Diagnostic Radiography - Cardiff University - a bad choice
I posted this comment in the medicine forum.
Students thinking about applying to study diagnostic radiography at Cardiff University might find it useful, so I'm posting it here. I study radiography at Cardiff , so this is based on my experience at this university. If you have any questions or you are thinking about doing diagnostic radiography and want to know what it's like, leave them here and I will try to answer them.
Cardiff university has relatively low student satisfaction rates. This is reflected in my experience at this university. the following points might be helpful to those of you thinking about studying this course at this university
1. Staff incompetence is rife. Lecturers don't care, admininistrative staff don't care. The security guards don't care. Nobody gives a single damn about their job and the students. Nobody does their job properly. Now you might think 'hey great I can slack and nobody would care'. Hell no!!!! This university expects 100% from you but is only willing to give you 1% back. No, they expect Inhumane hours from you and give you nothing but trouble and problems in return for your hard work. Email lecturers and you'd be lucky to get a reply. Try to book an appointment with a lecturer and you will be turned away in the most callus demeaning way you can imagine. Staff are bullies and they will do their best to make your life hell at the uni. Our course lead is as incompetent as they get and most of our lecturers do their best to break you down so that you don't complain or open your mouth about the horrendousness of the course. Not one graduate I have come across so far has a single nice thing to say about Cardiff university or any of the lecturers.
2. Facilities - the health library is packed especially on lunch times and before exams, no room to sit down let alone study. The student union is useless. Walking into the main building in the health campus is like walking back into the Stone Age. It's literally falling apart. The lecture rooms are constantly kept dark and no heating during winter to save on electricity. The online portal where your lecture notes, time table and updates are kept is a terrible mess. Printing costs are ridiculous. The Library is tiny and empty of books. Library staff are useless. Library guards are rude as hell. Very very few computers in the university. I think all in all we have like 40 computers for all the students in the health campus? The library is only just now trialing laptop loans but the way they do it is just terrible. We have a model X-ray room at the university that they boast on their website. What they don't say on their website is that it is broken down and used as a storage place and students don't ever go in there. Marking is slow and you never get your results on time. If you are a disabled student who gets extra time to hand in work, you have to wait an extra three months after the results come out and you hand your work in before you get yours. Marking is terriblly strict and carried out by incompetent bafoons who make stupid silly blatantly obvious mistakes that are laughable, but the grade is final and you can't complain or get your work remarked. That's the university policy. Yes, incompetence and laziness is part of Cardiff university policy.
3. Students are treated with great disrespect and lack of trust. Everything in the university is put together in such a way as to make your life difficult. All the students hang their heads low so as to not attract attention. If you attract attention at this university, if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
4. Course organization is abysmal and torturous. It will significantly affect your grades and wellbeing and the university nor its lecturers give a single damn. I remember talking to one of our lecturers about this once, that some students were having nervous break downs in our year etc. Her reply? You are going to get a feedback form next year before you graduate, fill it in and we will have a look at it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
5. A huge disparity in the ratio of male to female students. The health campus is largely made up of girls with very very very few male students.
6. Little to no diversity whatsoever.
7. Diagnostic radiography at Cardiff just like all other universities doing this course is made up of two components. A clinical component and an academic component and as I wrote before, both are terribly organised. You are given three hospitals. You spend one year in each. The majority of hospitals are extremely far from the university. The furthest is whittybush which is nearly four hours away from Cardiff. If you wind up in Whittybush you would have to live down there during your clinical blocks. There are three clinical blocks in a year lasting between five and 8 weeks. So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site. This might become exhausting but wait it gets worse. You don't get revision time for your exams and no breaks from university or your hospital during the week. So you could be in placement for five weeks prior to exams working up to 12 hours a day including travel and be preparing for your finals at the same time. You finish placement on Friday and do your exams on the following Monday. So for the five weeks prior to your exams you could get no sleep whatsoever. Also, whilst at placement you are expected to do assessments, tutorials amongst other tasks that need preparing for and you lierally windup performing badly in everything. The course is extremely badly organised and the lecturers/course coordinators could not care less.
8. Living costs - rent is not bad but getting student accommodation can be very hard as the university does not have enough rooms to go around for its first year students let alone second and third years. So applying early is a must. Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive. Travel costs are reasonable but very very very very slow and dirty. Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late.
Cardiff university is a huge charade. It portrays itself as something to the outside world that is completely different to its reality. Studying at Cardiff is a nightmare. Drop out rates for our course last year were approximately 40%. Compare that to 10% at the university of Portsmouth. This unbelievablly high number speaks volumes. Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye.
Students thinking about applying to study diagnostic radiography at Cardiff University might find it useful, so I'm posting it here. I study radiography at Cardiff , so this is based on my experience at this university. If you have any questions or you are thinking about doing diagnostic radiography and want to know what it's like, leave them here and I will try to answer them.
