Cornwall College

I started studying at Newquay University in 2024, and it’s going great! However, there are a few things I would change. There is no accommodation on campus, so it is shared student housing, which I enjoy as it gives you a chance to become close with the people you're living with. However, it is very expensive, and I am struggling with funds a lot. The university itself is great. It’s a small university so you have a lot of one-on-one time with lecturers, which really helps, especially when I’m struggling with the content. The social life is a bit iffy as it’s a very small university and Newquay doesn’t really have many opportunities to meet people our age, especially considering there’s only one club, so if I could, I would add more social opportunities. Living in Newquay is fantastic though, having the beach and beautiful nature on my doorstep, especially as a zoology student interested in marine life.

There wasn't an organised or advertised freshers week, there isn't a great deal of night life in this area of Cornwall. There isn't a student union bar or any areas to "hang out" in as such, to build friendships. I live locally so had no need to use student accommodation. However, there isn't any on site accommodation at the Camborne campus and none of the students on my course live in halls as we are all local, it seems alot of the those who attend Cornwall college are local residents rather than from all over the UK. No student union. There used to be many years ago but not since I've been attending college and uni there the last 5 years. The library is one room but we do have access to Plymouth library online for journals. The classrooms are basic, the bigger lecture rooms were in a seperate building that has been sold off. I enjoy my course as I've studied business at various levels throughout my years in education. The course is kept relevant and taught in an interactive way. Rather than presentation after presentation. We are a small group and therefore benefit from more time and help from out lecturer. There is no city life in Camborne/Redruth but that's to be expected with it being Cornwall. For night life you would venture further afield to Falmouth or Newquay, where there's a bigger student community.

The course has great potential how ever it is being run at an establishment that is unsuitable. The lecturer quality varies we have fantastic lectures from people high up in their field but then we also have terrible lectures with people who don't feel qualified. The organisation of cornwall college is terrible with lectures being cancelled frequently in my Year 1 and exam timetable were all over the place. In conclusion the course is clearly in its early stages and there are a lot of teething problems but I feel as it is a Plymouth university course it should be run at Plymouth university or at least to a Plymouth university standard.

The course itself is enjoyable and I learn a lot from it however, since it's at a College it is very much FE based and had limited space and sources for us. The library is very limited for books although if there is a book that you need it is very helpful.