London Metropolitan University

London

Honest and genuine opinions of this uni?

benj1999

Hey! I'm currently in year 12 and looking at aviation related courses at uni, and i've come across uni's such as New Bucks, Hertfordshire, Loughborough, Coventry, and London met. I know Coventry/Loughborough is meant to be quite a good uni, i'm not sure about Bucks&Herts, but i've been hearing quite a lot of bad stuff about London met...

I was planning on viewing the uni during its upcoming open day, but after what i've heard I am slightly put off..

What us everyones HONEST opinion about this uni? Has anyone had any past experiences, or done any courses at this uni? And is it worth viewing and potentially applying to, or would I be better off sticking to Coventry/Herts/Loughborough/Bucks?

Thank you! :smile:

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Reply 1

Daniel9998

Honestly london met isnt great at all. None of those universities on your list is worth the money and time, apart from Loughborough imo

London Metropolitan University

London

Reply 2

benj1999

Original post by Daniel9998

Honestly london met isnt great at all. None of those universities on your list is worth the money and time, apart from Loughborough imo

Oh really? Whats not great about London Met? And Bucks/herts? I have heard that Loughborough is quite a good uni!

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Reply 3

GUMI

Original post by benj1999

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Personally I wouldn't apply to any of those, but I from what I hear Loughborough and Hertfordshire are decent places. Though of course it differs from course to course so take what I say with a pinch of salt :smile:

Reply 4

Lawbringer

Loughborough is alright the rest meh.
London met really isnt that good. At all.

Reply 5

benj1999

Original post by GUMI

Oh how come you wouldn't apply to any of these? :smile:

but yeah true! I guess it differs. I'm quite limited, as i want to do an aviation degree but didn't choose Maths&Physics for a level :frown:

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Reply 6

benj1999

Original post by Lawbringer

Loughborough is alright the rest meh.
London met really isnt that good. At all.

Oh how come you wouldn't recommend the rest? Whats so bad about London Met? It seems to be quite bad, i'm just not entirely sure why

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Reply 7

Cherry82

League tables seem to suggest London Met is not a 'good' university. Apart from that, that's all I can think of. I'm not sure if this would apply to your course but for mine- Business management Loughborough is in the top 5. This year it was even rated higher than Durham, UCL and King's College which are all Russell group universities. I would have apply to Loughborough but would like a uni close to home. If it was close, I would love to study there.

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Business%20%26%20Management%20Studies
My thoughts though, it's about if you will do well in your course and you enjoying it. I suggest you look at the modules and see which you prefer best. If it's London Met, that's fine too. Just go with a focused mindset and get your first class. At the end of the day, it's about what you take out of your degree. Someone could go to the best university in the world however if they pass, employers would rather consider those with 1st class or 2:1 in the same degree though they may have gone to a 'lower' in ranking uni.

Reply 8

Origami Bullets

London Met is consistently at or very near to the bottom of the league tables (league tables have their limitations, but coming bottom is hardly a good sign)

It has a long history of financial problems e.g.
2009 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/feb/03/brian-roper - as part of the same incident, the government actually threatened to close the whole university permanently http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/london-met-warned-that-it-could-be-closed-1835511.html
2012 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/aug/30/london-metropolitan-university-visa-revoked
2015 & ongoing http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/fury_as_london_metropolitan_uni_plans_to_close_its_city_fringe_campuses_1_4277314 (the campus closure is, realistically for financial reasons)

It has a long history of staff striking over various management decisions e.g.
2013 http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2013/12/universities-close-again-as-staff-across-ell-boroughs-strike-against-pay-inequality/
2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33007939
which inevitably means that students lose teaching time (there are more, but CBA to go back any further)

It cut two thirds of its courses in one fell swoop in 2011 (and other courses have gone since) which is frankly unheard of http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13098705

I'll let you judge for yourself...

Reply 9

username402722

Honest opinion- avoid London met. Not a particularly nice building, expensive area to live in, and the admin is poor if the scandal of illegal students of a few years ago is anything to go by.

