I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a student at GCU and have received ample support from my tutors and lecturers. The Glasgow campus has an amazing library with brilliant resources available for assessments and studying.

I think that this is a great university. they have a wide range of societies and the lecturers are dedicated to providing students with the best education. One thing which I really like is the fact that the university is dedicated to helping the wider community by allowing the library to the public and giving them access to the law clinic and Optom clinic for free.

I really liked most of the subjects since they were delivered with a focus on practice rather than theory. I really enjoy the amount of work professors put in delivering lectures and conducting seminars especially after a big period of demotivation due to the COVID pandemic.

I completed two semesters at GCU during 2016-17 as part of an international exchange programme. I was rather disappointed when only a small selection of courses were made available for us to choose from, as these did not match my interests, and barely resembled my programme back home. Overall, seminars were rarely successful because students were not being motivated to participate, and there was very little interaction between professors and students. As an international student, this learning environment felt extremely alienating at times. The course content was too superficial, and there was never a chance to go in depth on a specific topic. I did like the evaluation system, with very little to no exams and mostly based on research papers. This allowed me to expand on what was being touched on in class by delving into the specific literature.

The facilities were modern and spacious, the campus was extremely close to the city centre. I specifically liked the library. Although their collection on film studies (my field) was not extensive, I found it to be a great place to go study as it is was not often busy.

I absolutely loved the international atmosphere in the students’ accommodation, and the student life overall, with endless possibilities to meet new people and make friends with other international students.

I moved from Spain to Glasgow in 2016 to study Media Communication at GCU. I was quite afraid because even if I had a good level of English, I knew the Scottish accent could have been an obstacle. However, everyone was involved in the foreign students, and could not have found more support from the teachers.

The modules were very interesting and very dynamic. They were divided into different parts, theory, seminars and practical. We had no final exam, but we had to hand in a final essay, which was very interesting because you had to look for information on your own, and I learned lots of interesting things. Also, the building of the university was very new and beautiful. ¡I would recommend everyone to study at this University!

On the other hand, I was staying at the GCU accommodation, which was right in front of the university, this was absolutely perfect because you could go home during the breaks and have lunch there. It also was an opportunity to meet new people, and live university life. ¡I found a real family there!

I liked the campus and facilities, especially the amazing library & 24hr lab, quite a bit. You could always find a space to study. The campus was really central and all the buildings were connected, so it was really easy to get around.

The programme itself though was quite lacking. The focus on sustainability and social responsibility was definitely too big. I don’t feel like I learned enough “hard facts” at all. How do you start a business? What factors do you have to consider? What factors impact operations and business decisions? All things I feel like I should have learned, but didn’t. The modules you had to take (such as Business of Social Science or the EEE modules you were forced to take over and over every year) just didn’t cover enough information you would be able to use in an actual job.

We barely learned any practical skills such as the use of tools or even just Microsoft excel to be honest. I would have loved to come out of uni with some experience in using the tools employers demand as job requirements, such as project management tools, data analytics tools etc. For a university that markets itself as modern, this was quite disappointing.

Even though professors and other services were quite helpful, the services for exchange semesters were shocking. It was quite hard to reach anyone about issues when abroad. Don’t get me started on the Erasmus fund which I and most of my friends received way later than planned. You had to try contacting the university multiple times to get a response about it (if you even got one). Obviously, Erasmus is not a thing anymore, but the communication with the exchange office should be improved nonetheless.

Overall GCU has good intentions, the programme’s execution was just a bit bad.

I loved the fact that in my 3rd year I could have decided between going on a year-long placement or choosing to study abroad for a semester or a full year. The support by my lecturers was immense even during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I received more than I expected from my educational programme. I feel fully satisfied and confident to use my new knowledge in my future career. The most that I liked about my programme, was the support that most of my teachers gave to me when I had my hard moments. Also, the knowledge, that I gained from each module was pretty useful and important, not only for my future career but also for my personal development. I strongly recommend to everyone who is a risk-taker and dare to try something new, creative, developing at the same time personal and working skills.

Glasgow Caledonian has the mentality all universities should adapt in our current world climate. It’s a university built to create a better world. What made this an experience I will never forget is the people I got to meet though it.

The programme was a duel course of fashion and business which opens doors to more opportunities. However, I think it has been very difficult to utilise this programme outside of the university. It has been difficult to get a full-time job.