University of the West of Scotland (UWS) Reviews

Would only recommend this University to college students looking for advanced entry into a degree with an HNC OR HND. If you are applying to go into first year and are passionate about your subject GO ELSEWHERE. Currently studying Social Sciences and am fairly enjoying the programme. The lecturers are friendly and competent and are knowledgeable of their subjects. One downside of this University sadly are the students. Because of the lower entry standards many students truthfully aren't up to par. This is an enormous disadvantage when you have to work with disinterested immature people in group assignments. This has made me doubt the decision I made to come to the University, when I get sneered at by other students for contributing in seminars, while the others sit in silence ! The clubs and societies are a joke. The students union is an incompetent joke, To much selfie taking and PR stunts and little communication with students.

Avoid at any costs for any subject area and program. Lecturers are in general incompetent, lazy and never to be found in their offices. According to THEs for years in a row now the worst Uni in Scotland. Some lecturers even do not speak English well enough nor hold a PhD in their subject area! Uni is little know for its research, but claims to be teaching focused. No evidence of that though. Says it all. All the time UWS is in the headlines for the wrong reasons: nepotism, redundancies, student graduation fees. Town a shambles as well with big church across the street now being left to rot away. Easy to pass with a first class honours however, yet, worthless degrees.

good campus with good facilities

Applied to a digital art and design course, which looked great on paper but in reality was completely different from what I paid for, feel cheated and lied to in order to fill spaces and take my money avoid if possible.

I applied to University West of Scotland Ayr Campus 3rd year for BA(Hons) Digital Art and Design Course late 2017. The course curriculum, myself and 50+ other students applied for, changed in June 2018 without student notification. The course was to be a two year top-up course that promised many things that are no longer available. The course changed to a four year program which left third year's with coding art using free software called Processing (not industry standard) and projection art, which also will not get you a job in the digital art and design industry, and scientific research requiring learning paradigms and methodologies. If you, like me, practice by drawing in a computer environment and expect imaginative briefs at this level. Think again. We stayed because we were told that there would be groups to flesh out what we weren't getting on the course. But, the tutors gave us assignments to create adverts that only served to further UWS Agenda. So we left the groups. Beware.

One of the best University in the UK. I studied at this University for 5 years. I completed my BA (Human Resource Management) and MSc (International Management) I have a great experience as a student at the University of the west of Scotland. All the staff especially my lecturers and supervisors are very helpful. The University environment is outstanding. All facilities are available which acquired for students to study. I can't forget my golden time at UWS.

Look at another university. Seriously. This University is awful. Grading is all over the place. My tutor told me I should drop because of my disability.

I am so dissapointed with the services of this university.I advice my sister from Cameroon to apply to this university.She is suppose to start school on the 3rd of September and up till date she has not received her CAS letter.All attempts to get to them on this matter was futile.I regret helping her make a poor decision.I am in the UK and I schooled here.I have never seen such poor services and communication.Terrible

I am studying doctorate in business administration from London campus. Although, London campus Is smaller in size compared to other campuses of UWS but has all the facilities. The university ranking keeps on increasing every year and the degrees are recognised everywhere. The new Lanarkshire campus is one of the best buildings.

This university is a joke, staff is most unhelpful and unfriendly I ever experienced. Organisation of the course basically not exist, sweeping problems under the carpet is everyday routine. Academic support exists only in theory.

Excellent student life Lecturers/readers well established in their respective fields Massive improvements made to the PAISLEY campus AYR campus airy; spacious. WiFi is easily reached all over campus (s) Fantastic library Interdisciplinary learning encouraged in some faculties Great support for Honours/postgrad research UWS inspires you to learn Offers subjects like: PSYCHOLOGY, COMPUTER SCIENCE, EDUCATION (PGDE), NURSING; and more

From sweeping problems under the table and threatening students with expulsion to out of date facilities and resources, UWS continues to exceed my expectations in how bad it is. It took me longer than most to graduate and there are a few absolute gems of staff members but be careful who you trust, Always keep records of meetings, if you have issues most of the time they will be dismissed, make the union aware of there are hints of this, it saved me from expulsion. I've eavesdropped on the staff and the rumours I heard are true they gossip terribly about everything. The UWS rumour mill keep a churning. Careful what you post online the lecturers found me and somehow gained access to my profile. They took things out of context to put me in a bad light. This university is not worth the money or the stress, and a degree from here isn't worth the paper the certificate is printed on. That being said I have made some friends for life, forged strong bonds through the troubles.

I am from China and studying MBA in UWS London Campus. The tuition fee is £6450 for the one-year full-time program. As living and studying in Central London, I really enjoy the life here and thank to UWS open this new campus in London.

simply put, its an old building, its been standing for longer than ive been alive and is prone to having structural problems (theres a few leaks) but, this is the last year Hamilton Campus will be used, so, new building should be far superior. I'm Currently studying social sciences, which is a blast, modules are fairly well coordinated, and the lectures are informative, only thing i find a little damning is how little we are in, since, were on a two day a week rota right now. overall, weve had a fair amount of help with career stuff, and, they have made themselves known to us. So, the only problem i actually have is the wifi, its Nigh on impossible to log into, despite resetting my password on the site numerous times (probably my own fault to be fair). Best bit about the university by far is probably the staff. freindly, informative, and never tire no matter how many questions are asked of them, and are always punctual, i would recommend the university to others

Now none of the above was required before, and we students knew nothing of this sudden change in approach. I brought my concerns via a complaint, as I was not satisfied with the answer I got and the inconsistencies from before (no "moderation" or "going through" was needed before, on this digitally and automatically marked system). I was brought to a fitness to practice meeting where the above was discussed (even though, my complaint was "Live" - they said they wouldn't discuss it - but they contradicted themselves by then covering this issue of the "mysterious hidden week delay" when the lecturer "goes through" & "moderates". I was asked if I wanted to still use a paper exam copy, I replied "yes, due to my concerns" with the anomaly (the week's delay). Then I was told, "forget it, we will mark you as unfit to practice". I then said I did want to work with the Uni. They said in that case, they would pass me (they assumed I had agreed to use Safemedicate).