Cardiff university has relatively low student satisfaction rates. This is reflected in my experience at this university. the following points might be helpful to those of you thinking about studying this course at this university
1. Staff incompetence is rife. Lecturers don't care, admininistrative staff don't care. The security guards don't care. Nobody gives a single damn about their job and the students. Nobody does their job properly. Now you might think 'hey great I can slack and nobody would care'. Hell no!!!! This university expects 100% from you but is only willing to give you 1% back. No, they expect Inhumane hours from you and give you nothing but trouble and problems in return for your hard work. Email lecturers and you'd be lucky to get a reply. Try to book an appointment with a lecturer and you will be turned away in the most callus demeaning way you can imagine. Staff are bullies and they will do their best to make your life hell at the uni. Our course lead is as incompetent as they get and most of our lecturers do their best to break you down so that you don't complain or open your mouth about the horrendousness of the course. Not one graduate I have come across so far has a single nice thing to say about Cardiff university or any of the lecturers.
2. Facilities - the health library is packed especially on lunch times and before exams, no room to sit down let alone study. The student union is useless. Walking into the main building in the health campus is like walking back into the Stone Age. It's literally falling apart. The lecture rooms are constantly kept dark and no heating during winter to save on electricity. The online portal where your lecture notes, time table and updates are kept is a terrible mess. Printing costs are ridiculous. The Library is tiny and empty of books. Library staff are useless. Library guards are rude as hell. Very very few computers in the university. I think all in all we have like 40 computers for all the students in the health campus? The library is only just now trialing laptop loans but the way they do it is just terrible. We have a model X-ray room at the university that they boast on their website. What they don't say on their website is that it is broken down and used as a storage place and students don't ever go in there. Marking is slow and you never get your results on time. If you are a disabled student who gets extra time to hand in work, you have to wait an extra three months after the results come out and you hand your work in before you get yours. Marking is terriblly strict and carried out by incompetent bafoons who make stupid silly blatantly obvious mistakes that are laughable, but the grade is final and you can't complain or get your work remarked. That's the university policy. Yes, incompetence and laziness is part of Cardiff university policy.
3. Students are treated with great disrespect and lack of trust. Everything in the university is put together in such a way as to make your life difficult. All the students hang their heads low so as to not attract attention. If you attract attention at this university, if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
4. Course organization is abysmal and torturous. It will significantly affect your grades and wellbeing and the university nor its lecturers give a single damn. I remember talking to one of our lecturers about this once, that some students were having nervous break downs in our year etc. Her reply? You are going to get a feedback form next year before you graduate, fill it in and we will have a look at it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
5. A huge disparity in the ratio of male to female students. The health campus is largely made up of girls with very very very few male students.
6. Little to no diversity whatsoever.
7. Diagnostic radiography at Cardiff just like all other universities doing this course is made up of two components. A clinical component and an academic component and as I wrote before, both are terribly organised. You are given three hospitals. You spend one year in each. The majority of hospitals are extremely far from the university. The furthest is whittybush which is nearly four hours away from Cardiff. If you wind up in Whittybush you would have to live down there during your clinical blocks. There are three clinical blocks in a year lasting between five and 8 weeks. So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site. This might become exhausting but wait it gets worse. You don't get revision time for your exams and no breaks from university or your hospital during the week. So you could be in placement for five weeks prior to exams working up to 12 hours a day including travel and be preparing for your finals at the same time. You finish placement on Friday and do your exams on the following Monday. So for the five weeks prior to your exams you could get no sleep whatsoever. Also, whilst at placement you are expected to do assessments, tutorials amongst other tasks that need preparing for and you lierally windup performing badly in everything. The course is extremely badly organised and the lecturers/course coordinators could not care less.
8. Living costs - rent is not bad but getting student accommodation can be very hard as the university does not have enough rooms to go around for its first year students let alone second and third years. So applying early is a must. Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive. Travel costs are reasonable but very very very very slow and dirty. Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late.
Cardiff university is a huge charade. It portrays itself as something to the outside world that is completely different to its reality. Studying at Cardiff is a nightmare. Drop out rates for our course last year were approximately 40%. Compare that to 10% at the university of Portsmouth. This unbelievablly high number speaks volumes. Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye.
(edited 7 years ago)
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5. A huge disparity in the ratio of male to female students. The health campus is largely made up of girls with very very very few male students.
This is surely typical of all healthcare courses at all universities. Have you never walked into a hospital and noticed that the majority of nurses, healthcare assistants and HCPs are female?
Why? - because females are more likely to apply for caring roles.
I don't get your gripe with this.
Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye
So every HC Cardiff student that graduates will not have a future?
Placements
I don't think this is specific to Cardiff either. At Leeds a large proportion of students have to live in Hull in a hostel for their placement blocks or a B&B in Scarborough. The remainder can have daily commutes to other cities of up to 2 hours each way.
So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site.
Move house? really? - do you actually mean pack a suitcase for the week?
Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late
Errr yes, so don't be late and miss the train.
if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
What a ridiculous statement. A threat to what? Any university course that produces poor results consistently is at risk as are the staff's positions so why on earth would staff make a hardworking student suffer.
Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive
Really? ALL food is expensive and ALL food is terrible? even the food you shop and cook for yourself? then shop somewhere cheaper and learn to cook.
I could go on, really sorry but your post just sounds like one long whiney entitled moan full of unsubstantiated criticism.
This is surely typical of all healthcare courses at all universities. Have you never walked into a hospital and noticed that the majority of nurses, healthcare assistants and HCPs are female?
Why? - because females are more likely to apply for caring roles.
I don't get your gripe with this.
Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye
So every HC Cardiff student that graduates will not have a future?
