30,863 discussions, 145 guides
Aberystwyth (University of Wales)
30,863 discussions, 145 guides
Aberystwyth (University of Wales)
Aberystwyth
The University of Wales
Old College, King Street
Aberystwyth
SY23 2AX
1872
Bay Radio
Bay Radio broadcasts all day every day at www.bay-radio.co.uk. It welcomes and trains anyone interested in any aspect of radio. Professionals are brought in to conduct the workshops. The station has good contacts with all record companies. Bay Radio aims to have a low power FM licence enabling it to broadcast to the whole of Aberystwyth.
The Courier
The Courier is a free independent student lifestyle publication which has been running for over 50 years! It has a glossy magazine style format and is produced monthly.
Aberystwyth Journal of World Affairs
This is student-run journal of world affairs and notably the oldest in the UK. Millenium Journal at the LSE emerged in the 1970s and the Cambridge Review of International Affairs emerged later than that. It has loads of features inlcuding regular band interviews and motoring and fashion features.
The university is in the middle of building a new Sports and Excercise Department. Another project, to build a new International Politics building, is planned but construction has yet to begin.
HRH Charles Windsor - Prince of Wales
Jon Dawes - Ex British Lions (rugby) Captain
Arthur Emyr - Welsh Rugby international, Head of Sport at BBC Wales
Neil Hamilton - Politician
4 (Four)
The Outback - (Llanbadarn Campus Bar). An Australian Theme bar located in the Students Union Building on the Llanbadarn Campus, the Outback offers a friendly atmosphere and excellent themed décor to the community based at Aber's second campus. Being the closest bar to the halls of residence, the Outback is the ideal site to start an evening, and is the social hub of the campus. Offering extended licenses every Thursday when local bands are featured, along with themed events, the Outback is sure to be your second home whilst you're based at Llanbadarn.
Cwrt Mawr Bar - (Penglais Halls Complex Bar). The Guild of Students' traditional bar based in the Cwrt Mawr hall block offers the same great value as the Guild's other bars and venues. As with the Outback, Cwrt Mawr bar will be the place you'll go to start a great evening or to while away your time whilst finishing your laundry or checking your mail.
Bar 9 Bar - The Guild of Students' most modern and innovative venue, Bar 9 Bar is based in the main Union Building on the Penglais Campus. Open all day, it doubles as a café bar, selling speciality coffees and teas during the day, then magically transforming into an evening venue to complement The Joint. Themed to be light, airy and welcoming, it is the perfect dive during the day. At night,innovative lighting and effects make it the perfect place to take a break from the dance floor
The Joint - The Guild of Students' entertainments venue is the largest and proclaimed the best in Mid Wales. There is ample bar space and the sound system is described as "cutting edge". There are function nights to appeal to every taste.
The majority of the Union organised functions at Aberystwyth take place in the Joint or the Outback. Having said that, though, there are numerous pubs in the local area that enjoy student custom and run their own function or theme nights. The Student Guild organises functions 6 or 7 days a week if you include those at the Outback and Cwrt Mawr. The most popular nights are Wednesday and Friday, when the bars are open late. Recently Divine Comedy, Space, Jools Holland, Marc and Lard, Steve Lamaq and Emma B. have performed.
At Aberystwyth there are three major social events during the year. The first is the Rugby 7's Tournament. You may have heard how seriously the Welsh take their rugby, well just wait until you have seen this! It is not the rugby that is the cause for concern, but rather the social event that occurs afterwards! Be prepared for some heavy, heavy drinking.
In May there is the original and aptly named May Ball. This is a somewhat more refined black tie affair, and is the highlight of the social calendar. There is also the Graduation Ball, which is always fun as 1500 finalists try to 'pull' at university for the last time. If you are a Fresher, this is the best place to be led astray by an older woman/man.
