RG University of the Year for 2026.

Inside knowledge is best. DC could join the online forum The Student Room and pose the question directly to relevant students.

Both my friend’s sons went to Sheffield to study Engineering. They loved the Uni, the city & the location. Both are very outdoorsy & made the most of the opportunities to run, climb & cycle in the Peak District. They also said there were far fewer ‘public school twats’ at Sheffield than at other top unis.
Both now have very good jobs in the Engineering industry, one works at Rolls-Royce.