Placements
I don't think this is specific to Cardiff either. At Leeds a large proportion of students have to live in Hull in a hostel for their placement blocks or a B&B in Scarborough. The remainder can have daily commutes to other cities of up to 2 hours each way.
So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site.
Move house? really? - do you actually mean pack a suitcase for the week?
Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late
Errr yes, so don't be late and miss the train.
if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
What a ridiculous statement. A threat to what? Any university course that produces poor results consistently is at risk as are the staff's positions so why on earth would staff make a hardworking student suffer.
Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive
Really? ALL food is expensive and ALL food is terrible? even the food you shop and cook for yourself? then shop somewhere cheaper and learn to cook.
I could go on, really sorry but your post just sounds like one long whiney entitled moan full of unsubstantiated criticism.
I was at Cardiff for a dentistry open day and an interview and I thought it was lovely. The staff at the dental hospital which is at the health campus were friendly and helpful. Also the food was nice and there was a lot of variety like any large city. Don't be disheartened if you see the post above and regret choosing to go to Cardiff because I think it's a great university and I have put it as my insurance choice.
Original post by Blobfish13
I was at Cardiff for a dentistry open day and an interview and I thought it was lovely. The staff at the dental hospital which is at the health campus were friendly and helpful. Also the food was nice and there was a lot of variety like any large city. Don't be disheartened if you see the post above and regret choosing to go to Cardiff because I think it's a great university and I have put it as my insurance choice.
With respect I don't think you can tell people to ignore the OPs experience when you've not studied there yourself.
Open days are meant to be welcoming. They are a pretty pointless idea if they fail to sell the uni to you.
A bit of honest experience can help people make more informed decisions and that shouldn't go unappreciated.
Original post by FXX
With respect I don't think you can tell people to ignore the OPs experience when you've not studied there yourself.
Open days are meant to be welcoming. They are a pretty pointless idea if they fail to sell the uni to you.
A bit of honest experience can help people make more informed decisions and that shouldn't go unappreciated.
Open days are meant to be welcoming. They are a pretty pointless idea if they fail to sell the uni to you.
A bit of honest experience can help people make more informed decisions and that shouldn't go unappreciated.
I think that their experience must be exaggerated because attending Cardiff university would not be "kissing your future goodbye". I'm sure many people who have applied and are studying there will go on to be successful.
Original post by Blobfish13
I think that their experience must be exaggerated because attending Cardiff university would not be "kissing your future goodbye". I'm sure many people who have applied and are studying there will go on to be successful.
I'm sure some of it is exaggerated but the points about staff and facilities are quite concerning. The dropout rate is telling as well.
It may not reflect Cardiff as a uni overall but for someone looking to do radiography I think should be pretty helpful.
Original post by ViewOnlyMum
5. A huge disparity in the ratio of male to female students. The health campus is largely made up of girls with very very very few male students.
This is surely typical of all healthcare courses at all universities. Have you never walked into a hospital and noticed that the majority of nurses, healthcare assistants and HCPs are female?
Why? - because females are more likely to apply for caring roles.
I don't get your gripe with this.
Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye
So every HC Cardiff student that graduates will not have a future?
Placements
I don't think this is specific to Cardiff either. At Leeds a large proportion of students have to live in Hull in a hostel for their placement blocks or a B&B in Scarborough. The remainder can have daily commutes to other cities of up to 2 hours each way.
So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site.
Move house? really? - do you actually mean pack a suitcase for the week?
Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late
Errr yes, so don't be late and miss the train.
if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
What a ridiculous statement. A threat to what? Any university course that produces poor results consistently is at risk as are the staff's positions so why on earth would staff make a hardworking student suffer.
Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive
Really? ALL food is expensive and ALL food is terrible? even the food you shop and cook for yourself? then shop somewhere cheaper and learn to cook.
I could go on, really sorry but your post just sounds like one long whiney entitled moan full of unsubstantiated criticism.
This is surely typical of all healthcare courses at all universities. Have you never walked into a hospital and noticed that the majority of nurses, healthcare assistants and HCPs are female?
Why? - because females are more likely to apply for caring roles.
I don't get your gripe with this.
Attending this university is kissing your future goodbye
So every HC Cardiff student that graduates will not have a future?
Placements
I don't think this is specific to Cardiff either. At Leeds a large proportion of students have to live in Hull in a hostel for their placement blocks or a B&B in Scarborough. The remainder can have daily commutes to other cities of up to 2 hours each way.
So this means you have to move house six times a year between Cardiff and your placement site.
Move house? really? - do you actually mean pack a suitcase for the week?
Trains arrive every half hour. Miss a train and you will be late
Errr yes, so don't be late and miss the train.
if you are intelligent and hard working they will see you as a threat and you will suffer.
What a ridiculous statement. A threat to what? Any university course that produces poor results consistently is at risk as are the staff's positions so why on earth would staff make a hardworking student suffer.
Food in Cardiff is terrible and expensive
Really? ALL food is expensive and ALL food is terrible? even the food you shop and cook for yourself? then shop somewhere cheaper and learn to cook.
I could go on, really sorry but your post just sounds like one long whiney entitled moan full of unsubstantiated criticism.
"What a ridiculous statement"
It is indeed a ridiculous thing, to be threatened by the performance of your good students as a lecturer.
