More Students = More Tutor Paychecks (Glasgow Caledonian University in general)

Member Name: johnnycarrotheid

Product:	Glasgow Caledonian University in general
Date:	22/06/06 (1320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to get into

Disadvantages: Degree not worth a lot

Glasgow Caledonian University is located in a perfect spot right in Glasgow City Centre.
It is situated across the road from Buchanan Bus Station, with Queen St Train Station just practically on the next street down.
The Main, and now only Cinema in Glasgow city centre, is on a corner facing the bus station, with Suchiehall street and all its shops, next to it on the way down to the train station.
Everything is within a 5 minute walk of each other, so it is situated perfectly.

The actual University is very modern. It has Millions of pounds ploughed into it.
This resulted in a new library, sports centre, accomodation and another building i'm not sure they have decided on what to use for yet.

The library is very well stocked, it has every book you will ever need for your course, with enough copies to get shared out for all the courses. It is still advised to buy the books however, as when coursework is due at the end of the semester and the inevitable panic comes, they all soon disappear, however many they have.

The library is also the main sourse for access to the Computer systems. Every student gets a username and password so they are able to access the University computers and do as they wish basically. From using printers to researching on the web. Quite often though, half the PC's are offline due to faults, which happen quite regularly. This means the PCs available are often watched like hawks for a space to jump on them.
If going to Caledonian, its advisable to have Computer access of your own if it is so needed. University access isnt always guaranteed due to the above system failures, or the nasty habit of resetting passwords every so often. Meaning a trip to the IT helpdesk every time.

The sports centre is very nice, and doesnt charge too much. Being in a university however it doesnt really get used very much. All the students are too lazy for this exercise lark.
This i say is what makes all the equipment look so new, and it is noticable on the bus ride into town, with many people commenting on how nice it looks inside. It really gives the Uni a good image.

The Accomodation is all pretty modern. The university and their developers went a bit crazy one day and just put up lots of flats all over to the north of the campus. Being just new, they are all in pretty good shape. The do charge quite a bit however. Last i heard, they were approx £300 a month for a bedroom with en-suite, with a shared living area between 5 people. At the time, i never knew of any students outside Halls paying over £200-250max including right on Suchiehall street, with all the pubs and clubs just a couple minutes away.
The rooms were quite small, basically a bed and a desk with enough space for your notes and a tv to sit on.

The Union, essentially was a joke. The student association i'm sure werent interested in it, so therefore it never really attracted the interest it should have, sitting right in the middle of the campus.
It has 3 bars, 1 large main bar and a smaller back bar downstairs. It also had a "bar" upstairs.
The bar upstairs eventually got wound down for some reason (too hard to get staff i heard, with all those students around....hmmm)
Upstairs there were 5 or 6 pool tables, but this now closes at 5pm ALL the time, including weekends. The bar, although there, has no beer pumps and only sells bottles, mostly used now as a food bar.
They make these amazing chicken tikka baghuettes however, they are famous and should be tried.
The union never reached its full potential, and most of the students would go to the Strathclyde Union, which had a massive pool bar, and when getting the pool cues you always noticed it was all Caledonian Matriculation Cards that were handed over (in order to get the pool cues).
Strathclye was mobbed by caledonian students as it had 5 floors with a lot better management in it, compared to Caledonians ability to barely run the one lever it kept open.


The courses are obviously the most important of the University and i have left this to last.

The University has quite easy requirements to get into it.
It also has a vast range of courses from Nursing and biological sciences to Social Work, Computing, Engineering and so forth. Every subject covered has various courses. If you want to do Computing, you can specialise in software, hardware, computer game development, networking etc.
A lot of Universities have gone this route now of low entry requirements, so it shouldnt raise too many warning bells.
Once you actually attend the course however you do get the warning signals.

At Caledonian University the 1st year curriculum is essentially re-learning everything covered in the Higher (A-Level) courses you had to pass in order to get onto the course.
This is without a word of a lie. I know of only 1 person that failed my old Biology course's 1st year (a demeanding course you would think) and this was due to the fact he never actually turned up, and tbh i think he missed the exam anyway.
He kept getting help through the course and i think he only actually failed 1 or 2 modules out of the whole course, which is shocking since he turned up maybe once a fortnight.
This is quite shocking, as even the hard working members of the class were "led astray" and didnt see the point of going to classes for stuff they had already learned previously.

2nd year curriculum doesnt improve much and so on.
The actual degree you would get from attending Caledonian wouldnt really be worth the paper its written on.
To go on and have a career in whatever it is you studied you would most likely have to get trained up again, or study the subject in more depth ie, doing a post-graduate degree. Stayin on in education even longer.

This i believe is one of the aims of this institution.
To get you into the University, keep you there as long as possible and get as much money from the Government for doing so.

I was actually told by the post-graduate students, that the only way to get into employment with the qualifications they had, was to study further.

The courses are actually presented very well.
The tutors generally know their stuff, and are very approachable. Any problems and you will get help easily from one of the many folk on the department.

The lecture notes are usually held online, via the universitys "Blackboard" system and are handy should you miss any.
The laboratory classes are well stocked and always tidy and well cared for.
The only gripe i ever had was a Computing lab, where we were learning about PC hardware (in my Computing Course) and the PC had most the parts missing, which were many years out of date, and of little use now anyway.
this i thought quite bad, as even though it was a Computing course, the low entry requirements meant that i guess 90% of those there had never opened a PC up before, and werent going to learn anything from a half missing PC.


Overall, i think the University had great aspirations, but it has gone very wrong from the reason it was set up, which was Education.
The University has been invested in, which has improved the buildings and the likes, but the courses havent really been improved upon with the money. This i believe is just a result of bad choices by those in charge at the University, which unfortunately has dire consequences for those choosing the University as the palce for them to study.
You will get an education at Caledonian, just be aware of the extent of it before you choose it. There are SOME good courses, but these may be harder to get into, as they may have increased competition for spaces. 400-500+ interviews for a 100 space Nursing course for example.

As always do your research before committing to Caledonian University, or any other, for such a large portion of your life.

Yes recommendation for sadly few, good courses.

Summary: Good University...shame about the courses.