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Coventry University - Student GuideTSR Wiki > University > University Guides > Coventry University - Student Guide
These university guides by written by our members offer individual accounts of aspects of day to day life. See the main university guide for information on facilities, opening hours, locations, policies etc. The UniversityOverall OpinionsYou can use this section to offer your overall opinions on the university. What one main thing would you like to highlight to future applicants? Username: Date: Comment:
Date: Comment: Campus - Buildings and EnviromentUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 06.03.2010 Comment: The buildings and campus in general are reasonable. Some of them are a bit run down, but it's not too bad. They are all pretty close to each other, within about 5 minutes walk, apart from the Serious Games Institute which is a bit out of the way. Can't really comment on whether they are too warm or too cold, they are just normal temperature, except for 1 corridor in the Jaguar building which as soon as you step into it feels like you are about to be swallowed up by the sun due to the way it shines through the glass there. They are all pretty standard looking, but they are in the process of building a new building for the Computing and Engineering dept, which is a nicer design than all the others.
There isn't much to say on the buildings, they are all just pretty normal buildings, nothing stands out.
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Teaching and CoursesTeachingUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 04.12.2009 Comment: The teaching is reasonable. But I've had a few problems of having lecturers with very strong foreign accents and not being able to understand a lot of what they are saying, so the learning for those modules basically has to come from just reading the lecture slides on your own and the textbooks. There are also a few lecturers who seem to think they are teaching in a primary school and treat you like children, eg: Stopping the lesson and having a go at someone because they were yawning or something else ridiculous. I won't name names, but they are out there.
Date: Comment: Course OpinionsUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 06.03.2010 Course: Computing Comment: I have been quite disappointed with this course overall. Too much of the teaching relies on powerpoint presentations and there isn't enough hands-on experience to get to grips with what you are learning. Also, from a programmers point of view, their choice of languages is awful. Firstly, for the Object Orientated Programming modules which are mandatory throughout all the 3 years, you just do Java. Okay, Java is used quite a lot, but a C language would have been better, maybe that's just me being a bit pedantic though. But in other programming modules they use ASP for server-side and VBScript for client side, when it is painfully obvious that PHP and simple Javascript are much better, faster and much much easier to learn. The whole university seem to be Microsoft fanboys/girls to be honest, running IE7 on all their machines as the only option as well which is extremely annoying as when you're creating websites for pieces of coursework you have to go around the houses to get it to work on that outdated piece of rubbish. The Computing degree is pretty similar to several others such as Computer Science, Network Computing, etc... which all have the same first year and then different options in the last 2 years. It's [i]okay[/i], but if you have the choice of doing computing here or elsewhere, I'd look more into the elsewhere first.
Date: Course: Comment: Facilities and ServicesLibrary and Study FacilitiesUsername:CJ Date: Nov 09 Comment: My first impressions of the Lanchester library was that it was...well...different to any library I bad ever seen before. I wasn't quite sure if I love it or hated it really. It's design makes it stand out from most buildings you will have seen, let alone libraries but in the end I grew to like it. It was just one of those quirky things Coventry has that makes it different to all the rest, and something that it can be proud of. The library itself was really quite good, the staff are helpful and you can use their facilities to your heart's content. There were a couple of issues I found in my last 2 years (being honest, I barely went in there first year) and these being 1/ The often strange closing times - Around the time of year when people were getting close to finishing up dissertations, the library would close early meaning late nighers would all head for open (now bustling) computer rooms. 2/ The number of computers available. At busy times you could spend ages looking for a spare computer to work at. If you were needing to use 2 with another for groupwork you could almost forget about it (at certain times of the day/year) meaning you either had to bring in your laptop or work elsewhere. Finally, I must say the quality of books they had in the library were really very good, up to date and relevent to the course and any work we would have to research. Also when it came to ordering in books, the staff members should be commended for their efficiency as well as the costs incurred for the students (I think it's £2 per book for a few weeks).