I have studied other courses at other universities so I understand why this might be difficult for you to entertain. It is difficult to accept that such standards exist in the UK.....but believe me at Cardiff, in diagnostic radiography, they do and it's just this University. I have not experienced anything like this anywhere else in my life. It feels like its part of their policy. It's bizarre. Its an anomaly.
Please, don't believe me. Find yourself a Cardiff University graduate in diagnostic radiography and ask them for their opinion of the Cardiff student experience first hand. The issue is particularly pertinent with specific lecturers. The problem is that these lecturers whom everyone has major issues with run the show.
"A threat to what?"
This is a question that I often ask myself. I cannot for the life of me find an answer to it. Having spent 2 years at this university thus far I can honestly say that fear is probably the issue. They are threatened by the good students because they are just terrible and afraid of being exposed as such by the better students. Its petty but this course at this university is just that....petty.
"Any university course that produces poor results consistently is at risk as are the staff's positions "
Funny you should say that. We have not had a first-class honours for 6 years!
Staff are constantly replaced....Constantly.....they come and go which just adds to the chaos that students go through every year....and the course syllabus changes every freaking year. You feel like a guinea pig and they're just testing things out on you and in such a demeaning way too.
This year we have had two new modules introduced into our program. typical of Cardiff, they are abysmally organised. Let me put things into perspective for you. For one of the modules, we sit in a hall with 300 other students and 7 or 8 lecturers. You are asked to write up stuff in an environment where you can barely hear yourself think let alone construct something decent with a small group. You are expected to write up an assignment but you do not know what this assignment is about or its word limit or its deadline and you only find these things out a week before the hand in date. Its so badly organised I cannot put it in words for you. To add insult to injury, the leads of these modules are extremely rude and unapproachable and expect you to be flawless to be able to get above 60%. Attempting to contact or speak to them is another problem of its own. You are lucky to get a reply to an email or a forum post after weeks if you get one at all.
Additionally, they promise to give you a break down of the results and averages for all modules at Cardiff but like many other promises they dont keep it. I believe there is a reason for that. Average grades are EXTREMELY low despite students being extremely bright and hard working and I am basing this on past experience at other universities. We recently did our mocks for one of our big modules. These mocks were held one week prior to our exams...lol.... The highest grade was 55% and the vast majority of students failed!!! lol...One week prior to the actual exams!!!!! I kid you not the module lead has no grasp of histograms and grade adjustment techniques based on results.....and results are ALWAYS FINAL. Cardiff university policy is such that they make it impossible for students to question or complain about their results....Some papers are randomly selected for checks but these are not precise checks but rather superficial checks of whether or not the first marker gave a good enough feedback for the student....its all a freaking charade.
"ALL food is expensive and ALL food is terrible? even the food you shop and cook for yourself? then shop somewhere cheaper and learn to cook"
God, give me strength...
P.S. I am just going to add one more thing just to help put things into perspective for the reader.
SCoR guidelines stipulate that diagnostic radiography students are not allowed to work more than 37.5 hours a week. At our placement we are often made to work more than 40 hours to make up for time that we missed or will be missing. One of the students in my hospital was going to have an operation. Our clinical tutor made her work 10 hours a day to make up for the time that she will miss after her operation. The girl was doing 50 hour weeks + prep for exams....I brought this issue up with the tutor questioning whether it was OK or not... she stopped doing it overnight and she starting behaving like it never happened. It's the most bizarre behaviour i have ever seen from a lecturer...then she started causing me problems. This one time she made an embarrassing mistake with one of the patients. When the superintendent radiographer found out about the mistake she came to question what was going on and my clinical tutor blamed me for the mistake. It was just such a shock to have something like that happen to you and it be done by someone tasked with looking after your welfare.
This university and its issues are a lot more serious than you think. There are a billion other issues that I have not mentioned in this post.....This university and the issues pertaining to this course need to be looked at seriously.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by FXX
I'm sure some of it is exaggerated but the points about staff and facilities are quite concerning. The dropout rate is telling as well.
It may not reflect Cardiff as a uni overall but for someone looking to do radiography I think should be pretty helpful.
It may not reflect Cardiff as a uni overall but for someone looking to do radiography I think should be pretty helpful.
Thank you.
It goes without saying but I know I am not the only one having issues with this university because its just hell....and no one could possibly find these conditions acceptable....I hear the same issues from Cardiff radiography students all the time. I just wish more of us would pluck up the courage to come out with our complaints as apposed to keep them to ourselves. This would go a long way to change things for the better.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Blobfish13
I was at Cardiff for a dentistry open day and an interview and I thought it was lovely. The staff at the dental hospital which is at the health campus were friendly and helpful. Also the food was nice and there was a lot of variety like any large city. Don't be disheartened if you see the post above and regret choosing to go to Cardiff because I think it's a great university and I have put it as my insurance choice.
Getting into dentistry at any university is not an easy feat. I think i would be very content with studying dentistry at any university. It is sadly one of those courses that is very difficult to get into, so securing a place at any university is a plus...
My posts are specific to diagnostic radiography but both radiography and dentistry are held at the same campus I believe. So yeah, do take my posts into account. let me just make one thing clear though, open days are not like the reality of a university. You only get a tiny, carefully orchestrated taste of what they want you to see.