There are sports clubs covering virtually all fields, from rugby and hockey to skydiving. There are political societies for all persuasions and a whole host of other societies! All the clubs and societies can be joined at Freshers' Fayre (see advice pages for more information on this).
Funnily enough, being a Welsh university, Aberystwyth has won an award for rugby in the last year. The Women's Rugby team won the BUSA plate.
The International Politics department has a good reputation and was the first of its kind in the world. It has also recieved many of the highest awards in the UK.
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There's a decent set of halls and although some are rooted in the 60's school of architecture, they are refitted on a rolling basis. A run down from an Aber student is provided below.
Trefloyne Only to be attempted by those with a good sense of direction. The blocks are maze like with loads of stairwells and corridors. The rooms are nice with the same standardised furniture as Rosser and new Cwrt Mawr rooms.
PJM Houses of 5-6 people (and a few flats) quite new so in good condition, quite quiet but easy to get to lectures from. Rooms are a reasonable size although upstairs are bigger than downstairs and the kitchens big enough for a lounge area.
Cwrt Mawr New blocks are good with 10 rooms and shared kitchen, bathrooms and toilets need loads of posters to cover the painted breezeblocks. Amusingly on the ground floor they put special one way glass in as the rooms look out over a car park. Unfortunately they put it in the wrong way round! Old blocks are suffering from Penbryn symptoms (see below)
Rosser Nice rooms, similar to new Cwrt Mawr rooms but with an en-suite (barely big enough to stand in) this takes up much of the space so don't expect to swing any cats inside.
Seafront Not seen much of these, but you might get a sea view (then again you might get a view of the binyard of the bay). On a busy road with 2 of the clubs so can be quite noisy.
Pantycelyn Welsh halls. Very political when it comes to Welsh matters, have been known to block off the uni demonstrating, no-one's sure what about!
Penbryn (or pen-grim!) You like carpet? Edible food? Friendly staff? This place isn't for you.
Alexandra An all female hall until shut down in 1986 and sold off. Derelict and falling into disrepair until 2003 when a local business consortium independent of the university sought to upgrade it into student rooms as new departments started at the university. It is now used for clearing/standby students.
Second Year students tend to live locally in rented accommodation. In the third year, many students return to Halls, but the majority still live in private accommodation. Every year the university accommodation office produces a housing list with properties available to rent. In addition to this there are numerous estate agents in the local area who specialise in student housing. The good thing about Aberystwyth is that housing is relatively cheap when compared to many other universities, with average rent, including bills, around £50 - £60 per week.
Aberystwyth could be described as being a 'bit out on a limb' when it comes to its location in the United Kingdom, or even Wales for that matter! It often seems like the world is one side of the Cambrian mountains and Aberystwyth is the other! However, once in Aberystwyth it is a different story. One of the best things is the Arts Centre that always has something on worth going to see. Has a good coffee shop as well!
If you like pubs, Aberystwyth is the place to be. At the last count there were 52 pubs in the local area....not bad considering the size of the place!Best pubs are Scholars, Varsity, Weatherspoons and Rummers which does pizza untill about 11. There is a good local live music scene and there has recently been an upturn in the local club scene. If you like wine there is a vineyard in a nearby town, and if you like the beach, well there are two.
Best coffee houses are Fresh Ground and The Orangery. The cinema is fab and cheap - £3.50 each time. It even has its own bar - you can watch a film with a pint!
Some students complain about how far Aberystwyth is from any other large cities, but often students come here specifically for the isolation, perhaps from their parents or just the rest of the world. In reality the situation really isn't that bad. Aberystwyth is the terminus of the mainline railway from Birmingham, which makes rail travel fairly simple.
The relationship between the locals and students is very good. The locals are friendly and supportive of the student community. Much of the town is aimed at the student market.
The parking in Aberystwyth is ok, and there are usually spaces available. The university charges about £ 30 a year for a parking permit.
There is an HSBC cash machine and a LINK cash machine on campus. All the major banks, including HSBC, National Westminster and Barclays, have branches around town.
