The Student Room Group

A Real Review

Someone previously posted a review on this forum of Edge Hill University - and their experience was eerily similar to mine.

So, as the University continued to reach their claws out after I tried to put them behind me, I wanted to give my own experience.

Additionally, I wanted to do this before the Vice Chancellor leaves, as people should know the truth - he shouldn't get to leave with no blemishes.

I hope the poster of the original review doesn't mind, but I'm going to mostly do it in the same style they did:

1. Teaching.
Appalling. There were clear biases in favour of and against certain students. Various Student's Unions had been trying to get the University to agree to anonymous marking for years, but were ignored (and in the case of the 2017-2019 bunch, were in the pockets of the University. I even remember one person being told during a tutorial specifically that if he changed two things, he'd get a great mark. He changed them, got a rubbish mark, and was told he should have changed something else.

The instructions were frequently unclear, the marking criteria was inconsistent, and these things helped markers to be biased in their marking of students' work.

2. Support.
None. When I reached out to the Union for support with a complaint, one person got aggressive, and on a different occasion, the person who agreed to go with me to a meeting stated that he could only sit there, not speak up for me or be a witness. I had a support plan for my disabilities but it was completely ignored.

3. Student' Union.
Very poor (see Support above). Additionally, during an election campaign, I was tipped off that the people who had been elected previously (and were running for re-election), let's call them LM and DB, were lying about candidates, including me. For example:
- They intentionally put posters where they were told not to and when the staff removed them, they filmed the staff member from behind and claimed that it was me ripping down posters. When it was proven that they had lied, the Union took no action.
- They spread lies about me that suggested I was some sort of pervert.
- They spread lies about a candidate who was gay, claiming that candidate was homophobic.
In total, there were at least 11 complaints registered against them (and their two friends who were also running for re-election), all dismissed except one, which was only not dismissed because I had warned of legal action for libel.

So in short, the very people who were supposed to stand up for students were treating them horribly.

Additionally, none of the other candidates were told about one position, so LM ran for it unopposed and naturally got "elected".

I know exactly who the two guys who 'seem more like campus celebrities' than focusing on helping students are (from the other thread), but I noticed the other thread was edited to remove personal details, so I can't say who. They're the ones who behaved the way described above.

4. Ormskirk.
Seems nice and sort of quaint when you first see it, but it's actually not great. Only supermarkets within walking distance of the University (around 20 minutes, despite the University claiming it's less) are Morrisons and Aldi. It has only one nightclub that has a bad reputation (and apparently guys from Liverpool go there because they think the girls are "easy" - disgusting attitude), a number of shops have closed down, and sadly the area now has a large number of chavs.

To have a nightlife, students have to go into Liverpool, which costs loads if you get a taxi - and Merseyrail won't let people back on if they've been drinking. Plus their fares keep going up anyway and there have been times the service has stopped with no replacement buses put on.

As the original poster mentioned, the town does sometimes reek because of nearby farming. It also has tiny little black flies in Summer - you can get literally thousands of them attaching themselves to your clothes and skin.

There's nothing really to do in the town either.

5. Campus.
Admittedly, the campus is beautiful - it's a perfect example of the phrase "appearances can be deceptive". People fall in love with the campus (lots of nature, fountains, sometimes swans, etc.) and then their mental health is destroyed by the way the University treats its students.

6. Accommodation.
Unsafe and dangerous. During campus tours, doors were constantly left open (other universities loan an access fob with strict conditions, to the tour guides), meaning anyone could walk in (as the main entrance has no gates) and steal things.

There was a massive amount of black mould which was complained about numerous times, but ignored until students were moving out. As a result, I got a severe chest infection that affected my ability to attend classes.

There was a silverfish infestation so large that they were seen in the daytime several times. It was reported numerous times but the problem never resolved.

The windows were rotting, too.

There's worse but the rest is to do with other peoples' experiences, not my own.

7. Censorship.
After I spoke to people about some of my experience, I was subjected to disciplinary proceedings, where the first stages were skipped. There was a completely illegal chilling effect clause in the rules that banned even verbally saying anything bad about the University.

8. Corruption.
During a disciplinary hearing (which had been intentionally rearranged for the next day in order to make it impossible for me to find someone to go with me at such short notice) that was instigated because I'd shared photographs of the mould in the accommodation along with the experiences of other students, the so-called "evidence" used things that had nothing to do with me - including the original review that I've mentioned in this post, which was by someone who wasn't even from the same department as me.

9. The Vice Chancellor.
The Vice Chancellor is leaving at the end of January so I wanted to make this post now so people see what the University that he has run for several years is really like.

During my time at Edge Hill University, the behaviour of staff was affecting my mental health, so I reached out to the Vice Chancellor, John Cater. I made a petition pleading for support.

Instead of helping me, he used that petition against me in a disciplinary hearing (the hearing that was set up because I'd shared information about how Edge Hill University was treating students - e.g. mould in the accommodation). He literally used my plea for support against me.

After I left (completed my master's elsewhere), I tried to put the horrible excuse for a university behind me but, their behaviour affected the relationship with a close friend (naturally, the friend's mother assumed that there must have been a good reason for the disciplinary proceedings - she wouldn't believe it was because of my exposing some of the behaviour of the University). As a result, I now have nothing to lose, so I've decided to write this review so people can see what Edge Hill University is really like. Please don't be fooled by the attractive campus.

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