One good thing about Cardiff Uni is that the library at the health campus is open 24/7/365, so you always have somewhere to go for your studies. I am sure you are going to be doing a lot of that as a dentistry student.
(edited 7 years ago)
I am currently a student at Cardiff university, and I felt the need to comment on this post as my experiences couldn't be more different from that of the author! Firstly the staff by and large are wonderful, helpful and knowledgeable. The author comments 'they expect 100%', I feel they expect 100% of what you are capable of, as an individual, because they want you to maximise your potential and do well!
I have contacted several different members of the faculty regarding different issues and whilst responses aren't always quick (they have lives too you know!), I have never been ignored or made to feel like I can't approach them. During exam periods several members of the team have put on additional tutorials to go over areas of concern, and on more than one occasion lecturers have given up their lunch breaks to assist me. I couldn't disagree more about the course lead being incompetent. I have had medical and personal issues for which I was fully supported through, and really he couldn't have done anymore to help with these issues!
The comments about the facilities are inaccurate, they comment there are 40 computers in the library, there are actually 85 in the library and another 15-20 in the IT lab in TDS the building where most lectures are and 95% of the times I've been in has been empty. The library also has loads of areas where you can plug in your own laptop and study, its also open 24 hours which is a great facility to have. The heating most definitely is on in the winter and aside the lift sometimes being out of action (although I believe that has been fixed) there are really no issues with the building. The rooms are only dark when we have film viewing sessions, for obvious reasons!
I don't see what the problem with the male to female ratio is...THATS LIFE. You can't pick and choose in the work place the number of men and woman you work with and why does it make any difference?
Another point they are way of the mark with is clinical placements. I was at *Withybush for my first year academic placement, and yes it is the furthest hospital on the course away from Cardiff. But by car it takes 1 hr 45 mins max. The clinical lecturer there is also super flexible, and would let us work slightly different hours so we were able to finish early on a Friday to travel back to Cardiff and miss the traffic. I'm not sure what all this moving house business is, what they also don't mention is the university arrange accommodation for you if you are on placement somewhere not commutable, which is paid for by the NHS. The admin staff arrange this for you, and I have never had any problems with them either!
I can't comment on results for people who receive extra time for assignments, but for those that don't results have been on time and in many cases early, bar one instance when there was a slight which was clearly explained and was due to an issue with the submission portal. All assignments have a marking rubric which we have access to and which is used to mark our work, so it should be a fair reflection of our work.
The other thing that confuses me is the comment about placement hours etc. I admit in the second year the second 5 week placement isn't ideally timed as it just before our exams, however there was a 3 week holiday prior to the placement so plenty of free time to start revision. Our placement hours are 7 hours a day, if you are doing 12 hour shifts then that would be for 3 days not 5, which would leave you with plenty of time to revise!
So far I have loved my experience at Cardiff university and the hospitals I have been on clinical placement at.
I have contacted several different members of the faculty regarding different issues and whilst responses aren't always quick (they have lives too you know!), I have never been ignored or made to feel like I can't approach them. During exam periods several members of the team have put on additional tutorials to go over areas of concern, and on more than one occasion lecturers have given up their lunch breaks to assist me. I couldn't disagree more about the course lead being incompetent. I have had medical and personal issues for which I was fully supported through, and really he couldn't have done anymore to help with these issues!
The comments about the facilities are inaccurate, they comment there are 40 computers in the library, there are actually 85 in the library and another 15-20 in the IT lab in TDS the building where most lectures are and 95% of the times I've been in has been empty. The library also has loads of areas where you can plug in your own laptop and study, its also open 24 hours which is a great facility to have. The heating most definitely is on in the winter and aside the lift sometimes being out of action (although I believe that has been fixed) there are really no issues with the building. The rooms are only dark when we have film viewing sessions, for obvious reasons!
I don't see what the problem with the male to female ratio is...THATS LIFE. You can't pick and choose in the work place the number of men and woman you work with and why does it make any difference?
Another point they are way of the mark with is clinical placements. I was at *Withybush for my first year academic placement, and yes it is the furthest hospital on the course away from Cardiff. But by car it takes 1 hr 45 mins max. The clinical lecturer there is also super flexible, and would let us work slightly different hours so we were able to finish early on a Friday to travel back to Cardiff and miss the traffic. I'm not sure what all this moving house business is, what they also don't mention is the university arrange accommodation for you if you are on placement somewhere not commutable, which is paid for by the NHS. The admin staff arrange this for you, and I have never had any problems with them either!
I can't comment on results for people who receive extra time for assignments, but for those that don't results have been on time and in many cases early, bar one instance when there was a slight which was clearly explained and was due to an issue with the submission portal. All assignments have a marking rubric which we have access to and which is used to mark our work, so it should be a fair reflection of our work.
The other thing that confuses me is the comment about placement hours etc. I admit in the second year the second 5 week placement isn't ideally timed as it just before our exams, however there was a 3 week holiday prior to the placement so plenty of free time to start revision. Our placement hours are 7 hours a day, if you are doing 12 hour shifts then that would be for 3 days not 5, which would leave you with plenty of time to revise!
So far I have loved my experience at Cardiff university and the hospitals I have been on clinical placement at.