Reply 10

swanseajack1

Loughborough is a very good university which regularly ranks in the top 20 so it must be doing something right. It used to be part of the 1994 group along with Durham, Exeter, Bath, Lancaster, St Andrews, Lancaster, York and others so that should speak volumes. Coventry also ha a fairly decent reputation. I don't know if it is of help Swansea has an engineering course involving aerospace which might be worth you looking into also

Reply 11

London Metropolitan University

Original post by benj1999

Oh how come you wouldn't recommend the rest? Whats so bad about London Met? It seems to be quite bad, i'm just not entirely sure why

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Hi there, thanks for posting a question about London Met. I can see you've received a few replies from other TSR users but it's hard to tell if any of these people have an authentic experience of London Met, so here is my opinion. I was a student here myself up until last year, studying in the Guildhall Faculty of Business and Law, which is the same faculty that teaches the course you seem to be interested in (Airport and Aviation Management). I've really benefitted from studying at London Met, and have now taken up an opportunity here as part of the paid internship scheme, in a field related to my course (marketing). My experience studying here was just life changing. The community within the University is like no other. I've managed to create such a good relationship with my peers.

It all comes down to the course and whether it's right for you. The Airport and Aviation Management course here has some great features you won't necessarily find at other universities (it's a pretty niche course in the first place!). On the course page you'll also find comments from a few past students who are now working in the aviation industry - for example, one says: “The course has helped me develop an understanding of the complexity of the aviation sector and allowed me to start work as a consultant for airport development internationally.”

You'll get a better feel for London Met if you come along to an open day, which it sounds like you are planning to. We have loads of dates coming up and you can book on our website. I really hope you'll give it go - it's the only way of meeting current students and staff face to face. You'll also get a good feel of what living in London is really like, we can talk you through options for accommodation.

In the meantime, here's a video about how London Met helps graduates develop key employability skills that you might find interesting...

Just let me if you have any further questions, I am more than happy to help.

Natalie :u:

Reply 12

London Metropolitan University

Original post by Origami Bullets

league tables have their limitations

Hello, as you say yourself - league tables have their limitations.

I'm a past student of London Met and now work here as a paid intern in the marketing department. I've had an amazing experience here, enough to make me want to build a career here. The culture, community and experience at London Met has just been life changing for me and goes to show the league tables aren't everything.

You've picked up on a lot of historical bad news about the university, but you've left out some of the more recent good news. London Met recently announced a £125m investment in its campus, which will create an exciting single campus in Islington - this is a huge amount of money for a university to be investing, and it's all for the benefit of students. There are loads of things about London Met that league tables don't reflect - like the fact that it's a uni with real soul. The university has strong links with the local community, and it's got a socially and environmentally responsible mission. We do things like celebrate Green Week, and we've been commended for our commitment to carbon reduction. There's also a real, growing sense of community - for example, a recent initiative saw students' sculptures on display around the university.

The university has also recently unveiled a series of five promises to students, which, considered together, are very generous. There's also a really great bursary scheme for undergraduate students (worth much more than the free iPad or gifts offered by other universities).

Obviously we can't pretend that those negative press stories of the past don't exist, but if you Google around about any university you'll find bad news stories about it. I just wanted to balance out your post with some thoughts of my own.

Natalie :bigsmile:

Reply 13

BaronK

Original post by benj1999

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I think this post is offensive to Loughborough, clearly head and shoulders above the rest. You wouldn't go ranking Solent and Kingston with Southampton or Surrey.

Original post by Lawbringer

Loughborough is excellent, the rest meh.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 14

benj1999

Original post by BaronK

I think this post is offensive to Loughborough, clearly head and shoulders above the rest. You wouldn't go ranking Solent and Kingston with Southampton or Surrey.

My post is offensive, or the replies? These are the only uni's i can actually go to, it just happens that my choices are limited to Loughborough, New Bucks, Hertfordshire, Coventry and London Met, as i have not taken maths&physics.

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Reply 15

benj1999

Wait everyone says its a really bad university, but why does everyone have this opinion? What makes it so bad that it needs to be avoided? Not in a rude way! I'm just unsure as to why everyone has this opinion of the uni, and why there are so many better uni's compared to london met :smile:

have you been to london met before?

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(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 16

benj1999

Original post by barnetlad

Honest opinion- avoid London met. Not a particularly nice building, expensive area to live in, and the admin is poor if the scandal of illegal students of a few years ago is anything to go by.

Yeah ive heard its expensive and everything actually.. And the building doesn't seem very pleasant. Do you know if the quality of teaching is good though?

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Reply 17

M14B

I am going to Nottingham.
I do not personally rate London Met

Reply 18

Origami Bullets

Original post by London Metropolitan University

Hello, as you say yourself - league tables have their limitations.

Indeed - I frequently tell people this, and I invariably refer people to this post http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1096372 However, you can't seriously think that languishing at the bottom of the league tables is a positive sign.

