Notthingham trent vs kent

Im an international student having offers at msc international business. Confused at where should i go. Both business schools seem good.Heard trent is improving while kent is on the decline. Heard that in Canterybury[city in which kent is] lack of part time jobs and depressing dead city life.
Trent is an ex poly, is that frowned upon. Please guide me also keeping in mind graduate prospects

Reply 1

kiremio

as someone who's been at both (albeit for a short time so far), i can tell you that both are good unis but are starkly different to one another. it really depends on the student experience you're looking for.

both are similarly well-regarded in terms of league tables and graduate prospects. ntu is very highly rated for employability, whilst kent ranks higher in academic prestige. i'd imagine the course at ntu would have more practical application, whilst kent would have more academic progression and involvement.

in terms of the university life itself, ntu is very much regarded as a 'party' university, and from my time there i can affirm that it does live up to the stereotype. the nightlife is phenomenal, but it is a huge part of the uni culture, so while there are obvious sober events to attend you'll probably struggle to find your crowd if you're not a clubber. ntu is also located directly in the city centre of quite a popular uk city, so your daily environment will be quite loud, buzzing, and fulfilling (though potentially overwhelming if you're not used to cities, there's always some form of noise going on). kent, however, is a quaint, green campus with MUCH less drinking/clubbing culture. i moved from ntu to kent and was shocked at how different the two are. i'd say it's very 50/50 at kent with drinkers & non-drinkers, and there is definitely much more of an academic focus than at ntu. around 70% of people i've met at kent have been quite introverted, however at ntu everyone seemed very extroverted and eager to go out daily. again, whether this is good or bad depends entirely on your preference. the city of canterbury is pretty and has a historical vibe, but not much going on in the way of nightlife, and definitely not as much of a proper bustling city vibe as nottingham. excellent for people who prefer a quieter lifestyle, but perhaps a bit stifling if you don't. it does definitely carry a 'boarding school without the rules' feel, whilst nottingham feels a lot freer.

honestly, as i've said about 100 times now, it really just depends on your preferences. as you identified, both have good business schools, but both excel in different ways. both have decent student life, but two starkly different experiences.

let me know which you choose! hope this was helpful and all goes well for you.

Reply 2

University of Kent

Official Rep

Original post by dezi1

Hey @dezi1,

I hope you're keeping well. 🙂

Honestly, I completely agree with what kiremio said.
I couldn't necessarily speak for NTU academically, though I'm sure they're great, but when I was applying for university, I knew NTU as 'the party uni'. It's definitely a more social, club-going crowd. Canterbury does also have nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and the like, and in fact you'll have all of those at campus in Kent as well - but, I personally really like Kent because I can sleep peacefully at night whilst on campus.
I would say its more like a peaceful, calm, european city more than a dead one. The city council is continuing to invest in areas around the city, businesses are in my opinion steady, more people are choosing to live there as well due to it increasingly becoming a commuter city to London. There are parks inside and out of the city walls, its got historic architecture which you'll see basically everywhere you go. Nice, little cafes around the corner. Some places are cheap and some others are quite expensive. Nothing dead about it thankfully. Idk, but that's my impression of it having lived there for 2 years.
As for part-time jobs, I think you're right in the sense that you'll find less opportunity to work in Kent than you would in Nottingham, but I'd say thats more just because Nottingham is a much bigger city - so there'll be more opportunities for job seeking. I notice that Aldi, Sainsbury's and Morrisons often have adverts on recruiting whenever I go there, but I have to say, whenever I apply for a part-time job, I can't help but feel like there's an aspect of luck there (and I have terrible luck!). I imagine both universities (I know Kent does) will still have jobs available on campus, whether it be for the university itself or for a business stationed on campus, since you always see students taking odd-jobs on campus, but with these you have to be fast in applying.

As for Kent on the decline - I'd say that it was true on average. Key part - on average. It's definitely a shame that some courses had to be cut back - BUT, Kent Business School itself was growing throughout this, and is only continuing to grow. The cut back courses were like journalism, anthropology, etc. The university has also on average managed to climb back up a few spots back from a few years ago, meaning its starting to recover as well.

KBS actually prides itself on commiting more of its resources on its postgraduate students, though they don't tell that to UGs lmao. It's a really good business school, which focuses on delivering both rigourous quantitative and qualitative aspects on the subjects that they teach, meaning that you'll essentially have all the resources that you'll need to successfully study MSc International Business whilst there.
It's also incredibly well connected, not just to many London based firms, but also to international corporations, governmental agencies, as well as a whole host of other universities. On top of that, due to KBS and the School of Economics at Kent (also one of the universities heavy hitting departments) sharing a building together, it means that there's not just plenty of chances to connect and network with students from that other school - but basically always, whenever one school hosts an event, all the students from the other school are free to attend if they wish. I.e. double the networking and learning opportunities.

As for ex-poly, I wouldn't say that many people look down on ex-polytechnic univerisites. I would say that people will probably assume you're a lot more extroverted though if you go to NTU (at least brits will).
As for graduate prospects, KBS has a very extensive list of very fancy locations that many of its alumni have gone on to work at. It makes sense, given that its a triple-crown business school. But to list just a few, some places that students sharing your interests went include BP, JPMorgan, Pace Capital, Deloitte, etc. So honestly, a huge range of potential career paths, for what is a very dynamic and sophisticated subject.

Anyways, sorry for writing a lot, but I hope my 2 cents have helped. 🙂

Warm regards,

David 🙂
University of Kent Student Rep