Original post by 12*34
I am currently a student at Cardiff university, and I felt the need to comment on this post as my experiences couldn't be more different from that of the author! Firstly the staff by and large are wonderful, helpful and knowledgeable. The author comments 'they expect 100%', I feel they expect 100% of what you are capable of, as an individual, because they want you to maximise your potential and do well!
I have contacted several different members of the faculty regarding different issues and whilst responses aren't always quick (they have lives too you know!), I have never been ignored or made to feel like I can't approach them. During exam periods several members of the team have put on additional tutorials to go over areas of concern, and on more than one occasion lecturers have given up their lunch breaks to assist me. I couldn't disagree more about the course lead being incompetent. I have had medical and personal issues for which I was fully supported through, and really he couldn't have done anymore to help with these issues!
The comments about the facilities are inaccurate, they comment there are 40 computers in the library, there are actually 85 in the library and another 15-20 in the IT lab in TDS the building where most lectures are and 95% of the times I've been in has been empty. The library also has loads of areas where you can plug in your own laptop and study, its also open 24 hours which is a great facility to have. The heating most definitely is on in the winter and aside the lift sometimes being out of action (although I believe that has been fixed) there are really no issues with the building. The rooms are only dark when we have film viewing sessions, for obvious reasons!
I don't see what the problem with the male to female ratio is...THATS LIFE. You can't pick and choose in the work place the number of men and woman you work with and why does it make any difference?
Another point they are way of the mark with is clinical placements. I was at *Withybush for my first year academic placement, and yes it is the furthest hospital on the course away from Cardiff. But by car it takes 1 hr 45 mins max. The clinical lecturer there is also super flexible, and would let us work slightly different hours so we were able to finish early on a Friday to travel back to Cardiff and miss the traffic. I'm not sure what all this moving house business is, what they also don't mention is the university arrange accommodation for you if you are on placement somewhere not commutable, which is paid for by the NHS. The admin staff arrange this for you, and I have never had any problems with them either!
I can't comment on results for people who receive extra time for assignments, but for those that don't results have been on time and in many cases early, bar one instance when there was a slight which was clearly explained and was due to an issue with the submission portal. All assignments have a marking rubric which we have access to and which is used to mark our work, so it should be a fair reflection of our work.
The other thing that confuses me is the comment about placement hours etc. I admit in the second year the second 5 week placement isn't ideally timed as it just before our exams, however there was a 3 week holiday prior to the placement so plenty of free time to start revision. Our placement hours are 7 hours a day, if you are doing 12 hour shifts then that would be for 3 days not 5, which would leave you with plenty of time to revise!
So far I have loved my experience at Cardiff university and the hospitals I have been on clinical placement at.
I have contacted several different members of the faculty regarding different issues and whilst responses aren't always quick (they have lives too you know!), I have never been ignored or made to feel like I can't approach them. During exam periods several members of the team have put on additional tutorials to go over areas of concern, and on more than one occasion lecturers have given up their lunch breaks to assist me. I couldn't disagree more about the course lead being incompetent. I have had medical and personal issues for which I was fully supported through, and really he couldn't have done anymore to help with these issues!
The comments about the facilities are inaccurate, they comment there are 40 computers in the library, there are actually 85 in the library and another 15-20 in the IT lab in TDS the building where most lectures are and 95% of the times I've been in has been empty. The library also has loads of areas where you can plug in your own laptop and study, its also open 24 hours which is a great facility to have. The heating most definitely is on in the winter and aside the lift sometimes being out of action (although I believe that has been fixed) there are really no issues with the building. The rooms are only dark when we have film viewing sessions, for obvious reasons!
I don't see what the problem with the male to female ratio is...THATS LIFE. You can't pick and choose in the work place the number of men and woman you work with and why does it make any difference?
Another point they are way of the mark with is clinical placements. I was at *Withybush for my first year academic placement, and yes it is the furthest hospital on the course away from Cardiff. But by car it takes 1 hr 45 mins max. The clinical lecturer there is also super flexible, and would let us work slightly different hours so we were able to finish early on a Friday to travel back to Cardiff and miss the traffic. I'm not sure what all this moving house business is, what they also don't mention is the university arrange accommodation for you if you are on placement somewhere not commutable, which is paid for by the NHS. The admin staff arrange this for you, and I have never had any problems with them either!
I can't comment on results for people who receive extra time for assignments, but for those that don't results have been on time and in many cases early, bar one instance when there was a slight which was clearly explained and was due to an issue with the submission portal. All assignments have a marking rubric which we have access to and which is used to mark our work, so it should be a fair reflection of our work.
The other thing that confuses me is the comment about placement hours etc. I admit in the second year the second 5 week placement isn't ideally timed as it just before our exams, however there was a 3 week holiday prior to the placement so plenty of free time to start revision. Our placement hours are 7 hours a day, if you are doing 12 hour shifts then that would be for 3 days not 5, which would leave you with plenty of time to revise!
So far I have loved my experience at Cardiff university and the hospitals I have been on clinical placement at.
I dont usually get involved in online debates but I feel I need to respond to this comment after having stumbled on this thread whilst doing a bit of a search on google. I feel very strongly about this 'issue'. I lived the nightmare that is this university and this course for three years.
After reading your comment, I’m left wandering what alternate reality you live in. The course lead might have done you a favour and won you over but that doesn’t change the numbers, which speak for themselves.