You've picked up on a lot of historical bad news about the university, but you've left out some of the more recent good news. London Met recently announced a £125m investment in its campus, which will create an exciting single campus in Islington - this is a huge amount of money for a university to be investing, and it's all for the benefit of students.

Ah, you mean the investment that's being funded by campus closure at Aldgate? The one that has been strongly contested by both staff and students?

I've just found this on your website - I didn't realise the sheer extent of LMU's student recruitment problems. A drop from 25,000 to 10,000 students is, quite frankly, spectacular http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/our-university/one-campus-one-community-/faqs/

There are loads of things about London Met that league tables don't reflect - like the fact that it's a uni with real soul.

And how would you define 'real soul'? Can you identify any universities that don't have 'real soul'?

The university has strong links with the local community,

Volunteering, food bank drives and so on are the norm at every university I have come across. Just one example - http://www.lsu.co.uk/action/

and it's got a socially and environmentally responsible mission. We do things like celebrate Green Week, and we've been commended for our commitment to carbon reduction.

Doesn't every university have a social responsibility and a carbon reduction policy? For example, http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/sustainability/

There's also a real, growing sense of community - for example, a recent initiative saw students' sculptures on display around the university.

At universities with art schools, isn't having student artwork on display the norm? Not, of course, that having some wobbly clay on display in the corner of the lounge, which will be removed long before the OP gets there, is going to have any impact on the OP.

The university has also recently unveiled a series of five promises to students, which, considered together, are very generous.

Those promises aren't generous - they're the norm at other universities, with a bit of clever marketing.

Let's look at each of the promises in turn
1. Work based learning opportunities - it only states that you will "have access to", rather than those opportunities being guaranteed, or integrated into the course. Could you give some specific examples of work based learning opportunities, and say how many are available each year, and what % of students do a work placement?
2. First dibs on on-campus work opportunities - entirely standard - most universities do this because students are a ready source of cheap and flexible labour.
3. Asking for student feedback - an attempt to address LMU's dismal student satisfaction scores. Most universities frequently ask for feedback anyway, for the same reasons.
4. Bursaries - £1000pa is not particularly generous. Many universities offer more (e.g. Loughborough offers up to £2000pa) and it has to be seen in the context of the high living costs that students endure in London.
5. PASS scheme - far from unique - we had it when I was at uni too.

I've really benefitted from studying at London Met, and have now taken up an opportunity here as part of the paid internship scheme, in a field related to my course (marketing). My experience studying here was just life changing. The community within the University is like no other. I've managed to create such a good relationship with my peers.

Congratulations on getting your job - however, given that we're talking about a job that (a) was only open to to London Met graduates, and (b) pays less than the London Living Wage, I'm not sure that this says much about the graduate prospects at LMU. Indeed, the employment stats for the OP's course aren't top notch http://unistats.ac.uk/subjects/employment/10004048FT-UDAAAMAN/ReturnTo/Search

I really hope you'll give it go - it's the only way of meeting current students and staff face to face.

The only way to meet current students and staff face to face? Goodness, who exactly are you sending to UCAS fairs?

Original post by benj1999

Yeah ive heard its expensive and everything actually.. And the building doesn't seem very pleasant. Do you know if the quality of teaching is good though?Posted from TSR Mobile

Quality of teaching is very hard to measure, though the government is about to start trying with the new TEF framework. In the meantime, about the best we have is the student satisfaction ratings http://unistats.ac.uk/subjects/satisfaction/10004048FT-UDAAAMAN/ReturnTo/Search

Reply 19

London Metropolitan University

Original post by Origami Bullets

Hi there. Thanks again for your reply. I don't want to get into a debate over this - we could end up going back and forth for a long time! The OP was looking for comments from people with an experience of London Met, and I fall into that category. It doesn't sound like you've visited the uni or ever been a student here.

There are some slightly misleading statements in your latest post. Regarding your comment about the rate of pay for London Met staff - the University does pay the London living wage. You've linked to a page from the time the graduate internships were advertised, when the London living wage was slightly lower than it is now. Related to this, our graduate employment rate is on the increase: we jumped so many places in the Destination of Leavers of Higher education survey it was the biggest rise of all universities in the country.

You also talked about out student numbers in relation to our One Campus project. Our current student numbers are just over 13,000. We're planning towards servicing a smaller number of students than this with a modern new campus. This is a long-term project aimed at securing our future sustainability and improving the student experience at London Met. There are also strong indicators that show single campus universities do better in the NSS.

I have had a real experience at London Met and I only want to share that, with hope future applicants will consider it among their options and, if it's right for them, gain the knowledge, life skills, experience and education I have.

Natalie