I am currently studying at UOP. I started studying here the year COVID-19 started, so for almost a year and a half, I was studying fully online. The university was very accommodating, and considering the situation the world was in, teaching online was good. Lectures were recorded for ease of study which I really appreciated. The only thing that students suffered from, like most students around the world, is the lack of social life. The courses prepare you to be exempt from the applied skills level of the ACCA, which is an important accounting certificate. Now social life is much much better, especially if you live in student accommodations. It’s also an international place, attracting students from all around the world. Portsmouth is w small city, with not much to do other than shopping and partying. Relative to the rest of the UK, it’s a cheap city to live in.

I studied for 4 years in UOP – First-year foundation and 3-year bachelor’s. The university buildings are spread around the city which means a typical day would be attending classes in different parts of the city – depending on the lectures you take. The degree program includes several interesting modules that contain knowledge that is applicable in your everyday life. One particular module I enjoyed was Financial markets and Institutions – which generally discusses the money markets and institutions and how they interact with each other. One key skill I picked up from the latter was the ability to analyse and make an educated judgement on investing in the stock market. Other key modules include Financial Reporting, Taxation, and Management Accounting – if you plan on pursuing a career in accounting and attempt the Acca, these three modules in addition to others give exemptions to several topics in the first 2 levels of the ACCA. Generally, I did not find the lectures and seminars at the university engaging therefore the motivation to attend them was not there. However, I found that attending the lectures and getting good grades are linked.

The student life in UOP consists mainly of nights out – there is minimal to do in the city and few events throughout the year. On the other hand, the close-knit community of students (which is due to the many student accommodation buildings) makes you feel very welcome as an international student. There is a very diverse sum of students from all over the world.

All in all, I would recommend the university to others.

Overall my three years in Portsmouth was challenging but I really enjoyed it. My favourite modules were economics and corporate governance, it was taught really well and I was always interested in subjects like that so those were my strongest. The ones I struggled with the most was a module called OMA, personally I was never able to understand the concept and it was an overwhelming module, this was the same with auditing, there was a lot of information giving in such little time it made it harder to revise it for exams, it was hard to gain help with these subject as lecturers didn’t want to give too much away. The business faculty was the highlight of Portsmouth, they were always helpful, sending emails about events and extra help if needed which was nice. Being from London made Portsmouth a very different location with very limited things to do outside university however the beach is beautiful