A family feeling uni (The College of St Mark and St John (Marjon))

Member Name: custard1975

Product:	The College of St Mark and St John (Marjon)
Date:	17/04/09 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice location, small, reasonable facilities, great staff, wide range of courses

Disadvantages: orientated towards sport, out of town, needs modernising

I graduated from the Marjons (as its affectionately known!) about 4 years ago and I have to say there are many good and bad points about it!

Traditionally it was a teacher training college and one of the best known. However since then it has diversified and now offers a fairly wide range of courses such as ICT, PR, Leisure and Tourism, English etc as well as the teacher training. Many of the courses are sports related and therefore there are excellent sports facilities available, including fields, tennis courts, as well as indoor facilities such as pool and gym.

Its a small college which brings the benefit of having a more family atmosphere and the campus is very close knit. The staff are always helpful and lecturers are excellent. However many of the facilities are dated and could do with updating. Having said that some of the facilities have been recently built with more modern ICT facilities and even some air conditioning!

There is a large library set out on several floors. Within the library there are are quiet study areas and an ICT suite. There is a wide range of books but unfortunately many are out of date or there are not enough copies of popular texts. There are a large number of journals though which I found extremely useful. It is also possible for books to be ordered in from the central library if there is something you need which they do not have. There is also a student book shop near the main entry into the college. They can get any books on your text book list within a couple of weeks(amazon is probably cheaper and quicker though) and they have a reasonable amount of the popular texts in stock. They will also buy back your old text books which is a useful facility.

There are several places to eat and drink. Cafe del Rosa is a 'posh' cafe selling nice but rather expensive sandwiches and bagettes as well as jacket potatoes, chips, pies etc. They also have some rather nice cakes. If you want a basic cheaper option, the dining hall is next door. They sell more standard student grub, greasy but tasty breakfasts etc. There is also the student union bar, 'the sub' upstairs.

Personally I didn't stay in halls so don't know fully what is available. The halls are in several standard blocks with single rooms and en suites. I have been told that they are reasonable. There is also a launderette facility.

For parents there is a nursery on site. I used this for one of my children and found it to be great. It is open long hours and the staff are great. It is relatively low priced too and 3/4 can get free places.

The location of the college is of both benefit and curse. It is set out of Plymouth, close to the moors. It is close to Derriford hospital, the regions main hospital, ideal for those 'college accidents' and the 'one too many' nights. It is also situated right next door to Plymouth Airport, I mean right next door, you can see the planes from the car park!! Parking is a problem there is no-where near enough for the number of people and because of its isolated location most people have cars because the bus service is rubbish! Nearby, well about 5 minutes drive is a large tesco and asda for your shopping needs. Home Park, home of Plymouth Argyle is about 10 minutes away as well as Plymouth city centre.

I enjoyed my time at Marjons. It was friendly and welcoming. The staff were good and I came out with a good degree (not teaching!). However in the past Marjons has not had a great reputation academically. In fact in the late 90's they lost their university status and degrees were issued from the university of Exeter (like mine) but I understand that they are officially a uni once more. If you want a closeknit community feel, more homely and you have a car then Marjon is for you. If you want somewhere close to the action then maybe not.

Summary: A nice place, with a good community atmosphere