Student life

View the full results of the Student Experience Survey 2016

The East Midlands has triumphed in the Loughborough University taking the top spot, and two Nottingham universities in the top 20.

View the full results of the Student Experience Survey 2016

More than 15,000 students across the UK have contributed to the Times Higher Education's Student Experience Survey 2016. Now students at the best and most improved universities explain what their university life is really like at these institutions.

I make myself a cup of tea, I clear my desk and I get comfortable in my chair.
I’m ready. It’s time. 
It’s the National Student Survey.

Almost half of students in the UK find day-to-day finances a source of stress, according to a student lifestyle survey published today by Times Higher Education.

Even though 85 per cent of students were broadly satisfied with their quality of life at university, the proportion of students worrying about daily money troubles has increased by 6 per cent since last year, now up to 48 per cent.

There’s a lot to think about when considering going to university – here are three pearls of wisdom from me about student life.

Your voice is the most valuable tool you have in communicating effectively. So why do so many students and university teachers not invest much energy in their public speaking skills?

Bangor University student and vlogger Hannah Jukes is bucking that trend, and has already noticed the wide-ranging benefits to her confidence and communication skills.

The Flatmate Factor

Casting calls, callbacks and rejections have all kept me busy over the past four months. Here I am referring not to my up-and-coming modelling career but rather to my search for accommodation in Berlin. , the most popular website for finding accommodation in Germany, served as my “agent” during this trying time. While you might not associate a flat hunt with an audition process, the enormous competition for a “WG” (flat-share) has allowed a casting culture to emerge in which Berliners can afford to play Simon Cowell in their search for a new flatmate.

Forget the piles of textbooks or the long academic reading lists; preparing for university is as much about preparing for a whole new stage of life as it is about broadening your intellectual horizons.

And to help you along your journey of self-discovery, 12 students from Singapore to Germany have recommended the books – both fiction and non-fiction – that they wish they had read to help with their own transition.

Adam Bradford, now 23, achieved 27 GCSEs. Astounding as that is, perhaps even more surprising is that, for all his academic credentials, he decided not to go to university.

Encouraged by his school in Sheffield – nicknamed ‘The Exam Factory” – and his parents, Adam completed his A levels in just one year, applied for business and IT degrees, and received offers from universities in Sheffield, Lincoln and Bradford.

Ironically, it was the universities’ attempts to sell themselves that put him off.

Have you ever found yourself racking your brains in order to remember a book title or to find a topic for the seminar paper you should have already started?