Is Sunderland good?

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Sunderland is a wonderful place to live and study...The natives are as friendly there as anywhere you will find: far friendlier than they are in the vastly overrated nearby Newcastle...The beaches are a hidden gem, and the City and St Peter's University Campuses are lovely...The accommodation is the best value you will get anywhere and is of a suprisingly high standard..

Well Said as i have firmed Sunderland...... :smile:

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Reply 41

madimo

actually sunderland university is one of the weakest educational institutions as far as I know from their ranks in the uk, also as for the environment its located in one of the toughest and most unwelcomming areas in the whole united kingdom, as most of the racism and roughness comes from the northeast region and I personally lived there and noticed that, sunderland, newcastle, gateshead are so rough with less tolerance, so my advice is don't go there and choose other regions than the north of england in general especially if you are an international student

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 42

beansontoast93

Original post by madimo

Sorry but that is the biggest load of rubbish I think i've ever heard. Have you even ever been to Sunderland? Ever?!! I'm not white but I've never felt more welcomed ANYWHERE than I have in Sunderland and the north east. I grew up in the south, where people in general are very rude and unfriendly. The north east is KNOWN for being the most friendly region by far in the entire United Kingdom. I haven't had ANY racism whatsoever since coming here, and everyone treats me like a local, and no one is ignorant. Infact the only place I've had to deal with racism in the uk is in London. The course I'm doing is also brilliant, the teaching is great and I couldn't be happier. Get your facts straight because you couldn't be more wrong, you sound extremely ignorant and need to stop spreading rubbish lies about the north east.

Reply 43

Sanz_08

How about the London campus?

Is that just as well?

Reply 44

stevenotts

i was born in Sunderland but spent 4 years in London and have lived in the East Midlands for 30 odd years. i lived in Sunderland for 20 years so know it well. In my humble oppinion it is insular (the world ends at Ryhope) dangerous, especially at night! too obsessed with local in fighting, drinking and football. yes mysogenistic and homophobic and racist. in the old days the locals were hard working miners and shipyard workers who were earthy but had self respect and pride, now its full of drugs and the local youth , as ever, are only happy when kicking each others heads in, i dont regret leaving the place

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 45

nerobloum

This forum helped me a lot last year, and i feel i have to give my feedback in return. And have quite the experience since this is my third degree and the 3rd University i am attending.
I came to Sunderland at October 2015 to do a Masters. Technically still doing it,i am in the process of doing my final project at the moment. What i came to realize is that it really depends in which course are you. Some girl-friends i have, are doing an MSc on special needs or something (?). They regretted it. The teaching is very bad. They lecturers are very slow because they are recording everything for the students that study from afar and for the part time students. On their second semester they only had one module and only one day for 3 hours!! How is this even possible?
As for me, i do a MSc in Network systems and i couldn't be happier. At least 3 of the lecturers are the best teachers i ever had and with the best CV's iv seen and Dr Evans which is the head of the course is most likely the best engineer i ever met and his teaching methods are amazing.
Generally i learned so much during the course, with one downside. We have a module called Virtualization and cloud but we never actually accessed any cloud since the uni didnt provide accounts for any, such as azure (like Derby Uni, had for us )

Now when it comes to the city. I never felt unsafe to be honest and police is everywhere, especially in Friday and weekends. Only once, a chav asked me for a cigarette, i said sorry i don't have, and he grabbed my arm. I pushed him back, he said something that i didnt understand and i just left. Generally at night outs , if you smoke, at least 3-5 people will ask you for a cigarette :biggrin:

The nightlife is ok . The big clubs are dirty AF (illusions, independent, Arizona) After 2 months you will get bored and go to Newcastle like the rest of us :P
The prices of supermarkets, clothes and every day basics are freaking cheap, at least for me that i am from Athens-Greece. You can eat a whole week with 20p if you can cook and that i believe is the best part of Sunderland.
Moving around is easy. As a student you have the 700 and 701 bus which are free.
Sunderland isnt even close to how nice is Newcastle but Sunderland has its beauties as well.
I hope i helped

Reply 46

Donna1975

I’m from Sunderland and it is a beautiful place with a lot of wonderful people. The university of Sunderland is a fantastic experience, particularly the Psychology Dept. I loved my time studying here and I have recommended this dept to both family and friends. I find it hard to believe that people honestly feel this way about a City I was born and bred in. Yes there’s crime and yes there’s individuals that struggle at times as in all cities. Sunderland is known for it’s friendliness to everyone who comes here and it is a town I love. It is so offensive some of the comments made here and until you have taken the time to actually come here, don’t condemn the place. The lack of investment from Government whom invests billions down South and forget about everyone up North is the reason the town is not at its best. Don’t condemn Sunderland’s people or its university for the failures of an elitist government who only sees fit to invest in London and its surrounding areas. Appearances can be deceptive, most of the corrupt people in this country live down South, not up North and particularly not Sunderland.

Reply 47

UniversityOfSunderland

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Reply 48

HicTV

Are there any up to date opinions on Sunderland as a city? I know the people are very friendly my concern is that it's quite a small city and so not sure how the student social life works...

I know the student union does not have a bar so I am wondering if there is much students bar social life organised or not?

I am also concerned that the halls of residence are very dated and not en-suite. The halls don't have any communal social spaces like they do in other big city halls.

I really like the course at Sunderland but am worried the uni accommodation and the city are not as appealing to me as my other choices.

Can anyone convince me that the social life at Sunderland will be ok?

h

Reply 49

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by HicTV

Hey,

Current student here! :hello:

In terms of social life, there is a bar on both campuses that serves alcohol and soft drinks. Sunderland also has a great mix of bars and restaurants- many offer student discounts and there's student nights on during the week too. If you join a club or society they tend to organise a lot of nights out, obviously, you're not pressured to have to go but it's good to have the option. We're also really close to Newcastle which you can get a metro too, takes about 40'ish minutes.

I lived in halls during my first year, some are better than others so it depends what you're looking for and how close you want to be to campus. For example, I stayed at Panns Bank which worked well for me as I was based at St.Peter's but even if you weren't there's a free campus bus that runs between them both. The SU puts on a load of events all the time and it's really easy to make friends so I really wouldn't worry about the social aspect.
What course are you interested in out of curiosity?

Let me know if you have any other questions :smile: