• Tweet

• Coventry University

TSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > Coventry University

Coventry University is situated in the city centre of Coventry in the West Midlands. It's quite a new uni, having been created in 1992 from the old Lanchester Polytechnic, though it evolved from the Coventry College of Design which started all the way back in 1843. The uni sits on it's own campus, right on the doorstep of the city centre. There is also a London Campus, situated in the middle of the City of London (the financial district) that opened in 2010 and a number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, mainly in Business subjects, are run there.

Facilities

Libraries

Our library is huge and has won many design awards. It's very modern and also environmentally friendly. Its open until midnight (currently trialling 24 hour opening) and the basement is open all night long. It has thousands of books, magazines, journals and films - anything you need plus hundreds of computers for you to use. It has its own book shop and a cafe. If they don't have the book you want they can order it in for you. I've used the library a lot as it pretty much has every type of fashion magazine ever published and it's great for research. I have also watched films and documentaries for inspiration. It has a resource shop for all your stationery needs and does large scale printing and photocopying - this is very cheap so great for art students who print a lot of colour!

Description from the Coventry University website:

Costing £20 million the library houses nearly 350,000 books and 2,000 current periodicals. There are over 1,200 study spaces including 450 workstations connected to the University's computer network.

IT and Computing

Coventry University has a 'smart campus' with over 3,000 PCs on site - one of the best student:PC ratios anywhere. The university has a number of WiFi zones on campus and is a pioneer in online learning. Every building has a large number of computers, the university offers free classes in Photoshop and Illustrator weekly if you're on an Art or Design course. The Centre of Academic Writing (CAW) can also proof read your essays and dissertations for you and guide you if you feel you need assistance for that kind of work. The School of Art and Design has apple macs and PCs if you're like me and can't understand macs :) There are also colour printers for A3 and a print shop in the School of Art and Design, which can print up to the size of a billboard for any special work you may have. The Ellen Terry building, which covers Media, Theatre, Music and Dance has a media loan shop which gives you the chance to hire equipment for free with your student card such as cameras, microphones and other filming equipment. I've borrowed photography equipment for a photo shoot in the past and they are all really good condition. I would never be able to afford it so really useful shop!

New Student Building - TheHub

Coventry has a brilliant new building called TheHub, which opened it's doors for the first time in summer 2011 just in time for the 2011 intake of new students. TheHub is home to a number of food outlets and coffee shops including Costa Coffee, World Marche, Trattoria (a brilliant place to grab a pizza) Grab 'n' Go and Deli Marche. It's also the home of the SU and houses all their offices including events, welfare, sports and societies, etc. Towards the back of the building is the swanky new bar and venue, which is open to students all year round although the main club nights are Wednesdays and Fridays. The venue also turns into a sort of theatre when it needs to as it has a stage, a lighting booth and bleachers that can seat around 500 people. There are also a whole load of student PCs so you can check emails or do some work in a different environment to the Library (where you have to be quiet all the time) and there is wireless access across the whole building. So if you want to take your laptop or Ipad with you, you can chill out on one of the desk pods or bean bags (yes - bean bags!) and log on in real comfort! There's loads more stuff in TheHub too - find out more by going to http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/thehub/Pages/TheHuboverview.aspx

Sports

Being very lazy I'm hardly at the sports centre. However membership is free for a whole year if you live in student halls. If you don't live in halls the price is £99 a year and gives you the opportunity to attend aerobics classes yoga, keep fit and dance classes in a sprung floor studio! It's all really modern and nice! Kick boxing karate and tae kwon do is also available. The sports centre has a great modern gym with good music and good clean facilities and showers. The sports centre offers physio sessions if and you can use the badminton courts and basketball and the hockey/football pitches when ever you want with your mates to have a practice. There is a varied recreation programme, several intramural leagues and tournaments in which to participate. Nearby, there is an Olympic sized swimming pool (although this is not owned by the University).

So let's see a summary of the facilities:

Indoor Facilities

Outdoor facilities

Welfare

The university offers provision for practical assistance for students with physical and sensory disabilities, mental health problems and specific learning difficulties as well as some medical problems. There is a counselling service with a team of experienced male and female counsellors. The Spirituality and Faith Centre offers guidance to students.

Healthcare

You can register at the health centre (located centrally on campus in the new student building - TheHub) which means you have a doctor at the university surgery if you ever fall ill with anything. There are also 4 nurses available every day to talk to you about any problems. There are 3 female doctors there. I have registered here and it's useful if you need a doctors note when you're ill or if you really come down with flu for example. If you register here don't worry you can still go to your doctors back home. When you go home for the summer you can fill out a visitors form and say that you'll be there for 6 weeks or so. Then you are registered there temporarily during that time. Its only a small form too so its pretty easy.

Shops

Shops: Coventry is a safe city, the 4th safest in the UK according to recent research, and you can wander about any time fine as long as you have got common sense. Coventry city centre is small and compact which means you don't have to worry about going too far and getting lost. The shops here are good; lots of shopping centres and a great indoor market! Good for me as there are good fabric stalls and cheap fruit and veg! For fashion we have all of the big high street stores such as Monsoon, Lush, Bank, Topshop, H&M, Peacocks, a huge Primark, Dorothy Perkins, M&S, New Look, Republic, Next and loads more!

Birmingham, which is 20 mins away by train and costs about £2.50 with a rail card for the day, has a much bigger shopping centre called the BullRing. Also London is only an hour away on the train. My fave shop in Cov is Republic and there are so many more including Ikea which has just been built in the city centre. Its the first in the world to be built in a city centre and is great for cheap things for your flat! When you come to visit Coventry you will see how close the uni is to the shops: it's about 100m and so there are students everywhere! its very much a student city there are also lots of student jobs in the shops and bars. You can also grab a coffee at Starbucks or Costa Coffee – your Students’ Union Card provides discounts for many shops and cafés in the City.

Restaurants

Priory Place is Coventry’s cosmopolitan district with a stylish selection of bars and restaurants only two minutes away from the University’s central campus; while Browns bar/café, serving hot veggie food, continues to be a favourite for coffee, drinks and meals. It has good food that fills you up.

The Phoenix pub opposite the school of art and design is great for a beer and burger for just £3 and Lloyds, which is a weatherspoons pub, has great food and very cheap. If you want somewhere nice in the evening Old Orleans is good at the Skydome - really modern and vibrant but cosy and a bit romantic. They do great steaks mm! Also the cobbled street by the Skydome (Medieval Spon Street) has plenty of little romantic restaurants and little shops.

Banks

You will never be short of banks in Coventry... there is a whole street of them, just up the road from the University. Some of them are the posh, older style banks, but some are new. There are also cash points all over the place, which means you won't ever have a problem getting out money.

Transport

The University is in the centre of Coventry, so you won't have too much travelling to do whilst at uni. Some of the halls are on campus and most, if not all are within walking distance. If you live out in private accommodation you could end up further away though, so may need to use a car/bike/bus to get to uni, though that probably won't be necessary.

The train station is a 5 min walk from town and takes you to London in an hour and to Birmingham where a lot of mainlines run from. Its about 15 mins to Birmingham if you go on virgin and costs less than £3 for a Day Return with a student travel card.

There are plenty of taxis in Coventry they are literally everywhere and what I love is that you can flag them down easily by just putting your hand out. The taxis are cheap and start at about £2.60 because the city centre is compact it doesn't cost a lot to get anywhere!

The buses here are very reliable I get one every day to uni and comes every 10 mins and are usually early! The bus costs £1.50 a journey right across the city and £3.20 for a day saver which means you can use it all day. Or a 3 term bus pass is £190 There are also buses running to Birmingham Warwick Kenilworth and the Ricoh Arena where the big Tesco is and Where Coventry city play. So there are no problems getting anywhere.

Careers service

There is a lot of support at the uni to help you with which direction you want to go in. We now have a new module which started last year called add vantage where you can choose a module to study alongside your degree so it doesn't have to be to do with the subject you are doing. For example you may be doing history for your degree and you want to do teaching but you need to do voluntary work experience before you can do your teaching course after uni. Well the add vantage module offers you the chance to do this and get the opportunity to work in a school a few hours a week. This will save you from having to take a whole year out to do this. You can go straight on to your teaching course post uni because you have already done the hours. Hope that makes sense. There are more you can do - there's hundreds to choose from such as presentation techniques, languages or become a student ambassador and work on open days and get paid. There are also lots of events and presentations organised in liaison with employers.

Part-time jobs

There are loads of opportunities for part-time jobs in Coventry and the University even has its own recruitment agency to help find you work! You can work part-time for local companies as well as for the University. If you want to tell everyone about the great time you've had here, you can become a student ambassador and you'll be paid to help out at open days, in different departments and generally promote the University.

Religious facilities

Coventry Uni has a dedicated Chaplaincy, which gives help and guidance to those that require it, with both staff and student prayer meetings and discussion groups throughout the week.

The chaplaincy is also less than a minute's walk from Coventry cathedral, and a number of churches in the area.

Coventry Discussions

Latest relevant discussions	Last post/replies
Study Inn? by Thable	rockielayta 3 Hours Ago Replies: 11
Accommodation at Coventry Uni by labd	alicewilson 3 Hours Ago Replies: 36
Is Coventry a good uni? by bronemillie	Carly1993 21 Hours Ago Replies: 40
Priory hall VS Singer hall by Binggybiw	Binggybiw 1 Day Ago Replies: 0
2013 coventry firmers by Charlie.b	RayRay1992 2 Days Ago Replies: 93
Callice Court or Liberty Point? by andrea_g	andrea_g 3 Days Ago Replies: 8
Go to Coventry University forum Post new thread

Social

Bars, Pubs and clubs

The biggest nightclubs in Coventry are the kasbah (Mondays nights are amazing, really busy!), Jumpin Jaks at the Skydome, and Careys just opposite. These all have amazing student nights during the week and drinks are as cheap as 50p! and like £1.10 for a Smirnoff vodka and redbull. Entry is usually around £2 and you can easily put yourself on the guest list by calling up or on the website so you can get in for free. Careys nightclub is great for a real atmosphere and great music but smaller than most of the other clubs the main student night is on a Tuesday. They also do a comedy night!

The best pubs I have found are the Phoenix which is an indie place to go and if you love indie music you will love the Golden Cross - cocktails are very strong and only £2. Live bands play at both of these. The Kasbah used to be called the Colosseum and is where the enemy were discovered! Kasabian, boy kill boy and new found glory also play there. Lava and jaks are the clubs to go for cheese dance and RNB! There are soo many more I'd be here forever if I told you about each place you'll have to come here for a night out to see. I still haven't been to every club because there are a lot.

Priory Place is Coventry’s cosmopolitan district with a stylish selection of bars and restaurants only two minutes away from the University’s central campus; while Browns bar/café, serving hot veggie food, continues to be a favourite for coffee, drinks and meals.

Quids inn - cheap drinks and free popcorn!

Events

Clubs and societies

Coventry’s certainly a place for sport, the £113 million Ricoh Arena is home to Coventry City FC and hosts events and concerts. The City’s Olympic-sized swimming pool is five minutes walk from our central campus. Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team, who are sponsored by the University, and the City’s speedway champions the Coventry Bees are both big players in their respective leagues.

Accommodation

Accommodation at Coventry University is safe, centrally located and maintained to a high standard. They have set up a new online application system for 2008 and beyond - probably something other unis with develop as time goes on.

Accommodation policy

The University guarantee all first year undergrads and all first year postgrads uni accommodation provided you apply by the given deadline. They also give accommodation out on a first come first served basis. They ask you to pick 5 choices of accommodation and will try to give you one of your choices. However should they all be full when they received your application they will contact you to offer you a choice of what is still available. So be more sure of getting what you want, don't delay in applying for accommodation.

Facilities

Residences

There are a mix of residences - some en-suite some with shared bathroom facilities, some catered and some self-catered, some for undergraduates and some for postgraduates.