My graduate class was half its original size. As in, half the class dropped out or failed in the three years we were there and we did not have a single first, nor the year before us, nor the year before that, nor the year before that, nor the year before that. Do you understand what that means? Do you appreciate the seriousness of this? I doubt you do. The drop out rates are UNBELIEVABLE so too are the exam results and we had some amazing students who literally spent their entire life studying and knew more than our lecturers.
These numbers should go a long way in acting as a warning to prospective students who care about their future from going to this rubbish excuse for a university.
(The library was empty 95% of the time you were there? I can’t believe I’m reading this. The library was PACKED at lunch and during exam times when you needed the library the most with literally no room to sit down ANYWHERE during exams. There are thousands of students at the campus and you are chatting about 85 computers? Students like you (assuming you are really a student) are the reason why this university carries on doing what it does to its students without a care. Your excuses empower them).
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by ATusker
I lived the nightmare that is this university and this course for three years.
I'm not sure I agree with the tone of this whole thread but I totally understand why you guys are so angry and I'm 100% behind the comment quoted above. This university truly is a nightmare. *
The following information was obtained from Cardiff University under the Freedom of Information Act.
RESULTS AND DROP OUT RATES FOR DIAGNOSTIC RADIOGRAPHY AT CARDIFF UNIVERSITY OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS:
Attrition* rates:
•
Attrition rates above 10% are deemed unacceptable by the Department of Health.
•
The average attrition rate for diagnostic radiography in 2014/15 in the UK was roughly 20%.
•
The attrition rates at Cardiff for 2014/15 were roughly 60%, 200% higher than the national average and 500% higher than what is deemed acceptable by the department of health.
Results:
•
In the last ten years, Cardiff University has awarded 12 first-class honours degrees in diagnostic radiography out of a potential 650, which works out to roughly 2% of their total population of students and they have not had a first class honours in the past 3 years.
*dropping out and not finishing the degree within three years.
(edited 6 years ago)
Are you sure this is Cardiff and not Portsmouth. Sounds very very familiar
Original post by Carrotcar
Hi! I am still deciding which university to decide to stuy radiography at and Cardiff is one of my options! Please could you go into detail about the placements / social life you have with this course as I cannot seem to find anyone who does this course at the Uni!
Placements:
They work with eight hospitals I think, in total. Some are extremely far from the university. I believe, each student is assigned to three hospitals. You spend one year in each. If you wind up somewhere bad, you can request a transfer but that is unlikely to happen as the university is very short on space at hospital sites. Placements last a minimum of 4 weeks, 9-5, depending on the hospital you work in. It is against the law, but in this university some students work more than 40 hours a week to make up for sick days or time they will be having off. Final year exams often coincide with placement. That basically means that you can be in clinical placement, working 9-5 for up to two months prior to your exams. You finish your clinical placement block on a Friday and do your exams the following week, leaving you with no time to revise. This greatly impacts your performance and grades. You can ask for time off from placement to prepare for exams but you have to make up for it before hand and its up to your clinical tutor to decide whether or not they would allow you to take the time off and sometimes the schedule simply doesn't allow it so you have no choice but to perform badly in exams. The furthest hospital from the university is Whittybush. Roughly speaking, its 3 hours by train from Cardiff. During placement you have to move there. I was told by the placement officer at the university that half the students that are sent there usually wind up failing and dropping out. During placements you have a million and one things going on at the same time (Assignments from university, preparing for exams, you have to complete many tasks for the placement itself). It is a lot like working two or three full time jobs. It is so extremely exhausting and so badly organised and so unforgiving that students sometimes wind up in hospital suffering exhaustion. Some students start placement without uniforms and radiation monitoring badges (this again is required by law but at this university nobody gives a damn about you or your safety or the law). A good majority of Hospitals in Wales are extremely old and dated so facilities can be bad. Patients are generally nice. The university and the majority of its staff and tutors, however treat you with no respect and no trust. At placement you are literally monitored by staff and your tutor like a kid. You never see students from other years, not at placement and not at uni.
Social life:
Non-existent. Students try to have a good time the best they can but like I said, the timetable and organisation of the course are so bad that you usually do not have time to sleep let alone socialise. Classes are very small. They take in 65 students every year. However, after the first year that usually drops to 30/40 students. Yes, half the students usually drop out after the first year, sometimes less sometimes more. The radiography department is very dated and falling apart and extremely dark and depressing. Like the OP said, there is no diversity at the university. That might be an issue for some people.
My advice for you is to stay clear of this university. It has a reputation. A bad one that is.
http://cardiffstudentmedia.co.uk/gairrhydd/cardiff-university-labelled-bad-practice-uni/
I will be uploading their official results and drop out rates in a few days for students to have a look at.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by CookieButter
It is against the law, but in this university some students work more than 40 hours a week to make up for sick days or time they will be having off.
There are many valid complaints in your post, but this is quite a strong accusation. It isn't against the law for a university to require a student to make up clinical practice hours so they meet the required level for qualification. Students aren't employees.
Original post by FXX
There are many valid complaints in your post, but this is quite a strong accusation. It isn't against the law for a university to require a student to make up clinical practice hours so they meet the required level for qualification. Students aren't employees.
