University of the Highlands and Islands - UHI (reviews)

UHI is not like a normal university. It has many partnership College’s throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland where it employs skilled and motivated lecturers to deliver University courses. UHI is semi-remote. You will go to your physical College building and then video conference with other students and lecturers across different locations. I was based in Perth College and we were video conferencing with other students almost 300 miles away in the islands of Scotland. All lectures and seminars are also recorded, allowing you to revisit classes from weeks prior when studying for your next essay!

This unique way of delivering education allows students to interact with people from the other side of Scotland who they normally wouldn’t have a chance to meet. This also aided the University well when the COVID-19 pandemic forced education establishments across the country to switch to remote learning. This was something UHI already actively engaged in, as such my education experience wasn’t as negatively impacted by the pandemic as it was for many in more traditional universities.

The downside of UHI is that there isn’t much of a university culture like you would get in other traditional universities. Extra-curricular activities and student unions are entirely dependant on the partnership college you attend the classes in. A majority of the students and staff are also based in the Inverness campus. In my course I only had one lecturer that was based in the Perth College campus. Your experience at UHI may differ wildly depending on which partnership college you access the course from.

All in all, I would give UHI a 4/5 stars. It is a very accessible university with brilliant, engaging staff. It is leading the way in digital, remote learning which is growing more in popularity (and necessity) in these past couple of years. However, you may miss out on some of the key university experiences that you normally get at more traditional universities.