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Coventry University
From The Student RoomTSR Wiki > University > Choosing a University > University Guides > Coventry University
 Coventry University, as you might expect, is situated in Coventry in the West Midlands and is close to Birmingham. It's quite a new uni, having been created in 1992 from the old Coventry Polytechnic, though it evolved from the Coventry College of Design which started all the way back in 1843. The uni sits on it's own campus really close to the city centre too, which can be sen as an added bonus for the extra facilities or a down side due to the 'opinion' some people have of Coventry city. FacilitiesLibrariesOur library is huge and has won many design awards. It's very modern and also environmentally friendly. Its open until midnight (currently trialling 24 hour opening) and the basement is open all night long. It has thousands of books and magazines films anything you need plus hundreds of computers for you to use. It has its own book shop and a cafe. If they don't have the book you want they can order it in for you, Ive used the library a lot as it pretty much has every type of fashion magazine ever published and it's great for research. I have also watched films and documentaries for inspiration. It has a resource shop with stationary needs and does large scale printing and photocopying. Which is very cheap so great for art students who print a lot of colour!  Description from the Coventry University website: Costing £20 million the library houses nearly 350,000 books and 2,000 current periodicals. There are over 1,200 study spaces including 450 workstations connected to the University's computer network. IT and ComputingCoventry University has a 'smart campus' with over 2000 PCs on site - one of the best student:PC ratios anywhere. The university has a number of WiFi zones on campus and is a pioneer in online learning. Every building has a large number of computers, the university offers free classes in photo shop and illustrator weekly if your on an art course. The centre of academic writing can also go over your essays and dissertations for you and guide you. The school of art and design has apple macs and normal computers if your like me and can't understand macs :) There are also colour printers for A3 and a print shop in the school of art and design which can print up to the size of a billboard for any special work you may have. The Ellen Terry building which covers media theatre and dance has a media loan shop which gives you the chance to hire equipment for free with your student card such as cameras and recording and filming equipment. Ive borrowed photography equipment for a photo shoot in the past and they are all really good condition. I would never be able to afford it so really useful shop! SportsBeing very lazy I'm hardly at the sports centre. However membership is free for a whole year if you live in student halls if you don't live in halls the price is £99 a year and gives you the opportunity to attend aerobics classes yoga, keep fit and dance classes in a spring floor studio!its all really modern and nice! Also kick boxing karate and tae kwon do it also available. The sports centre has a great modern gym with good music and good clean facilities and showers. The swimming pool is Olympic sized however a funny story is they accidentally made it 4 inches too short to be used in the Olympics! Oh dear. The sports centre offers physio sessions if and you can use the badminton courts and basketball and the hockey/football pitches when ever you want with your mates to have a practice. There is a varied recreation programme, several intramural leagues and tournaments in which to participate.
So let's see a summary of the facilities: Indoor Facilities
Outdoor facilities
WelfareThe university offers provision for practical assistance for students with physical and sensory disabilities, mental health problems and specific learning difficulties as well as some medical problems. There is a counselling service with a team of experienced male and female counsellors. The Spirituality and Faith Centre offers guidance to students. HealthcareYou can register at the health centre (located centrally on campus in Priory Hall) which means you have a doctor at the university doctor surgery if you ever fall ill with anything. There is also 4 nurses available every day to talk to you about any problems. There are also 3 female doctors there. I have registered year and it's useful if you need a doctors note when your ill or if you really come down with flu for example. If you register here don't worry you can still go to your doctors back home. When you go home for the summer you can fill out a visitors form and say that you'll be there for 6 weeks or so. Then you are registered there temporarily during that time. Its only a small form too so its pretty easy. ShopsShops: Coventry is a safe city the 4th safest city in the UK and you can wonder about any time fine as long as you have got common sense. Coventry city centre is very small and compact which means you don't have to worry about going too far and getting lost. The shops here are good lots of shopping centres a great indoor market! good for me as their are good fabric stalls and cheap fruit and veg! For fashion we have all of the big high street stores such as Monsoon, Lush, Bank, Topshop, H&M, Peacocks a huge Primark, Dorothy Perkins, M&S and Next and so many more! If you want the bigger stores like in Birmingham, the train is 15 mins and £2.50 with a rail card for the day while London is only an hour away on the train. My fave shop in Cov is Republic and there are so many more including Ikea which has just been built in the city centre. Its the first in the world to be built in the city centre and is great for cheap things for your flat! When you come to visit Coventry you will see how close the uni is to the shops its about 100m distance and do there are students everywhere! its very much a student city there are also lots of student jobs in the shops and bars. You can also grab a coffee at Starbucks or Costa Coffee – your Students’ Union Card provides discounts for many shops and cafés in the City. RestaurantsPriory Place is Coventry’s cosmopolitan district with a stylish selection of bars and restaurants only two minutes away from the University’s central campus; while Browns bar/café, serving hot veggie food, continues to be a favourite