I lived in halls last year in trinity point - it has ensuite single rooms in flats of 6. All 6 of you would share a living room and a kitchen and it has a TV with E4 and a few other sky channels like MTV. It is so close to the uni I can see my room from the uni! its pretty much down the street. However one thing I would warn you is the security is high and if your some one like me who has parents who let me have friends over when ever I like the security may be annoying. You must sign friends in and out and they must leave by 1am or they have to be signed over night. You can only have people to stay over night 2 nights a week so not very good if you have a boyfriend. If I'm honest the security drove me mad last year however its good to have them there for protection and security. I had more freedom at home so I would suggest to anyone that maybe if you think that would annoy you try somewhere with a bit less restriction. Liberty park is also the same with their security.

If you wanna party and meet people Singer hall is the place for you! Its a student village a 5 min walk from uni in the centre of Cov. Each flat has 6 people and you do share bathroom and kitchen. However there is 2 bathrooms one with a shower and another with toilet and bath. You also do have a sink in your room which is useful! You can have friends over whenever you like and security are on site in case you have a problem. You gain access to your block with your card so not everyone can just stroll in only your flatmates.

Priory Hall is one of two catered accommodation blocks. The food there is good (Although don't expect gourmet cuisine, they are cooking for hundreds of people every day!) You can have a cooked breakfast every day before uni, as well as toast, cereal, yoghurt, etc.! You get 2 meals for 5 days of the week then on weekends you must do your own food. You are provided a kitchen with microwave and fridge and a utility room. Priory is right on campus and not the nicest but if you want to meet lots of people its good very open and very close to uni.

Quadrant Hall is the second catered accommodation block. It has the same amount of meals as Priory, and breakfast is the same, although there is less choice for evening meal. It's a longer walk from campus, but smaller and quieter. It's much nearer the rail station than any other residence.

Raglan House and Calice Court are also new halls of residences - I would recommend them a lot! Very nice and posh with queen size beds. The price is £94 a week so very expensive however it includes all your bills and internet which none of the others do, so its worth it. Plus en suite rooms! If you wanna check these out they are owned by unite. Look unite up on Google and have a look I am living in Callice Court in my 3rd year and it's pretty much over the road from the uni. Raglan is next to Singer so you will meet plenty of people from there. These 2 i do recommend a lot as the security is good and you don't have to sign people in but security are available 24/7. I do recommend you live in halls it makes your uni experience, especially in your 1st year and I am now friends with the people I lived with in halls - you need to meet people in your first year its very important.

There are many student houses which many of the international students live in and 3rd year students but they are around £55 a week without bills.

Lynden House and The Pillar Box are for post grads which you can check out on the Coventry University website i think.

Catered

Priory Hall

• 40 and 50 week contracts
• £110 a week (for 2011/12 Year)
• central to campus
• wash basin in room
• some minor kitchen facilities ("Kitchenette" consisting of a microwave, sink and fridge)
• breakfast and evening meal provided each weekday
• broadband internet available (2GB as standard or 8GB ultimate package available at an extra cost)
• no organic or religious food options available
• vegetarian food available
• sports membership included in price
• laundry facilities on site

Quadrant Hall

• 40 week contract
• £110 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• near to campus
• wash basin in room
• some minor kitchen facilities
• breakfast and evening meal provided each weekday
• broadband internet available
• no organic or religious food options available
• vegetarian food available
• sports membership included in price
• laundry facilities on site

Self-Catered

Raglan House

• 43 week contract
• £115 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• walking distance to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 5 or 6 people
• broadband internet available
• laundry facilities on site
• some car parking space available

Trinity Point

• 44 week contract
  • single room for 1 person:£110
  • premium single occupancy:£122
• close to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 6 people
• sky TV
• broadband internet available
• laundry facilities on site
• car parking space available
• sports membership included in price

Callice Court

• 44 week contract
  • single room for 1 person:£110
  • premium single occupancy:£122
• close to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 6 people
• sky TV
• broadband internet available
• laundry facilities on site
• car parking space available
• sports membership included in price

