What Uni? Groningen, Maastricht or Kent

Dear all,I received offers to study law at different universities but I am mainly interested in Kent, Maastricht and Groningen. With the pandemic, and thereby the lockdown, I cannot go visit these universities and their towns/cities. I was hoping to get some advice from students who are familiar with these universities. Especially law (international/european law) students. If you have advice (pros/cons) please do reply.

Reply 1

StudentRep Medway

Official Rep

Original post by ChiaraJ

Hi there!
I'm currently studying at the University of Kent and I'm happy to try and paint you a bit of a picture of what the university is like :biggrin:

Also, as visiting the campus obviously isn't an option right now, you could instead take a look at the virtual tours of our campus facilities online :smile:

Obviously it's not ideal but at least it will give you an idea of what the university environment is like! Here's the link in case you're interested - Virtual Tours.
I don't study Law unfortunately, but Kent have an online programme called Unibuddy where prospective students like yourself, can find and chat to current students studying the same subject. This could be really useful to help you get an idea of what it is really like to study Law at Kent :smile:

I'll leave the link here - Unibuddy.
I've genuinely loved my time at Kent and I'll definitely be sad to leave! The Canterbury campus is set in 300 acres of parkland and has some stunning views over Canterbury and the Kent countryside. You can even see the cathedral from some of the accommodation! On campus there is also a gym, cinema, nightclub, theatre, about 5 bars, lots of places to eat and several cafes, so there's plenty to do outside of studying :smile:

There's also loads of sports clubs and societies available and definitely worth checking out if you do decide to come to Kent, as they're a great way to try something new and meet new people :biggrin:

You can see a full list on the Kent Union website - Kent Union.
The campus is about a 20 minute walk from the centre of Canterbury, which is such a beautiful city! There are also 3 other universities in Canterbury so despite being a smaller city, the nightlife still has a great student vibe to it :smile:

You can also get the bus to the beach, one of my favourite things to do when I need a break from revising!

I hope that this helped to give you a bit of a flavour for what Kent is like :smile:

If there's anything else you'd like to know about or if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Best of luck with your university decisions and applications :biggrin:

Reply 2

ChiaraJ

Original post by StudentRep Annabel

Hi there!
I'm currently studying at the University of Kent and I'm happy to try and paint you a bit of a picture of what the university is like :biggrin:

Also, as visiting the campus obviously isn't an option right now, you could instead take a look at the virtual tours of our campus facilities online :smile:

You can also get the bus to the beach, one of my favourite things to do when I need a break from revising!

I hope that this helped to give you a bit of a flavour for what Kent is like :smile:

If there's anything else you'd like to know about or if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
Best of luck with your university decisions and applications :biggrin:

Thank you! Your reply is really helpful and I'll definitely have a look at the links.

Reply 3

16klklkl

I literally could not agree more. I did a foundation at the University of Kent before coming here and UM is a world apart from it. Honestly, the ‘premium’ you pay in the UK is complete worth it when you compare it to university of Maastricht. 90% of professors do not care on bit about their students. I only get 2 lecture a week from actually professor. Each meant to be 2 hours but they end up be 1.5 hours each. The rest is their ‘PBL’, ‘problem based learning’, which is essentially 2nd year students teaching first year or 3rd years teaching 2nd years. Essentially paying students to teach the year below. Which they called ‘problem based elating’. I get that university in the Netherlands is relatively inexpensive but common. Also, a few of my courses literally have to give extra points assignments cause or else no one passed the exams.. like, does that not sound like a problem in itself.. (QMI, QMII) If you are considering university of Maastricht, I beg you to reconsider Also, the fact that they consider themselves so international is laughable. 60% of all students are German..30%..Dutch... 8% Belgian..1% Italian, the other percent maybe international.

Reply 4

Hioghvduj fdi

Hi, what decision did you make? I’m in the exact same situation this year deciding between Law at Maastricht or Law at Kent. I would be really interested to know what you have decided!

Reply 5

greenfly24

Original post by ChiaraJ

Hey, I studied in Maastricht and I had the best experience. The city is wonderful for students and it's easy to travel to the rest of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. I know several people that studied Law and they also had very good experiences. Plus, Maastricht has a unique teaching style (problem based learning) that is focused more on the students and what they've learnt rather than listening to endless lectures. If you do decide on Maastricht I recommend attending the INKOM. Hope this helps!

Reply 6

University of Kent Reps

Official Rep

Original post by Hioghvduj fdi

Hi, what decision did you make? I’m in the exact same situation this year deciding between Law at Maastricht or Law at Kent. I would be really interested to know what you have decided!

Hi!
Congratulations on getting your offers! I am second year student at the University of Kent and although I don't study any subject relevant to your course, I can still give you an idea of what Kent has to offer.

As you know, Law is an extremely competitive course a lot of universities and Kent was ranked amongst the top 20 in The Guardian University Guide 2022 and The Times Good University Guide 2022. The Kent Law School the one of the most popular on campus and its facilities are amongst the most developed facilities including a dedicated moot courtroom, which all contribute to facilitating students ambitions to work in law as a solicitor or barrister, or as a lawyer internationally. You can start by getting involved in real legal practice and assist real clients through Kent Law Clinic.
As every other academic schools, the Kent Law School has its own our student-led law societies and this year, even as an architecture student, I was involved in organising and managing a huge art and performance showcase that brought all students across the university together. So if you ever decide to join us, you will be able to explore your wider interests even within your academic division which supports all constructive student initiatives. I will attach the link to the official website that breaks down the outline of the course, the skills that you will gain, how the course will be taught, what modules will be and what future prospects come with the course: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/177/law
There is also a very interesting section on student experience that highlights students' perspective on the course, which you might find very helpful.

The university is very supportive: students are allocated to academic advisors that offer support through their studies and in many ways help them shape their career prospects. We also a Career and Employability Service on campus which constantly helps students find both part-time and graduate jobs. This exclusive service also offers career advices and helps with CV building.

You should also consider which of the two universities you are comfortable travelling to if you don't mind the distance. It also worth mentioning that living in Canterbury can be more sustainable than living in big cities as well. Visiting the campus can make these very difficult choices much simpler, so feel free to book campus tour here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/visit/open-day-dates
You will have the chance to visit the School of Computing (more information here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/computing), visit the facilities you will studying in, speak to students and lectures, view accommodation, sport facilities we have on campus and have a stroll around town too! Of course, if you cannot attend in person, we have virtual options put in place.

I hope this helps and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

Tracy
UKC Rep

Reply 7

MPapaya

Thanks for posting this is SO helpful. So you don’t really like Maastricht? I was accepted at Kent but was considering applying to Maastricht, although I can do kent in 2 years and Maastricht would require 3 because no graduate entry. I thought that the tutorial in UK universities is also taught by grad students so is it really that different from the PBL at UM? Now I need to decide between Kent and UC Cork and UK vs EU law…