Sheffield Hallam (Sheffield Hallam University in general)

Member Name: Matts09

Product:	Sheffield Hallam University in general
Date:	22/06/09 (154 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nightlife, nice city, accomodation, teaching

Disadvantages: none

I joined Sheffield Hallam at the start of the September 2008 to study a Business Information Systems degree which is a four year sandwich course, i joined the university based on what i've heard from my friends which have previoulsy been there, its not too far from where i live already on the train, great nightlife, great music venues and its also a very big vibrant city with two great football teams.

***University building***
The university buildings are all together in an area which is very good for accessing them, there some other university buildings a bit further away on the collegiate campus but i think those are mainly for sports subjects and you get accomodation very close to them if your choosing to study a sports course.
The main university building i very nice and modern, it has a book shop right at the side of it, for getting all your books at the start of the year, you can even take your books back and exchange them for credit on your card for next time your going to be purchasing books, i think you get about a 1/3 of the price of the book based on condition etc.
Inside the main university building there are many different support desks and receptions to help you with any problems, theres a finance support office, course support offices and main receptions etc. The building also offers many standing computers, which are very good if you need to check something quickly like your timetable etc.
There are about 9 levels to this building and there are quite a few lifts which can help you get to the top if you don't want to walk it, the building has many computer rooms and a main lecture theatre called the penine lecture theatre, there also many smaller lecture theates in this building as well as cafes, vending machines, a shop and cash machines. The building also gives you access to the libary which you can also access from other directions as well, the library is very big with a few floors, there are loads of different facilities it offers as well as providing the students with many many books and a place to study with computers, you can laminate and bind your work there etc.

***Accomodation***
My accomodation at Sheffield Hallam was a university owned accomodation part of the Unite propertys called Archways, it costed around £84 a week with ensuite, i chose to pay my accomodation in 3 lump sums, i think you could also pay in 6 if you wanted. The accomodation building can hold about 400 students and each room had been 3-6 people, the great thing about this accomodation was it is about 2 minutes from the university, it was a very secure accomodation with on site security and on site receptionists available during the day, i had no problems with any trouble. There is alot of security cameras etc on site so it was very secure, you also get a key fob which allows you to enter the accomodation. There was an occasional bit of noise at night but it was usually very quiet after about midnight when all the students had left for there nights out. The rooms in the accomodation were quite big, with an ensuite bathroom with shower, a wardbrobe built into the wall, a mirror, shelves and desk and of course a bed. It was a very clean accomodation on arrival and looked very new.
The lounge area of the accomodation was very nice too, it came with a fridge/freezer, microwave, all the other kitchen essentials, a TV, sofas, stools and a nice table to eat around, you were also supplied with a cupboard full of cleaning essentials such as a vacuum cleaner, mop, dustpan and brush etc.
The internet cost for the accomodation had to brought for £150 this was for a 2mb connection for your time at the accomodation, this is an essential which every student would most probably of had to buyed, i found the internet was very quick in the accomodation and was very happy with my purchase. You could pay a bit extra if you wanted a 10mb connection and you could also buy little adds if you wanted to get your games console online etc.
There was also a charge for the electricity/water bills, that was a one off fee of £350 which was payed before we got the accomodation, i constantly left my computer and electrical devices on to try and get my moneys worth. There was also a deposit which had to be paid upon arrival of £250 which i have now recieved back, this covers any damages which may have been caused to your accomodation.
Overall the accomodation was a very nice stay amd i am very pleased with choosing to stay there for my first year at Sheffield Hallam, i have even chose to stay with unite at again because i'm soo happy with the service they provide.

***Nightlife***
One of the great things about Sheffield is the nightlife, having soo many different kinds of bars, clubs and pubs to suit everyones taste in music. The union is also a very good venue for Sheffield Hallam students, each day of the week at the union there is a different theme, Monday is pounded where all selected drinks are a pound such as VKs, selected beer bottles, shots etc. The union is split up into three different rooms, the main room which plays the top chart music, the retro room which has like spice girls and a bit of cheese, then theres the indie room which plays all your top indie anthems such as pulp, oasis etc. Its a great night out for any Hallam student, the atmpshephere in the club is great and the bouncers arent to bad.
The union also has a phoenix bar which is open during the daytime, this offers really quite cheap drinks, music and has pool tables and pub quiz machines to keep everyone entertained.
The city also offers a great range of other clubs such as Leadmill, this is really close to the student union about a 2 minute walk, its an indie club, which offers very cheap drinks and great music for anyone into the indie or general chart music, very cheap night out on Mondays and Wednesdays when they offer the 60p drinks on selected drinks, Leadmill also offer a text messaging offer, where if you text they will give you deals such as free entry which is pretty cool. For people into there heavy rock music theres a club called Corporation, this is a pretty grimey club, which is very big and very friendly, i have been there on a few occasions and had some really great nights out, the drinks are also very cheap in here, the drinks prices are are about £1.50 double vodka and coke, the club is also split into rooms based on which floor your on, the stairs are normally very slippy though so be careful. If your into your rap/hip hop music then there best places to go would be cellar 35 and crystal both of these places will suit your needs, i have only been to crystal on the odd occasion because i'm not really into this music genre, but my mates who have been on regular occasions really enjoy the night out here.
Embrace is probably the biggest nightclub your going to find in Sheffield, its right in the city centre and has the structure of like a football stadium on one side of it, it looks pretty cool from the outside. I have been here on quite a few occasions and have had some very good nights out, the only problem is its soo bigged and usually very packed its soo hard to find your mates after you've been toilet or brought a drink. The music in here is your top charts, theres an indie and cheese room also. Another thing i like about this club is theres a chill out area at the top of the nightclub with nice seats and a relaxing atmopshere.

***Teaching style***
The teaching style for my first year was very good, i had both lectures and seminars, the lectures were very good for getting information before you started the seminar work and were very useful, they were taught very well by all my lecture tutors and the sound was very clear from the speakers. The seminars were also very good for learning, the teaching styles were very good and you get treated like an adult, not like secondary school.

I enjoyed my first year very much at Sheffield Hallam and i hope this review is useful to anyone looking at starting university in the future.

Summary: A very nice university which i have really enjoyed