Date: 04.12.2009 Comment: There are quite a few open access rooms for computer use. I've mainly only used the ones in Armstrong Siddley and Jaguar buildings though. In Armstrong Siddley (AS) there are several which anyone can use, but which are also reserved for tutorials and occasionaly lectures sometimes, so you have to make sure it's not being used first, although most lecturers don't mind you coming in if you're quiet, but some do. There are plenty of computers, so they rarely get full. But as usual with most of the computers in the university they are very slow to load up, because all the software/programs, etc.. are stored on servers and the computers themselves are more like terminals which just access them from the servers, so they have to load them all up every time you start it, instead of having them already there on the computer. Sometimes it can take 10+ minutes from turning it on and logging in until you actually get to the desktop and past the messages. They are also loaded only with Internet Explorer (Expect a few which have Firefox, but it's really only a few). It's version 8, but it seems to be some buggered version of it, as I've had problems with it not loading things properly and messing up layouts. The internet itself is alright speed wise, although don't even bother trying to use the Coventry website on coursework deadline days, because everyone is on it submitting things via TurnitIn and it slows to virtual non-existence. Best to submit things like that a few days before otherwise you might get stuck not being able to do it at all. (That counts for on and off campus by the way, the website just can't handle that many people on it at once, they really need some more servers).
Date: Comment: IT FacilitiesUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 06.03.2010 Comment: Armstrong Siddeley is the Computing building, so I'll start with that. It has lots of open computer rooms (AS116, AS121, AS 115) are the main 3. They have on average about 40+ computers in them. One room has speciality software on it, like Photoshop, Flash and loads of other designing software. The rest have millions of pieces of random software, like jGrasp for Java work, Dreamweaver, BlueJ...I could go on for a while but I won't as it's not important really. Jaguar building (which is just across from AS) has a similar number of rooms with a similar number of computers in, not the same amount of software installed on them though. The Library has lots of computers on each floor, and in the basement they have totally thin client machines. Overall the computers are very slow though, they can take up to 10 minutes sometimes from switching it on to it loading up the desktop and being ready to use. The network of the coventry website is very slow as well and often crashes on big online coursework submission days which is very helpful... In my experience the AS building which is the building for all the Computing courses has some of the slowest computers, which makes no sense. They still all run IE7 which is terrible and when you are designing websites and pieces of code, you have to get them to run on IE7, which is a major pain and of course pointless in the long run. So, overall, not particularly impressed.
Date: Comment: Shops and FoodUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 06.03.2010 Comment: Okay, shops: You have loads of shops around Coventry City Centre, such as: Primark, Ikea, Waterstones (several), Smiths, Wilkinsons, lots of sports shops, Game (Several), Argos, etc... so all the shops you'd expect from a town/city centre really, plus a few more. Food wise, there are severl Subways (Including one in the Student Union), several Greggs, several Cooks. Loads of random little food shops as well and usually stalls selling hot food and drinks near the water fountain in the very centre of the city. Big shop-wise, Sainsburys is just off the cathedral and that's what most people would use I expect, there are a few others but they are a bit farther out.
Date: Comment: SportingUsername: Date: Nov 09 Comment: Varies a lot depending on College. Girton is awesome, has sports pitches on site, plus squash court, swimming pool, tennis courts etc. Most colleges have some kind of sports facilities, but it may be a little way away. Still no University Sports Center yet, even though the plans have been in place for far too long...
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Date: Comment: OtherAre there any other leisure facilities offered? Are specific facilities offered for religious activity - such as prayer rooms or chapels? Facilities for disabled students? If you have experience of these things, share them here.
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Date: Comment: AccommodationWhat are/were your halls like?Username: OceanInTheSky Date: 06.03.2010 Comment: Raglan House is one of the halls advertised in the Coventry University info. It's a privately owned accomodation though, not owned by the University. I stayed there in its first year of business, so it was nice and clean then :P The shared halls range from 3 rooms up to about 5-6+. They all have en-suite showers and toilets and they share a kitchen. The kitchens are a good size with plenty of food space, plus they have sofas and chairs to sit in and socialise with your flatmates if you want to. The basic rooms are a bit small, but they're not too bad, although for the money you pay you might expect a bit of a larger space. They have wired broadband and TV outlets, single beds, several mirrors, etc... basically what you'd expect from a room. The studio flats are more expensive (About £120 when I was in one) and they have their own kitchen as well as a much larger room with a double bed, a nice chair and a much bigger desk. They are on the top floor though and they don't have lifts, so if you're disabled it'll have to be shared on the bottom floor for you. It is about 5 minutes walk from Armstrong Siddely building and about 10 minutes into the city centre. It's a bit more expensive than the university owned ones, but it's nicer overall.
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The City of CoventryShops, Buildings and EnvironmentUsername: OceanInTheSky Date: 26.04.2010 Comment: The town centre has loads of shops. The main ones which you might need are: Sainsburys (Not in the centre, just a bit outside nearer the cathedral), Wilkinsons, Primark, Smiths, etc... They are all just a minute or so from each other. Plus loads of others I won't mention because the list would go on for ages. But basically, there is a shop for whatever you need. Plus several subways to get you nice and fat.
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