Don't go near the nursing course. They have a drug calculation software programme, for students which is supposed to be for learning (home practice) and then exams (2 x formative, where you have to get over 80%0 and then a summative exam where you have to get 100%. Normally the system "Safemedicate", gives instant results (as it automatically marks). However, this is when things go murky. My colleagues and I where given the SAME password (yes - we all knew the same password) and the Lecturer knew this, and he also knew our username (banner ID) and names. Then, again, rather strangely, on the day of the summative exam (when a student has to get 100%) - we logged in, and to much surprise, after we had submitted our answers, instead of receiving our instant results (like always happened with this same system) - the results were hidden for a week! I emailed the lecturer about this after (as my colleagues were also surprised, and had no info on this)

it's very confusing for new students. this uni have different web pages and every page have its own user name and password. and what makes it worse is that they suggest them for u so you are not choosing your own. once you enrol yourself you can't change the modules you chose, you must contact the course organiser which might take a week before it resolved. not started yet and already dreading it.

I think UWS gets a lot of bad press but it is quite unwarranted. I have been a student at Strathclyde and although it's history and academic merit far outweigh that of UWS... Coursewise (Mechanical Engineering) it is very similar. Sure, I have noticed the very slightest tendency to be unorganised at times but it is a university that is trying to progress and fix these issues. It is most definitely trying to build a reputation to be proud of. This won't happen overnight. Students and former students sticking the boot in doesn't help matters - I have found in my short tenure there that you get out what you put in. If you work hard you can get the same honours degree you would get at any other university in the land. The grass isn't always greener! Keep trying to build that reputation UWS - You are doing a good job.

Please don't waist your money on this University. Lecturers have quite low knowledge about subjects, and their background on working experience as well as education cannot be checked, there are no guidelines or set rules how to do courseworks, prepare dissertation, at least when it comes to formatting, no information about deadlines..... I know the fee for studying seems low, but you will not get anything in return. And that is expensive.

Third year journalism student at Ayr campus and cannot wait to leave. Very unorganized uni, staff do not care about their student and it is a mission to get a response from them on email. No career help whatsoever and one lecturer deserted us halfway through the year with absolutely no explanation or form of communication even letting us know she would not be returning, Assessment and exam results take about three-four months to come back and lecturers do not keep you in the loop. Seems like Paisley campus is the only one UWS really invests in and cares about, would NOT recommend UWS Ayr at all. Will not be coming back to do fourth year Hons.

Worst experience. As an international student, you expect some support considering that you're new to the system and that you're paying nearly three times what others pay. However, the case for UWS is that you don't even get the same treatment as others. Even worse, there's a lack of responsiveness where lecturers, and even the program leader, don't reply to their emails, I had to make a complaint every now and then just to make sure my emails went through. It's so awful to be a student trying to focus on your studies without the support that should naturally come from your lecturers. Not worth the money or effort.

Rubbish uni. When you try to find materials for your assignment, most of them are not available. Dissertation supervisor has been changed at the end of second semester. Every time at the beginning of the year problems with classes (waiting for ages for a class and nobody comes). Disorganised, low ranked uni with no career prospects at all.

Horrible place, a detriment to your CV. I am a student doing an Honours in Computer networking. I am forced to spend most of my day troubleshooting faulty software and VMs that the Uni demands that I use for coursework (VirtualBox: free and faulty). Lab work is so poorly written I'm forced to rely heavily on Google to just solve problems. We even have forums provided by the teacher to actually solve what he wants us to do in class work. Campus is a joke, my classroom has holes in the ceiling and computers run sluggishly. Only careers option available is teacher reposting posts made on job seeker websites. Clearly next to no assistance on getting a real job. Can't wait to leave. An embarrassment and detriment to my career and to anyone else who comes here.

the website used to access resources is a complete joke, spend more hours looking for materials than studying for my degree. UWS IS A JOKE!!!

Awful experience so far, I'm really glad I'm graduating this year. The campus is really old, there's no student community at all, which is partly the students' fault, as the Union is trying. Career services improved a lot recently. Wifi keeps disconnecting all the time, all computers in the labs are awfully slow.

Really unorganised, unprofessional university. Wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it was a huge disappointment and I'm glad I'm finishing this year. (Business school).

BA Business and Enterprise - 3rd year Very bad, no standards, only focus on Paisley campus, no help, took nearly 4 months to be given a personal tutor and the material used it rubbish! would not recommend anyone to study business here!

Union is due to shut soon. Average university.

Wifi can be temperamental, they're scrapping the Union and the only real redeeming feature is a dedicated staff and a well run Sports Union