Students
Past and Present
Below
we have a view from a student who has
attended the university in question.
NAME:
Omar Farooq
OCCUPATION: Project Manager J.L Associates (Singapore)
Graduated
from Loughborough in 1997 with
B.Engg hons in Chemical Engineering.
Initially
I had no definitive reason for
applying to Loughborough university.
I knew nothing about the place
and the only reason I put it in
my UCCA (now UCAS) selection was
because it was in the top five
unis for chemical engineering.
My decision for selecting the uni
was made after visiting it for
my interview. I was really impressed
by the campus. Prior to Loughborough
I had seen uni's in London and
Birmingham and walked away feeling
that these uni's seemed very
claustrophobic.
Loughborough on the other hand
seemed very open and well laid
out away from all the pollution
and hustle of busy cities.
The
uni offers many sporting facilities
and numerous societies but be warned
that the intensity of your academic
course will have a factor on how
much spare time you get to use
them. This is one thing that struck
me - as I was doing chemical engineering
where I had an average of 20 hours
of lectures a week not including
lab work I found it very hard to
manage my time to gain full benefit
of all the facilities. It especially
does not help when your hall mates
are doing subjects like economics,
english or geography with considerable
lesser hours of lectures per week
and are always going out. but then
again I suppose that's the art
to being a student - finding the
balance between work and play.
Almost
all first year students are guaranteed
a place in halls. It is highly
advisable that this facility is
taken. Halls will enable you to
make other friends from outside
your course and allow you adapt
comfortably into the student culture.
In Loughborough it is possible
to spend every year in halls however
this is up to the individual. I
opted for living in a house in
the second and final years of my
study solely for the independence.
Halls do offer a lot of unwelcomed
distractions for me especially
in the form of noise, lack of privacy
and cleaning up after someone else
in the kitchen.
Academically
the facilities are excellent. Most
departments have their own computer
rooms in addition to other computer
centres situated around the campus.
The Chemical Engineering department
contained well equipped laboratories
containing pilot plant equipment.
The atmosphere in the department
was very friendly. The academic
staff were always approachable
even when busy and the administrative
staff would go out of their way
to help sort out any type of query.
This was the consensus I got from
friends studying in other departments
as well. After graduating you will
also find that being a Loughborough
Graduate will earn you respect
in the working environment.
The
social scene does mostly revolve
around the union. So if you are
into going to the same place and
seeing the same crowd you'll have
no problems. The town itself is
an alternative to the union but
not necessarily a better one. However,
Nottingham and Leicester are approx
10 mile either side of Loughborough
and here the social scene is much
more lively. Guys must also take
into consideration that in the
uni the ratio does not work in
their favour (although now I hear
it is slowly improving). So one
thing to bear in my mind is that
a ratio favouring women does affect
their psychology. That is to say
even the not so good looking ones
walk around thinking that they
have just won miss world. But don't
let that put you off as mentioned
before Leicester and Nottingham
are just around the corner and
most times are a sight for sore
eyes. |
Loughborough
University initially started as a
university of technology in 1966 (the
year it was given university status).
Today the university boasts one of the
largest campus in the UK (216 acres)
and is rated amongst the best universities
in the country.
In
the year 2000 Loughborough University
opened a £20 million intergrated
engineering complex. Loughborough
also excels in sports. The university
attracts the best sportsmen and women
from all over the country. The sports
department centre caters for all. The
facilities available are too long to
list but can easily be accessed from
the uni's website. All students at the
university can benefit from these facilities
they are not just reserved for the elite
athletes.
In
1998 a new business school was
opened containing 160 rooms. Business
and Management courses score 21 out of
24 in TQA assessments giving them
an rating of "excellent".
Loughborough has also merged with
neighbouring colleges of education
and art and design increasing the number
of non-science courses available.