Universities and their courses are subject to polices and regulations put in place by governmental authorities and regulators. If they break these policies, these regulations they are breaking the law.
Contrary to what you might think, it is in fact against the law in this country for diagnostic radiography students to work more than 37.5 hours a week in clinical placement.
In 2014 a motion was put forward by the SoR in their annual delegates meeting that saw the introduction of new regulations for student working hours at placement. The motion stipulated that:
“There should be a minimum of at least a 15 minute break every 3 hours worked and a 1 hour break during the middle of any shifts. Students should also not exceed 37.5 hours per week.”
This motion was accepted by the ADC and the HCPC. It was put into affect late 2014 and is now part of the course regulations, which universities are required to abide by. If they don’t they are considered to be breaking the law.
https://www.sor.org/ADC-2014-motions
If you are being made to work more than 37.5 hours a week. I recommend that you contact the SoR and inform them of this. It is not allowed. It is against course regulations. Universities should not be able to get away with over-working their students in an effort to protect their interests or out of ignorance.
Stay tuned….If you think this issue of over working students is ‘serious’ than you are going to die when you see the results and the drop out rates for diagnostic radiography at this university. I will be posting them soon.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by CookieButter
Universities and their courses are subject to polices and regulations put in place by governmental authorities and regulators. If they break these policies, these regulations they are breaking the law.
Contrary to what you might think, it is in fact against the law in this country for diagnostic radiography students to work more than 37.5 hours a week in clinical placement.
In 2014 a motion was put forward by the SoR in their annual delegates meeting that saw the introduction of new regulations for student working hours at placement. The motion stipulated that:
“There should be a minimum of at least a 15 minute break every 3 hours worked and a 1 hour break during the middle of any shifts. Students should also not exceed 37.5 hours per week.”
This motion was accepted by the ADC and the HCPC. It was put into affect late 2014 and is now part of the course regulations, which universities are required to abide by. If they don’t they are considered to be breaking the law.
https://www.sor.org/ADC-2014-motions
If you are being made to work more than 37.5 hours a week. I recommend that you contact the SoR and inform them of this. It is not allowed. It is against course regulations. Universities should not be able to get away with over-working their students in an effort to protect their interests or out of ignorance.
Stay tuned….If you think this issue of over working students is ‘serious’ than you are going to die when you see the results and the drop out rates. I will be posting them soon.
Contrary to what you might think, it is in fact against the law in this country for diagnostic radiography students to work more than 37.5 hours a week in clinical placement.
In 2014 a motion was put forward by the SoR in their annual delegates meeting that saw the introduction of new regulations for student working hours at placement. The motion stipulated that:
“There should be a minimum of at least a 15 minute break every 3 hours worked and a 1 hour break during the middle of any shifts. Students should also not exceed 37.5 hours per week.”
This motion was accepted by the ADC and the HCPC. It was put into affect late 2014 and is now part of the course regulations, which universities are required to abide by. If they don’t they are considered to be breaking the law.
https://www.sor.org/ADC-2014-motions
If you are being made to work more than 37.5 hours a week. I recommend that you contact the SoR and inform them of this. It is not allowed. It is against course regulations. Universities should not be able to get away with over-working their students in an effort to protect their interests or out of ignorance.
Stay tuned….If you think this issue of over working students is ‘serious’ than you are going to die when you see the results and the drop out rates. I will be posting them soon.
So which law are they breaking?
If you're off sick or take time off you're not working, so you can be expected to make the time up. You're not an employee (it even says so in the link you've provided) so you don't get sick pay.
If you were sick for a week in the middle of your preceptorship, your preceptorship would be extended another week to make the time up.
The SoR and HCPC can whine all they want. Neither can do anything. If you don't have the correct number of placement hours at the end of the three years the university can fail you. All of us that are registered have had to do the same course with the same hours so don't think it's unfair. It's only unfair if people that don't have sufficient experience are still allowed to qualify.
(edited 7 years ago)
Hi what did you get in your a levels to study radiography
Original post by FXX
So which law are they breaking?
If you're off sick or take time off you're not working, so you can be expected to make the time up. You're not an employee so you don't get sick pay.
If you were sick for a week in the middle of your preceptorship, your preceptorship would be extended another week to make the time up.
The SoR and HCPC can whine all they want. Neither can do anything. If you don't have the correct number of placement hours at the end of the three years the university can fail you. All of us that are registered have had to do the same course with the same hours so don't think it's unfair. It's only unfair if people that don't have sufficient experience are still allowed to qualify.
If you're off sick or take time off you're not working, so you can be expected to make the time up. You're not an employee so you don't get sick pay.
If you were sick for a week in the middle of your preceptorship, your preceptorship would be extended another week to make the time up.
The SoR and HCPC can whine all they want. Neither can do anything. If you don't have the correct number of placement hours at the end of the three years the university can fail you. All of us that are registered have had to do the same course with the same hours so don't think it's unfair. It's only unfair if people that don't have sufficient experience are still allowed to qualify.
if you think that universities are not subject to professional standards and regulations put in place by authorities such as the HCPC then you do not understand how this country works and I cannot really help fill in the vast gap that you have in your knowledge. Lets not derail this thread. Stay tuned for the results. I will be posting them on one of my comments on page 1 of this thread, shortly.
(edited 7 years ago)
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