BA Hons Philosophy at MMU (MMU Manchester Metropolitan University in general)

Member Name: Dentaku

Product:	MMU Manchester Metropolitan University in general
Date:	16/07/09 (189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Location

Disadvantages: Bad teaching, no support with work

BA Hons Philosophy at MMU

City Centre Campus, Geoffrey Manton building

I finished my year one of this course in June, and I wont be going back. Here's why.

STARTING
Upon starting the year, the very first thing I noticed about the University was the lack of administrative organisation. Granted, the first day of any term is likely to be confusing, but this was ridiculous. The staff seemed uninterested in dealing with students on any level, and information about what to do about enrolling, getting student cards etc. was extremely hard to come by.
I hoped that once freshers week had settled down things would become easier, however this wasn't the case.

STUDENT SUPPORT
Because I have a learning difficulty, I went through a system of assesment with the student support people to form what is known as a personal learning plan, or basically just a document making those who read it aware that the student has particluar needs. This system in itself could not be faulted, the student support staff were helpful and understanding when dealing with the personal learning plan.
However, the system fell down somewhat as the head of the Philosophy department failed to pass it on to the relevant members of staff, resulting in me having several awkward conversations, attempting to explain to them why I was struggling so much. In my opinion, this means the idea of having a personal learning plan totally fails because of difficult or lazy teaching staff not doing their jobs.

TEACHING
As for the teaching on the BA hons Philosophy course, well to be honest, there wasn't an awful lot of it. Lectures were informative, granted, but didnt seem to be planned to the benefit of the student, ie it was very hit or miss whether tutors would make any notes, or use the projector, or either. Basically if you're not a auditory learner, then god help you with this course!
Seminars, with some tutors, were enjoyable, particularly when the group could discuss an issue as a whole. This didnt happen often, and the worse situation I came across was one particular tutor (and also, interestingly, head of programme) who would come into the seminar for the first few minutes, tell the students to read something and then leave, only to return at the end of the seminar! Now to me, if that doesn't look like someone who blatantly cannot be bothered teaching and should possibly consider a career change, then I don't know what does.
I also found that asking tutors for help was an ordeal, as they weren't exactly forthcoming. Perhaps it's just in the nature of the philosopher to be arrogant and aloof, but what I do know is that it certainly ISN'T useful when you are a student asking for guidance.
I hope somebody finds this useful. If you want my advice, DONT DO PHILOSOPHY AT MMU. At best, this year has been patchy, at worst it makes me want my fees back.

Summary: Waste of time and money