The disabled facilities are acceptable and there are ramps etc. in almost all departments. However, overall Aberystwyth rates poorly on wheelchair access because there are just too many steep hills.
There are two university shops serving both campuses. Prices on many items are competitive with the local area.
There is a large bookshop on campus, which sells all the main course texts as well as fun books like the latest Harry Potter! Julian Shelly's is a good secondhand bookshop and has nearly everybook for every course. For new books the best place is Galloways. Both shops will buy back your book at the end of your course if it is in good nick.
The sports facilities at Aberystwyth are excellent and both indoor an outdoor sporting activities are very well catered for. The playing fields are located on two sites and are the pride of UWA's (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) sporting facilities. The nationally renowned Vicarage Playing Fields, some 16 acres, are home to the first rugby, football and cricket teams. The fields also attract many external sports teams and competitions.
Blanendolau, the second site, occupies 34 acres and is where the majority of matches are played. Both sites are close to the town, the university and student accommodation.
In addition to the grass pitches there are 3 hard, 3 shale and 3 grass tennis courts and a floodlit artificial pitch which provides an excellent year-round surface, primarily for hockey and football.
There are also two sports centres on campus that provide a broad range of indoor facilities and are free to students.
Due to the location of Aberystwyth there is the opportunity for off-campus sporting activities, the surrounding hills offer enough bumpy ground and mud for some serious mountain biking, or if you don't mind heights there are plenty of rocks to climb with some very rewarding views at the top. With the sea so close a variety of water sports also prove popular, but don't forget the wetsuit!
The University has a system agreed with the local 'Arriva' bus service to provide a circular service around all university sites for £ 30 a year, (this means you can avoid all the hills!). It runs all day to coincide with lectures and students show their NUS card to avoid paying. It runs from Halls on the seafront to the Penglais and Llanbadarn Campuses.
Aber has fairly good train and National Express links, but it is slightly remote! New students are met at the railway station on arrival by official student union minibuses and escorted to their rooms in halls.
The campus is very 'green', with lots of pine trees, large open sports fields and the beach. Also, the 'piazza' between the Students Union and the Huw Owen Library on the Penglais is very popular in summer and commands spectacular views across the whole town, Cardigan Bay and the mountains to the south. There is a lot of variety.
There are four libraries. The main one is the Huw Owen Library on the Penglais Campus which includes the Celtic Collection and one of the best collections of books anywhere for International Politics and Strategic/War studies.
There are also specialist libraries including the Physics Library (in the Physics Dept.) and the Old College Library, which is in the original college building on the seafront. It holds books on Education and Welsh and Irish studies and is near these departments. Finally, the Thomas Parry Building on the Llanbadarn Campus houses books for Information and Library Studies and Rural Studies.
Also, students are able to use the facilities of the nearby National Library, one of the five great copyright libraries in the UK.
Apparently with over 5,000,000 texts in the National library and a further 1,000,000 around the university the area has in excess of 6,000,000 books. With the population at 20,000 that works out at 300 books for every person - supposedly the highest ratio of books to people in the world! Better get reading...
There is free computer access 24 hours a day at the Computer Centre, with 3 other 24 hour computer rooms scaterred around campus. There are also terminals in most Halls of Residence. Every student is issued with an e-mail address. The computer facilities are constantly upgraded to ensure the best provision of IT.
The Guild of Students has one of the most comprehensive student-led advice and counselling services in the country. They offer confidential personal counselling and the SACC also offers advice on academic concerns, harassment, finance, accommodation, immigration, sex, health, drugs and alcohol. They are also unusual in offering an NHS family planning clinic in the union building one day a week and specialist drugs and alcohol management counselling by appointment.
Nightline, part of a national network of help lines run for students by students, is open from 8pm until 8am every night during term time.
The university has a nurse and a new financial support centre which offers advice on budgeting and student loans.
