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Uni of Westminster..what rubbish

How is the teaching and facilities in the School of Informatics of westminster?? as i maybe studying there on the course information systems with business management wit placement.

Reply 21

C_D_forever

4

wlm

How is the teaching and facilities in the School of Informatics of westminster?? as i maybe studying there on the course information systems with business management wit placement.

This is possibly a bit late - but your best bet is going to an open day, and talking to students and staff and having a look around the place to make your own mind up:

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-703

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-4469

I can only direct you to some specific links regarding the school of informatics, here they are just incase you haven't already looked at them:

http://www.wmin.ac.uk/cscs/page-1
http://www.wmin.ac.uk/cscs/page-4

Reply 22

lazza

15

personally i am proud of the fact i am going to westminster to study fashion next year. a highflyer at GFW the past few years, whilst other "top" art schools lack in facilities, basic pattern cutting lessons, etcetcetc. yeah it might not have the same "art school cool" behind it, but university is what you make of it. and i will make the most of the excellent teaching whilst continuing my social life in town.

i do find it incredibly amusing how much people like to slag off other universities. if all universities were the same then we might as well go to our local one. i do out of curiousity (and nothing more, i can't be fannied with some silly argument) how many of you from UL slagging of UW were rejected from say... oxbridge?

Reply 23

student_london

8

I admire your persistence, but you can twist it and turn it as much as you like....but in the eye of many students, teachers and people in general, Uni of Westminster is a below par Uni. I know you like to bombard people with quotes and references, but you have to accept the fact.
Maybe it's taking time for you to realise this, but I'm sure one day reality will hit you. I'm not trying to downgrade Uni of Westminster, but it's important that you know how people perceive this uni. Every uni has a few departments that are better then the university as a whole. However, that doesn't imply that the University as a whole, is world-class too. I think that applies to Uni of Westminster. Surely, they are good in languages and media studies, but come on guys, let's not kid ourselves it's not russel group or ivy league.
Several acid tests that that are:

- Rankings?
- Alumini?
- Companies?

I personally don't know any 'Bulge Bracket' investment bank that take FO people from Uni of Westminster. There, might be some but I can assure that they are exceptions.
I hope this comment helps, as it's good to have a reality check at times.

Reply 24

akmd

11

Nobody is trying to make out it's a world class institution but it's not quite as bad as some people make out. It was rated Grade 5 in 4 subjects at the last RAE, which is more than any other ex-polytechnic or new university managed. It was also the first of its kind (opened in 1838). It has things to improve on such as it's high drop-out rate, multiple sites resulting in lack of cohesion of the uni as a whole etc. But it can do it if it wants to and hopefully they will.

Reply 25

C_D_forever

4

student_london

I admire your persistence, but you can twist it and turn it as much as you like....but in the eye of many students, teachers and people in general, Uni of Westminster is a below par Uni. I know you like to bombard people with quotes and references, but you have to accept the fact.

I hope this comment helps, as it's good to have a reality check at times.

Yes that comment helped - here follows a reality check. Obviously you aren't an academic and obviously know little if anything when it comes to how universities are measured by the people who matter. Within the academic world it is considered to be of worth and across the board could never be described as "below par".

Due to the media perception (look up perception) - especially the Times league tables - people who obviously don't do their research, are naive or haven't the inclination to dig deeper will obviously look at rankings as a lazy way to help them along.

Rankings made up of data that is years out of date, spurious and at times laughable. The majority of people who enter Westminster are usually in their early twenties, the cut of age is 21, the papers use data for 18-21 year olds when compiling these statistics.

Your "acid test" is naive - firstly rankings, which are a joke as explained above; alumni - you mean like Sir Alexander Fleming, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945, Carlos the Jackal, self-proclaimed leftist revolutionary and mercenary, terrorist [not something to brag about granted] and Christopher Bailey, Design Director, Burberry. As well as many figures high up in the business, political and media world such as Michael Jackson, Chairman of Universal Television Group USA - the list goes on.

As for companies I'm not sure what you're getting at - do you mean the kind of blue chip companies which obviously take on graduates from Westminster or its subsidiaries and many spin out companies it owns. What about the type of people who lecture at Westminster - such as Professor Angela Clow - the Stress Professor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2004_28_sat_01.shtml or David

Dunkley Gyimah of View magazine http://www.viewmagazine.tv/aboutus.html

Who incidentally went to LSE: David is an Applied Chemistry graduate, with a post grad in Journalism from Falmouth and further studies in International Relations and Global Finance from The London School of Economics. He is a member of Chatham House, the BJTC, and a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster.

I could go on but this post is massive enough as it is. So what if you don't know of any "bulge bracket" investment banks who take on Westminster students - the vast majority of people who go to Westminster go there because it is a powerhouse in the arts and media and very good in everything else. Plus does this somehow form part of the "acid test" for how good a place is. Again here comes the word naive.

Obviously it isn't in the Russell Group which is about bringing together research powerhouses, and just like the term "Ivy League" has connotations of elitism, selectivity in admissions and social elitism.

Westminster was never about this and never will be, the founder Quintin Hogg had a vision to provide for the athletic, intellectual, social and religious needs of young men, and to this end he provided a range of sporting and social facilities as well as an increasing range of educational and vocational classes. Obviously Westminster has expanded this and is a very diverse, multicultural and accepting university with university campuses across the globe, they have a Paris centre as well as a university centre in Uzbekistan: http://www.wiut.uz/

The Diplomatic Academy of London (DAL) is the longest established British institution that offers postgraduate and training programmes in Diplomatic studies and International Relations, in London, United Kingdom and Paris, France.

