Sunderland University

What's it like as a place to live? It's an ace place to live. Everyone is friendly, it's easy to find your way around as it's not as most other university towns. The nightlife is great too and if you fancy a drink, it's the cheapest place I know J

How's the student accommodation? It's pretty much what you would expect from any university halls, but it's also warm and clean. As long as the people you are living with turn out to be ok... then you are sorted. Even if you end up with people from all over the country/world you will find something in common with all of them. The private landlords can be a bit tricky. The houses can be falling apart and have things wrong with them that you don't discover until you live there. The Students' Union have a good house guide however, so before anyone moves into a private house, make sure you come see us first... we don't bite... honest!!

What's the student population like? We have a very diverse range of students including many from all around the world. The majority of our students' however are home students but don't let that put you off - I myself moved over from Ireland and I fitted in and found the best mates in the world straight away.

How do students and locals get on? To be honest, there isn't really anywhere you are forbidden to go. Some pubs in town wouldn't be the most fun because that's were the older locals hang out, but if you go in you are more likely to get talking about Sunderland FC than any trouble. Weekend nights in town are very busy though and full of locals who may have had one too many to drink - so it's best to just go out on students' night on a Wednesday 

What's it like as a place to study? Depending on your course, the uni is expanding and the facilities are getting better one subject at a time. If you are a media student you are very lucky as we have one of the top media centres in the country, which houses its own radio and television studios. We have just had a new library built too, which is full of computers with high speed internet which can only be used by our students.

What are the teaching staff like? The staff are really quite good - of course I can only really speak for the tutors I had personally. I have been in meetings with deans of schools and principal lecturers who are constantly talking about trying to make the student experience better and, judging by the excitement and passion in those meetings, I think they are most defiantly interested in what our students think.

What are student societies like? Being part of a sports team I can honestly say it was the best decision I ever made at university. You meet so many people and go to so many fun events. Being part of a team helps build up loads of skills which look ace on your cv at the end of it all. Sunderland Uni has a great range of societies and teams as well, everything from the more traditional sports, like football and rugby, to the more out-there sports like American Football, Scuba diving and Snowboarding. Then again, it's not all about sports; we have an amazing range of societies such as the gaming Society, the Chinese Society, Ultimate Frisbee and Beer Pong!

What's a typical night out?Well, all universities play sports on a Wednesday afternoon, competing in BUCS which is a sports league for universities and colleges. After a day of playing, the best way to celebrate, or commiserate, is to meet up with all of the other teams and head out to the Students' Union bar, then after a small pub crawl, head to the SU venue.Don't get me wrong though, it's not all about the drink; there are also great deals in other places. Student discount covers cinemas, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, the new Olympic-size swimming pool and many more places.

And how much does it cost?  Being a student before working for the SU, I know how hard it was to juggle money. So with this we try to get the places in town to offer us good deals at student-friendly places. On a student night, you would be hard pushed to pay more that £1.50 for a drink and entry is usually free or reduced upon presentation of your student card. Like I've said about other venues, they offer discounts (usually around 10%) when you pay with a student card.

How can you get home safely?  There are plenty of taxis all the time within the city centre, so it's never hard to get home. We also have a scheme with a local taxi firm that if it gets to the end of the night, you find that you have spent all of your money, you can still get a taxi as long as you give them your student card. The card then gets handed into the Union and you can come in and collect it after you pay us the taxi fare.

Is it an expensive place to live? Everyone tends to run out of money but I think this is just because, like myself, having a whole heap of money all at once burns a massive hole in your pocket. After your first year you get into the swing of things and there are loads of places to get a small part-time job. In general though, it isn't a very expensive place to live.

Average price of a pint? Never more than about £2 on a normal night, £1.50 on student nights.

And the price of a takeaway? There is a pizza shop that does a 30-inch pizza, which is so so so huge, for 20 quid... and most of the takeaways have student offers 2!

What's the part-time work situation?  The University say that, as long as you only work less than 16 hours a week, it is ok to get a job. There are loads available as well, from bar jobs to call centres.

What's the best feature about the place? The amount of students. They are everywhere, it's brill.

And the worst? Match days - all the streets are full of other people's cars.

And to sum it all up? The best 4 years of my life.

Steve Cram (athlete).  

Contact SU President on tel 0191 515 3584, email su.president@sunderland.ac.uk, website www.sunderlandsu.co.uk.