Uni of Westminster..what rubbish

city_chic

Sorry, I just had to say this..the BA in French doesn't even offer a year abroad! Not that I'd consider going there anyway..but still :p:

Yeah, what rubbish indeed!

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/sshl/page-1289

https://srs21live.wmin.ac.uk/ipp/U09FUFNS.htm

The focus of the Language degrees is communication in a multi-cultural world and our students themselves come from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds.
Students studying on the BA in Modern Languages spend one academic year abroad, as students in one of the many institutions with which the University has an exchange programme. These include universities and other institutions in continental France (Paris, Toulouse, Montpellier, Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Lyon, Angers), French overseas departments (Martinique and Réunion) as well as French-speaking countries such as Switzerland (Geneva), Belgium (Brussels), Tunisia (Tunis) and Canada (Montréal). Students from these institutions come to London and study for a semester or a year alongside BA students at Westminster.

Introduction
There are a number of ways to study languages at Westminster.

1.The BA (Hons) Modern Languages is a four-year full-time programme (5-9 years part-time) which incorporates a full academic year abraod.

2.The BA (Hons) Language Studies is a three-year full-time programme (4-6 years part-time). It has a similar content to the BA (Hons) Modern Languages but does not include a compulsory period abroad.

Reply 4

city_chic

OP

13

^ Hmm, contradictory or what?!

Reply 5

Empyreal Rhapsody

8

C_D_forever

Students studying on the BA in Modern Languages spend one academic year abroad

Haha, owned.

Reply 6

city_chic

^ Hmm, contradictory or what?!

Hmmm....maybe you should do your research in future, I mean they even have French overseas departments and have opened university campuses in Paris, so I think they'd be offering an academic year abroad. :s

http://www.wminac-paris.org/index.html

Reply 7

akmd

11

I wouldn't go as far as calling it rubbish. It may not be the best London has to offer but it is well rated for things such as media. I understand their media facilities are among the best in the country!

Reply 8

akmd

I wouldn't go as far as calling it rubbish. It may not be the best London has to offer but it is well rated for things such as media. I understand their media facilities are among the best in the country!

I think city chic meant that the “fact” its French degree didn't offer a year abroad and that (quite rightly), would have been more than rubbish - fortunately for Westminster her research skills were a bit off. How she came to that conclusion is beyond me.

It's far in advance when it comes to its media department and facilities - why people keep banging on about UAL for fashion and media is strange, as Westminster is probably more selective and it probably a stronger place to do a degree in this type of field.

Westminster is doing fine and is one, if not best "new" university in London - when you look at it's RAE ratings, facilities and independent subsidiary bodies that are a part of it. It's even acquired the PSI (Policy Studies Institute) which laid the blueprint for what is (or was) the NHS.

http://www.psi.org.uk/about/default.asp

PSI undertakes and publishes research studies relevant to social, economic, industrial and environmental policy. The Institute is a charity, run on a not-for-profit basis. In 1998 it merged to become an independent subsidiary of the University of Westminster.

PSI takes a politically neutral stance on issues of public policy and has no connections with any political party, commercial interest or pressure group.

Reply 9

akmd

11

People always go on about UAL because it has a 'cool' factor that Westminster does not possess.

Reply 10

gingham_pirate

C_D_forever

It's far in advance when it comes to its media department and facilities - why people keep banging on about UAL for fashion and media is strange, as Westminster is probably more selective and it probably a stronger place to do a degree in this type of field.

That is true, there's only 34 places on the fashion course and it has the strongest industry links I've seen in any of the undergraduate courses. CSM is only good for MAs. But then I'm biased :wink:

Reply 11

two of my friends go Westminster uni. they say it's appalling.

Reply 12

akmd

11

JakSmit

two of my friends go Westminster uni. they say it's appalling.

Which subjects are they studying just out of interest?

Reply 13

JakSmit

two of my friends go Westminster uni. they say it's appalling.

You usually find that the weaker students are the one who complain about any institution if they aren't able to keep up or aren't doing very well. They need to lay the blame somewhere, instead of taking responsibility for their own shortcomings.

The stronger students who find that their complaints are valid, concerning any particular institutions academic standing or just the way they conduct themselves, move somewhere else or take a different direction instead of wasting their time and generally being lazy and avoiding all responsibility.

On the whole you’ll find that this doesn’t happen with these types of people, as they have strong direction and know what they need to do. Have your friends tried to apply somewhere else? I’m guessing they haven’t.

Reply 14

Which subjects are they studying just out of interest?

Computer Science

You usually find that the weaker students are the one who complain about any institution if they aren't able to keep up or aren't doing very well. They need to lay the blame somewhere, instead of taking responsibility for their own shortcomings.

The stronger students who find that their complaints are valid, concerning any particular institutions academic standing or just the way they conduct themselves, move somewhere else or take a different direction instead of wasting their time and generally being lazy and avoiding all responsibility.

On the whole you’ll find that this doesn’t happen with these types of people, as they have strong direction and know what they need to do. Have your friends tried to apply somewhere else? I’m guessing they haven’t.

LOL. Actually they are both studying for an MSc, so already have degrees from other universities. In fact, one of them has a BSc from one uni and already has a further MSc from another university. Therefore they probably are quite well placed to judge a university and probably wouldn't have continued their further education if they were lazy...

Reply 15

JakSmit

Computer Science

LOL. Actually they are both studying for an MSc, so already have degrees from other universities. In fact, one of them has a BSc from one uni and already has a further MSc from another university. Therefore they probably are quite well placed to judge a university and probably wouldn't have continued their further education if they were lazy...

Well I must say that's unusual and bizarre, the school of informatics at Westminster is suppose to be very strong with good facilities and a strong research base, why anyone would do two MSc instead of either moving on to a PhD or in to the job market is beyond me.

If they are both studying for a Masters they must have Bachelor degrees already granted, but you can judge a university from doing your research well in advance and it shows how second-rate someone is if they go to another university to do something as expensive as a masters and then complain about it, especially if they are postgraduates. If they had specific complaints about administration or the running of the place, fine – but every university has these types of problems and you can usually get around these problems yourself by being proactive.

I personally, from my research can not say academically Westminster is poor, far from it.

Reply 16

whether a place is good or not is always going to be personal opinion really but looking at the rankings or whatever and just from personal advice, i wouldn't personally rank it as brilliant.

Reply 17

JakSmit

whether a place is good or not is always going to be personal opinion really but looking at the rankings or whatever and just from personal advice, i wouldn't personally rank it as brilliant.

Well like you've said, a person’s university preference is a personal thing, which is usually built up after a person has spent some time there. As for the rankings, Keele University has decided to join London Metropolitan and embargo their data from being used to place them in these highly subjective tables. Keele is a good reputable plate glass university and just because it has decided not to appear in these tables, is it automatically now going to be seen as bad?

Tables which are compiled on spurious data and doesn't take in to account students entering the university that are 21 or over or part-time students or uses entry scores is somehow lacking. All it says is how exclusive or inclusive a place is. As you can see from this, places like Westminster enter more people who are 21 or over in age than the traditional universities, so it’s obviously going to reflect their rankings in the table.

As far as research (RAE Research Assessment Exercise) and teaching, facilities go - Westminster is clearly one of if not the strongest out of the post 1992 universities and is catching up or matching some of the plate glass universities founded in the 1960's
.

Reply 18

I dunno. The fact that it used to be a polytechnic and only became an actual university in 1992 can't be too good, I don't know any post 1992 unis that are good.

Reply 19