The Diplomatic Academy of London is located within the Regent Campus of the University of Westminster in the West End of London, as well as at the Westminster Centre for International Studies in Paris, hosted by the Faculte Libre de Droit d'Economie et ge Gestion de Paris (FACO).

The next Research Assessment Exercise is in December 2008 - I will predict that Westminster will easily catch up with many of the plate glass universities by then (it already out paces a few now) - it already has three academics on the panel for the RAE 2008 - Professor Clow is one of them (usually it's all the Russell group universities only), LSE has seven academics on the panel.

So why should anyone be told to "accept facts" from someone who obviously can't think for themselves. You're at LSE, you should be able to handle a few "quotes and references" - I don't like to cast aspersions without backing up what I say. I hope this helped - like you said, it's good to have a reality check now and again.

Reply 26

student_london

8

There you go again......lol. Anyway, I'm not going to spend arguing with you b/c it's a lost battle for me.
I hope it will get better, but don't expect any miracles yet! There's too much competition in London and I personally think that the GAP between the Top 10 in London and Uni of Westminster is too big!.

Reply 27

lazza

15

student_london

Several acid tests that that are:

- Rankings?
- Alumini?
- Companies?

Alumni-
Christopher Bailey- Creative Director of Burberry
Stuart Vevers- Creative Director of Mulberry
Vivienne Westwood
Michael Herz-Creative Director of Aquascutum
Carrie Munden- Cassetteplaya
Katie Hillier- Creative Director of her brand, ex. accessory designer for luella, marc jacobs and hogan

Now, hopefully you're not completely ignorant and realise that they're all incredibly influencial people in the fashion industry. Both Bailey and Herz were part of the reboost of their brands. Look at mulberry since vevers started? And Westwood, although she only did part of her degree, i'd still say she's pretty successful now don't you think?

Rankings-
Stack of ****e. They don't show everything you know. Their "art and design" tables have unis near the top that don't even do art and design subjects... explain that one...? Personally I don't trust them. I do however trust GFW awards and reviews from Vogue, Hilary Alexander and so forth...

Companies-
Well, guest lecturers include...
Aitor Throup - Menswear Designer
Andrew Davis - Fashion Editor Arena Homme Plus
Antonio Berardi - Designer
Basso & Brooke - Designers
Carrie Mundane - Designer, Cassetteplaya
Ebru Ercon - Designer
Jens Laugesen - Designer
John Galliano - Designer
Julian MacDonald - Designer
Katie Grand - Stylist
Maria Paschal Chen - Designer
Mark Maidment - Creative Director Ben Sherman
Preen - Designers
Professor Julian Roberts - Designer
Richard Gray - Illustrator
Ross Phillips - Head of Interactive SHOWstudio
Sally Turner - Designer Mulberry
Shelley Fox - Designer
Sophie Dean - Fashion Editor Wallpaper* Magazine
Tamsin Blanchard - Journalist
Tracy Mulligan - Designer
Tristan Webber - Designer
Winni Lok - Designer

and placements at...

Alexander McQueen
Ann Sophie Back
Anne Valerie Hash
Aquascutum
Arena magazine
Ben de Lisi
Ben Sherman
Ben Maher
Beverley cable pr
Blow PR
Bora aksu
Boudicca
Burberry
Cassetteplaya
Christopher Kane
Clements Ribeiro
Ebru Ercon
Giles Deacon
Frost French
Fred Perry
Harper's Bazaar, NY
Jens Laugessen
Jimmy Choo
Jonathan Saunders
Julien Macdonald
La Petite Salope
Luella
Madame V
Moschino
Mulberry
Peter Jensen
Peter Som
Preen
Rebecca Taylor
Sophia Malig
Stella McCartney
Tank magazine
Tata Naka
Todd Lynn
Top Shop
TopMan
Tristan Webber
Versace
Vivienne Westwood
Vogue

I'd say industry links there (designers wont take on people from crap unis if they have to)

At the end of the day you go to LSE, a fine example of the fact that many of our london universites are majority international students. Where are home students who aren't paying tens of thousands meant to go eh?

But in all honesty when you go out into the real world you'll realise that people come from all different backgrounds and if you start slagging off everyone else's education you're going to get in alot of trouble and make very few friends..

Reply 28

W147

Westminster is just crap. (FYI I have a degree from another uni which was great). I have currently been waiting 4 and a half months for my latest piece of work to be marked (this is not unusual). I have made complaints but have had no responses from either the registry office or the course teachers. My course leader and unit leader have not responded to a single email ALL YEAR.

If you can go somewhere else then do - the teaching is rubbish, the pastoral care is rubbish, the communication is rubbish, you don't get your marked work back (therefore no feedback) - only the mark, and this can take up to 5 months.

Its also ranked 112th in the UK for student satisfaction - among the lowest.

Reply 29

HAnwar

17

Original post by W147

Westminster is just crap. (FYI I have a degree from another uni which was great). I have currently been waiting 4 and a half months for my latest piece of work to be marked (this is not unusual). I have made complaints but have had no responses from either the registry office or the course teachers. My course leader and unit leader have not responded to a single email ALL YEAR.

If you can go somewhere else then do - the teaching is rubbish, the pastoral care is rubbish, the communication is rubbish, you don't get your marked work back (therefore no feedback) - only the mark, and this can take up to 5 months.

Its also ranked 112th in the UK for student satisfaction - among the lowest.

Woah that's a bit extreme.

My friends who go there have had opposite experiences.

What course is this?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 30

FADH2

1

Original post by HAnwar

Woah that's a bit extreme.

My friends who go there have had opposite experiences.

What course is this?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi,
I am going to study Biomedical Science (Undergraduate BSc) this year and I'm confused by many different opinions here.
May I ask what subject your friend is reading there and how is the teaching there?
Thanks

Uni of Westminster..what rubbish

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