30,962 discussions, 145 guides
Heriot-Watt University
30,962 discussions, 145 guides
Heriot-Watt University
Heriot-Watt University
Riccarton
Edinburgh
EH14 4AS
Tel: +44 (0)131 449 5153
1966
No radio station as far as we know, but a good name could be Radio Watts, or Maximum Watts.
Watts On
Watts On is the very smartly named Students' Union newspaper, which comes out pretty much every month. They tend to focus a lot on whats happening on campus or in the Edinburgh area and, unlike many other SU newspapers, it doesn't deal too much with either national or student politics.
The University offers the only degree in the country for Brewing and Distilling. With a series of recent grants from large companies (including large Japanese brewers) the university aims to increase its research and knowledge in this field. Great!!
In Association with Midlothian plc, the University are building a Football Academy, and new sports facilities will be built as well as improving those that already exist.
There are merger talks at the moment with the Edinburgh College of Art. Just wait and see how this turns out.
Craig Joiner - rugby player
Bernie Grant MP - Labour MP
Martin O'Neill MP - Labour MP
Irvine Welsh - The guy behind 'Trainspotting'
For the size of the university, Heriot-Watt has a good selection of bars. There are three within the college, and a further three in the Students' Union building. The student association (as it is called here) bars are the most popular and include the Jinglin' Geordies which is named after George Heriot, who was the financier of James VI of Scotland (James I of England). It has a capacity of around 260, (but this tends to fluctuate with the mood of the local fire station!!) and is usually busier at night when Zero, the union club, has functions. Finally, there is Liberty's which is the smallest of the association bars, but sells good food at a decent price. Liberty's is more traditional pubby, than glitzy.
The University refectory serves food three times a day, but the quality varies. Some days the chefs really produce some good stuff, while other days it can look, and often taste like the worst of school food. On the whole, though, it's not too bad. The Student Association bars also serve both hot and cold food. The hot food does tend to be more unhealthy, greasy snacks, like burgers etc., but who cares...we're young! The cold food is often unimaginative salads or sandwiches. All in all, we prefered the SA bars for lunch, and the refectory for dinner.
Zero holds three or four function nights per week, playing everything from charty stuff to acid house. The cost varies from nothing to £3.50, and there are often drinks promotions on. Since there is not much on locally (the university is 7 miles outside Edinburgh) most students socialise here, unless they plan a trip into the centre of town.
A whole host of large social events during the year, to take up that valued space in your diary, but they seem to congregate around Freshers Week, Christmas and the summer.
Heriot-Watt has a list of great societies, which cover virtually all interests, including sport, academic subjects and general fun. Some of the best or strangest general societies we found were the Brewing Society, which has a whole department and degree course to lean on, Freedom for Fish Society (what!!), and the Collectable Card Players, sounds really geeky...but each to his/her own.
Students from outside Edinburgh area: 100
All those from outside the Edinburgh area can get accommodation. In reality, most first years can get it even if they are from Edinburgh. After the first year most people move out to local private accommodation, but just over a fifth of other years apply to stay.
All in all the Halls are unexciting, and the rooms tend to be small concrete copies of each other. However, as fresher's spend so little time in their rooms, this does not seem to be a problem. There will be soon be new halls with internet access.
The University is situated on a large 380 acre campus about 7 miles from Edinburgh. The campus itself is very beautiful, with trees just about everywhere. There are also some well kept gardens and an artificial loch, which becomes really busy during the summer with students, and other wildlife, sunbathing. The campus is still growing and much of the investment going into the univeristy is to build other departments/research centres and increase the size of those that already exist.
Whether or not you like the local area depends on how partial you are to countryside. The university is hardly the Highlands, and Edinburgh is within easy access, but city people will get bored. To combat this many students go into Edinburgh and return late (or early, depending on how you see it) on the night bus. For more information on Edinburgh, see the University of Edinburgh guide)
Loads of car parks but permits are needed for most. There are two very large non-permit car parks which I have never seen totally filled, however they are quite a walk from most Halls of Residence.
There is a branch of the Royal Band of Scotland on campus, and a Bank of Scotland cash machine.
The campus was only completed in its current form in 1992, so disabled access is not as bad as some universities. However, even the modern buildings pose some problems. The Student Association has good access, and there is some disabled accommodation. Any problems: see the Special Needs Adviser.
There is a general shop selling all the basics and a travel agency. For anything else, it is worth a trip into town.
Second hand books do go on sale in the Student Association. Otherwise there are bookshops all over the city.
The sports facilties at Heriot-Watt are considered excellent. They include The Nautilus suite, with cardiovascular equipment and free weights, there's also an indoor climbing wall, & basketball court. A TV lounge with a healthy foods snack bar during the lunch period completes the set.
The campus houses the National Squash Centre and the National Tennis Centre, with the only indoor clay courts in Europe. There are acres of playing fields for rugby, football, etc. There is a floodlit playing field and running track, two gyms, some driving nets (golf) and there was supposed to be a swimming pool. The history behind the story is a benefactor promised the money, the foundations were laid and then the money dried up. The foundations got covered and every year or so the university claims it'll get round to finishing it off. This hasn't happened yet and with all the current work for the football academy, tennis centre and the new course in sports physiology its not likely to appear for a few more years at least.
Everything is on campus so there aren't any university run services. However, there are buses that run into the centre of Edinburgh around every 20 mins during the week and cost around a pound. Taxis into the centre of town are also affordable and take only 15 minutes. There is a villagelink bus to the Gyle shopping centre (Safeways/M&S/WHSmiths/Dixons/etc) from Tuesday to Saturday.
Everywhere!!
The main library is on the Riccarton campus and holds 120,000 books, which seems fairly limited for a university of this size. However, there are over 5000 volumes on electronic format and we did not hear any abnormal complaints from students regarding this. There are also numerous specialist libraries in the city, and at least one at each of the university's other sites, The Scottish Borders Campus and the School of Art. The library opens late every night of the week until 9:00pm.
In terms of numbers the computer facilities are good, with one computer for every 5 students. However, some students complain that there could be more frequent updates to the software and hardware. There are three rooms in the computer centre and two in the library holding over 1000 systems.
From October 2001, there will be two 24hr computer labs, however, the downside of this is that the University is raising the rent for all students to cover this. Each bedroom has telephone (with free internal calls) and they do have internet access. Connection to the high speed college network was lost, due to the deal made with NowNet, who installed the system and now charge for the service.
The university has a good range of welfare services including a health centre with doctors, nurses and a dentist. There is also a specialist sports physiotherepist and doctor. The Student Association provides a drop in welfare service.