for coffee, drinks and meals. It has good food that fills you up. The Phoenix pub opposite the school of art and design is great for a beer and burger for just £3 and loyds which is a weatherspoons pub has great food and very cheap. If you want somewhere nice in the evening with the bf Old Orleans is good at the Skydome - really modern and vibrant but cosy and a bit romantic. They do great steaks mm! Also the cobble street by the Skydome has plenty of little romantic Italian restaurants and little shops. BanksYou will never be short of banks in Coventry....there is a hole street of them just up the road from the university. Some of them are the posh older style banks and some are new. Also there are like cash points all over the place..you wont be stuck ever getting money. The post office is a big one and right in the centre of town which is useful! TransportThe university is in the centre of Coventry, so you won't have too much travelling to do whilst at uni. Some of the halls are on campus and most, if not all are within walking distance. If you live out in private accommodation you could end up further away though, so may need to use a car/bike/bus to get to uni, though that probably won't be necessary. The train station is a 2 min walk from town and takes you to London in an hour and to Birmingham where a lot of mainlines run from. Its about 15 mins to Birmingham if you go on virgin. There are plenty of taxis in Coventry they are literally everywhere and what I love is that you can flag them down easily by just putting your hand out. The taxis are cheap and start at about £2.60 because the city centre is compact it doesn't cost a lot to get anywhere! The buses here are very reliable I get one every day to uni and comes every 10 mins and are usually early! The bus costs £1.20 a journey right across the city and £2.60 for a day saver which means you can use it all day. There are also buses running to Birmingham Warwick Kenilworth and the richo arena where the big Tesco is and Where Coventry city play. So there are no problems getting anywhere. Careers serviceThere is a lot of support at the uni to help you with which direction you want to go in. We now have a new module which started last year called add vantage where you can choose a module to do alongside your degree so it doesn't have to be to do with the subject you are doing. For example you may be doing history for your degree and you want to do teaching but you need to do voluntary work experience before you can do your teaching course after uni. Well the advantage module offers you the chance to do this and get the opportunity to work in a school a few hours a week. This will save you from having to take a whole year out to do this. You can go straight on to your teaching course post uni because you have already done the hours. Hope that makes sense. There are more you can do hundreds to choose from such as presentation techniques, languages or become a student ambassador and work on open days and get paid. There are also lots of events and presentations organised in liaison with employers. Part-time jobsReligious facilitiesCoventry Uni has a dedicated Chaplaincy, which gives help and guidance to those that require it, with both staff and student prayer meetings and discussion groups throughout the week. The chaplaincy is also less than a minutes walk from the Coventry cathedral, and a number of churches in the area. SocialBars, Pubs and clubsThe biggest nightclubs in Coventry are the kasbah (Mondays nights are amazing, really busy!), Lava ignite which is at the Skydome and also Jaks which is also at the Skydome. These all have amazing student nights during the week and drinks are as cheap as 50p! and like £1.10 for a Smirnoff vodka and redbull entry is usually around £2 and you can easily put yourself on the guest list by calling up or on the website so you can get in for free. Careys nightclub is great for a real atmosphere and great music but smaller than most of the other clubs the main student night is on a Tuesday. They also do a comedy night! The best pubs I have found are the Phoenix which is an indie place to go and if you love indie music you will love the Golden Cross cocktails are very strong and only £2. Live bands play at both of these. The Kasbah used to be called the colly and is where the enemy were discovered! Kasabian, boy kill boy and new found glory also play there. Lava and jaks are the clubs to go for cheese dance and RNB! There are soo many more I'd be here forever if I told you about each place you'll have to come here for a night out to see. I still haven't been to every club because there are a lot. Priory Place is Coventry’s cosmopolitan district with a stylish selection of bars and restaurants only two minutes away from the University’s central campus; while Browns bar/café, serving hot veggie food, continues to be a favourite for coffee, drinks and meals. EventsClubs and societiesCoventry’s certainly a place for sport, the new £113 million Ricoh Arena is home to Coventry City FC and hosts events and concerts. The City’s Olympic-sized swimming pool is five minutes walk from our central campus. Coventry Blaze Ice Hockey team, who are sponsored by the University, and the City’s speedway champions the Buildbase Bees are both currently top of their leagues. AccommodationAccommodation at Coventry University is safe, centrally located and maintained to a high standard. They have set up a new online application system for 2008 and beyond - probably something other unis with develop as time goes on. Accommodation policyThe uni guarantee all first year undergrads and all first year postgrads uni accommodation provided you apply by the given deadline. They also give accommodation out on a first come first served basis. They ask you to pick 5 choices of accommodation and will try to give you one of your choices. However should they all be full when they received your application they will contact you to offer you a choice of what is still available. So be more sure of getting what you want, don't delay in applying for accommodation. FacilitiesResidencesThere are a mix of residences - some en-suite some with share bathroom facilities, some catered and some self-catered, some for undergraduates and some for postgraduates. I lived in halls last year in trinity point it has ensuite single rooms in flats of 6. All 6 of you would share a living room kitchen which has a TV with E4 and a few other sky