Applying to Staffordshire University

Looking at universities I came across Staffordshire University where two courses caught my eye.

 

Staffordshire University – Journalism 

Out of the courses at Staffordshire University; BA Honours Journalism caught my eye. Again, there was a theory side of the course as well as a practical side.

The theory side of the course would teach us how to structure and write an article under a range of subjects. An item that stood out for me was the fact we had to do everything ourselves.

Devise a subject to base our article on, then conduct our own research and compile the article alone or in a team with other students.

Tutors were there for assistance, but the article and its success or lack there of was on us. I found this appealing as it prepared us for work in the industry.

Final projects included working in teams to compile articles and other material to put in a newspapers or magazines.

At the end of the course and other times in the years we would have to take exams. I was apprehensive about this part, however the rest of the course was so appealing that I was able to overlook it.

As for the practical side of the course; many units were based in the university’s radio or television studios.

Tasks included holding our own ‘News Days’ which involved us putting together a newspaper for a client under a working deadline, invent our own news channel and deliver the news live to a camera and audience.

Then finally putting together and hosting our own radio shows. It was a lot to do in our ‘News Days’ but at the same time it was only what employees have to do on a regular basis.

Final projects in the practical aspect of the course were these ‘News Days’ as we were tested on all sectors of Journalism.

The university itself was a friendly atmosphere, which had many clubs and societies for us to join. There was also many activities and events going on in freshers week and throughout the first year. I felt that students were very nice and welcoming to all students including ones with special needs.

The clubs and societies that I thought of joining were the university’s newspaper, the university’s television studio and the university’s radio station. This would be enjoyable as well as useful towards my degree.

As for the disability support at the university, I found them useful and able to make the necessary adaptions.

The disability support took on board my needs and helped us construct a care plan in case I choose to go there. I found that the tutors were accommodating as they agreed to make allowances to help my journalism degree easier to complete.

Another and probably the most reassuring to me was the fact that there were many students with a range of special needs.

This included a number of wheelchair users. It showed that the university was accessible and those felt they were getting something out of their degree and life at Stafford University.

Then to reinforce this, we received a lot of glowing reviews about the disability support and the facilities at the university.

Journalism at Stafford University was a promising option..

Staffordshire University – Radio Production 

Before I left the Staffordshire University open day, another course caught my attention. This was the Radio Production course.

Having already looked at the facilities we would use in the radio production course, I was already one step ahead over other prospective students.

Though I knew this was a risk, I was still passionate about becoming a radio presenter. In this course we were able to host our own radio show and come up with our own radio station, approaching possible sponsors as well as constructing the show itself.

I also found it appealing, as no exams would be in the degree. Instead students were assessed on coursework and projects such as our own radio show.
Once I decided that this course might be a possibility I went on to finding out more about the university and its advantages.

One of which is that I thought Strafford University was very well connected with different forms of transportation. Trains back to Birmingham every hour.

This was reassuring that home was only a short way away, but it was far enough away that I couldn’t travel there and back every day and I would need to live in accommodation, giving me that level of independence.

Next my parents and I took a look at the accommodation at Stafford University. It was important as ever to see whether students with special needs would be able to live there comfortably without many difficulties.

To get a true insight into this, we were able to view another disabled student’s room. In doing this, we were able to get an idea of room size, the type of equipment that would be in the room, as well as the amount of storage space in the room.

We discovered that a disabled room is double the size of a regular student’s room. What we also found out was the fact that all disabled rooms had en suit bathrooms.

This was a big relief, as we would need to make adaptions. Adaptions included fitting a ceiling track hoist in the bathroom, though it shouldn’t, I would find it embarrassing.

This bathroom, like the bedroom was of a great size. I was also happy to find out that there was a shower facility in the bathroom.

Radio Production and Stafford University as a whole was defiantly an option when it came to choosing a university.