Sherbourne House

• 43 week contract
• £110 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• walking distance to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 4 to 7 people
• broadband internet available
• space for a washing machine in flats
• some car parking space available

Radford Road

• 44 week contract
• £98 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• 15 minute walk to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 4 people
• broadband internet available
• sports membership included in price

Singer Hall

• 43 week contract
• £99 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• close to campus
• bathroom and shower room shared between 6 people
• kitchen and dinning facilities shared between 6 people
• broadband internet available
• laundry facilities on site
• some car parking space available
• sports membership included in price

Apollo House

• 40 week contract
• £96 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• walking distance to campus
• shared bathroom and kitchen facilities
• broadband internet available
• laundry facilities on site
• sports membership included in price

University Houses

• 40 and 50 week contracts
• £92 a week (for 2008/9 year)
• all houses are within walking distance to campus
• mostly single rooms, though some en-suite rooms and studio flats are available
• houses vary from 5 to 30 rooms
• shared bathroom and kitchen facilities
• broadband internet available
• sports membership included in price

Postgraduate

There are two halls available solely for postgrad students for 50 weeks of the year, though you can also get other uni accommodation - but that is only for 40 or 44 weeks which could be for less time and your course goes on for.

Lynden House

• 50 week contract
• £103 a week (for 20011/12 year)
• 20 minute walk to campus
• en-suite rooms
• kitchen facilities shared between 4 to 8 people
• broadband internet available
• sports membership included in price

Pillar Box

• 50 week contract
• weekly prices for 20011/12 year:
  • single room: £112
  • single studio flat: £127.50
  • double studio flat: £140
  • twin studio flat: £202.50
• centre of Coventry
• en-suite rooms
• shared facilities in flats or single, twin and double studio flats
• broadband internet available
• sports membership included in price

Private sector

Student union

The Students' Union venue is Square One at the back of TheHub. There are regular club nights there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays where drinks are cheap and everyone has a great time!

Prices

Used to cost £1 a drink in the SU bar on Mondays. Not sure if it still does though.

Environment

OK, I have said a lot and Ive been as honest as I can be. Everyone in Coventry is very friendly as there are so many students - I think some people judge Coventry before they see it and it's actually surprising for them when they visit. I've come all the way from Devon and I instantly felt at home here and knew it was right for me because I wasn't scared. I found Birmingham too big and frightening and everyone at Coventry was really nice. The city is growing fast and has so much going on!

The fashion department is developing so fast! with brand new facilities better than anywhere else in the country with my work being showcased on the catwalk in Russia! and at the clothes show live in Birmingham its a damn good place to study Fashion and is one of the top safest cities in the UK. So don't judge it before you see for yourself! Its a great uni and its what you make of it if you come here and use the facilities that are available. You can really succeed - the uni offers everything you need for you to get your career so its down to you to use it!

Give it a chance come and visit; you'll realise that its awesome - I've had the best years of my life here.

Architecture

Coventry was absolutely decimated in World War II, meaning most of it's mediaeval architecture was destroyed, including the Cathedral. A huge post war rebuilding project re-shaped the city into it's current guise with many of the buildings in town now a bit of a throwback to the 1960s and 1970s. However, recent investment into the city's infrastructure has improved the look and feel of parts of it - much of this was down to the impact of Coventry being an official Olympic city (it hosted football at the Ricoh Arena) in summer 2012. The Cathedral was rebuilt after the war and the ruins were restored and now it's one of the main tourist attractions in the Midlands.

Local area

Teaching quality

Coventry has been assessed as a top 20 UK University for teaching quality in the latest set of league tables from The Times and The Guardian.

Applying to Coventry

Thinking of applying to Coventry University? Why not read some Personal Statements which were used for applying here?

Other Coventry Articles

• A Week in the Life of a Coventry University Student

Links

• Our Coventry University Discussion Forum
• Coventry University University Homepage
• A-Z of Universities
• leah_m's account - the author of large sections of this page, but who didn't add the content to this page.