channels like MTV. It is so close to the uni I can see my room from the uni! its pretty much down the street. However one thing I would warn you is the security is high and if your some one like me who has parents who let me have friends over when ever I like the security may be annoying. You must sign friends in and out and they must leave by 1am or they have to be signed over night. You can only have people to stay over night 2 nights a week so not every good if you have a boyfriend. If I'm honest the security drove me mad last year however its good to have them there for protection and security. I had more freedom at home so I would suggest to anyone that maybe if you think that would annoy you try somewhere with a bit less restriction. Liberty park is also the same with their security. If you wanna party and meet people Singer hall is the place for you! Its a student village a 5 min walk from uni in the centre of Cov. Each flat has 6 people and you do share bathroom and kitchen. However there is 2 bathrooms one with a shower and another with toilet and bath. You also do have a sink in your room which is useful! You can have friends over whenever you like and security are on site in case you have a problem. You gain access to your block with your card so not everyone can just stroll in only your flatmates. Priory Hall is one of two catered accommodation blocks. The food there is good (Although don't expect gourmet cuisine, they are cooking for hundreds of people every day!) You can have a cooked breakfast every day before uni, as well as toast, cereal yoghurt, etc.! You get 2 meals for 5 days of the week then on weekends you must do your own food. You are provided a kitchen with microwave and fridge and a utility room. Priory is right on campus and not the nicest but if you want to meet lots of people its good very open and very close to uni. The heath centre is also based here so if your ill you just have to walk downstairs to the doc! The counselling services are also based in Priory. Quadrant Hall is the second catered accommodation block. It has the same amount of meals as Priory, and breakfast is the same, although there is less choice for evening meal. It's a longer walk from campus, but smaller and quieter. It's much nearer the rail station than any other residence. Raglan house and callice court are also new halls of residences I would recommend them a lot! Very nice and posh with queen size beds the price is £94 a week so very expensive however it includes all your bills and internet which none of the others do its worth it. Plus en suite rooms! If you wanna check these out they are owned by unite. Look unite up on Google and have a look I am living in callice court in my 3rd year and is pretty much over the road from the uni. Raglan is next to Singer so you will meet plenty of people from there. These 2 i do recommend a lot at the security is good and you don't have to sign people in but security are available 24/7. I do recommend you live in halls it makes your uni experience especially in your 1st year and I am now friends with the people I lived with in halls you need to meet people in your first year its very important. There are many student houses which many of the international students live in and 3rd year students but they are around £55 a week without bills. Lynden house and the pillar box are for post grads which you can check out on cov uni site i think. CateredPriory Hall
Quadrant Hall
Self-CateredRaglan House
Trinity Point
Sherbourne House
Radford Road
Singer Hall
Apollo House
University Houses
PostgraduateThere are two halls available solely for postgrad students for 50 weeks of the year, though you can also get other uni accommodation - but that is only for 40 or 44 weeks which could be for less time and your course goes on for. Lynden House
Pillar Box
Private sectorStudent unionThe students union has a lot of nights on in the week friday nights are flirt night where they give away holidays and have themed nights. We also have an ann summers night coming up and beer race night where teams go throw the city bars and down a pint at each bar and end at SU. Monday night is detention night and drinks are as cheap as 50P which is amazing you pretty much need a tenner and your wasted haha. The uni is building a new su though in a year or so as the one we have now is not so great anymore and many of the clubs have big student nights on now that are much busier and students tend to go to the kasbah instead as its always busy. But the up side is that we have a choice of 2 great places. PricesUsed to cost £1 a drink in the SU bar on Mondays. Not sure if it still does though.  EnvironmentOK i have said a lot and Ive been as honest as I can be everyone in Cov is very friendly as there are so many students I think people always judge cov before they see it and its actually surprising for them when they visit. I have come all the way from Devon and instantly felt at home here and knew it was right for me beacuse I wasnt scared I found birmingham too big and frightening and everyone at cov was student and was nice. The city is growing fast and has so much going on! Its one of the top places in the world to study automotive design which makes its school of art and design very strong! The fashion department is developing so fast! with brand new facilities better than anywhere else in the country with my work being showcased on the catwalk in Russia! and at the clothes show live in Birmingham its a damn good place to study Fashion and is one of the top safest cities in the UK. So dont judge it before you see for your self! Its a great uni and its what you make of it if you come here and use the facilities that are available you really succeed the uni offers everything you need for you to get your career its down to u to use it! Give it a chance come and visit you'll realise that its awesome ive had the best years of my life here. ArchitectureLocal areaTeaching qualityThe uni has been given a 3.9 in the 2006 National Student Survey for the quality of it's teaching. Entry requirements generally are about 240 to 300 UCAS points. It seems to be a better place for health subjects, business and less traditional social science and humanities subjects. Applying to CoventryThinking of applying to Coventry University? Why not read some Personal Statements which were used for applying here? Other Coventry ArticlesLinks
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