The university is amazing for the course i have chosen, i did lots of research went to applicant days, normally it feels like professors and staff will try and act differently to sell the course and instution to you, but in my experience, they truely are that passionate and that excited about the course! My only downside is the students union and the look of some of the buildings, some of the university buildings seem tired and in need of a fresh coat of paint, some just need a refurbish, and some just need to be gone. The student union for most universitys is the heart of the uni, its where people go to study hang out, make friends, drink, party. In portsmouth it seems like an afterthought, they dont really seem to be a part of day to day life. I have never even seen a reason to explore the building fully!

The lectureres for the most part are great and passionate, the online content sometimes falls down and towards the start of the couse i felt like i was back at GCSEs but eventally it picks up and you start to get into the meat of the couse. For my subject the facilities are amazing they are new and feel modern!

Unite students, its fine, trafalgar hall seems a bit like the forgotten property, there isnt really social space, we dont get seen much by resident life and all round it seems like unite students forget about us too. for the last month and a half our lift has been broken

My experience with Portsmouth Uni so far has been pretty good, the first year for me started right after Covid rules relaxed a bit, so they just switched back from online only. Despite that, the experience wasn't too bad, I was able to use the library when needed, and they have pretty good cafes on campus built into some of the uni buildings, you can also occasionally receive free fruit from the library. I switched from Computer Science to Software Engineering after the first year, the switch was very easy, I was told I would need to study a module over the summer to be refreshed on the relevant topics, although I didn't receive access to the module. It didn't affect my studying but is something to note. One of the key downsides is honestly Moodle, some lecturers use it religiously others don't, and the inconsistency is very annoying, it isn't very standardised. A lot of module lecturers use Discord to give out information, while some use strictly Moodle, most lecturers give out the presentation after a lecture some do not. I think a key improvement for the University of Portsmouth would be a standardised Moodle layout, with Discord as a forum for student collaboration. One of the key upsides is the progression, in my time at the University they have evolved multiple modules from previous feedback, and the infrastructure has been improved (they literally added more benches/seats outside the Dennis Sciama and Buckingham buildings a few weeks back), so generally I can't see why it wouldn't improve further down the line. The good: Module Lecturers - the ones I have had are great. Open Access IT - there are loads of access points to use the University computers. Walking distance - this may depend on the faculty you join but, for the School of Computing the distance between the library/Gunwharf Quays/Portsmouth city centre is good, you have a range of options for lunch. The Library - during my second year this was my second home, it is open pretty much always, has lots of seats (but does get full quickly), and has a pretty good system for booking private rooms to study as a group, most of which have a whiteboard, TV with HDMI cable and a half dozen chairs with a table. The bad: The software - generally using the software off-campus requires a 5-8 step process, usually: type login details to log into VPN, go to email, get 2FA code from the email to put into VPN, and do whatever you were trying to access. This is obviously a security-related thing but it is very annoying, when they introduced the 2FA system I had amassed 60 login codes within 2 weeks because it seemed to hate me. The module explanations - for a lot of the modules I took as an optional it wasn't very well explained what the content would actually be, they have a module catalog to view all the ongoing/future modules but it really doesn't get updated accurately enough. I have taken an optional module that I assumed based on that catalog but turned out to be vastly different. I have enjoyed them all so far, it just felt misleading. I think the catalog system they have could be improved to help students get a better understanding of the modules before starting. Timetabling - I understand this is a huge complex issue booking lots of different modules for thousands of students/lecturers, but every year so far I have had in one teaching block or the other a 2-3 hour gap between timetabled lectures/labs. This might not be a problem for you if you live on campus within 10 10-minute walk, but I live 25 minutes away via car, which means I have to either commute twice to the University or just hang around somewhere until the next session. You can use this time to study or explore Portsmouth but as an at-home student I prefer doing my work on my home computer, which puts me specifically in an awkward position, again this might be fine for another person but I find it quite annoying.

Software Engineering at the University of Portsmouth so far has been quite interesting. The optional Module choices have been pretty solid, you can really specialise quite well, it is unfortunate you can't take more optional modules as there were some hard choices I had to make this year. The core (required) modules I have had so far are pretty good at covering real-world software engineering, This year I have been forced to tackle less obvious aspects of a software engineer role, things like interviewing people, understanding the problem, academic research to support design choices, and loads more that I probably haven't realised yet. If you are looking to apply for this course you may not program too much, a lot of the core modules are in the more professional aspects of the role, less about sitting at a computer developing software and more about understanding why the software should be developed. I do think they should add more program development, but at the same time if you pick optional modules that are program heavy you will have a different experience to me. Most of the course is taught in person at this point, I do think there is an online-only option for those who require it, but I haven't needed to find out how that works so far. The first year I studied Computer Science so I am unsure if it is much different for Software Engineering students, but it was quite casual I didn't really have to spend much time studying, I think I spent around 10 hours a week studying, which is far below their recommended hours. The second year was about 40% more effort required than the first year, this was mostly because there was A LOT of group work, one of the core modules required you to join around 4 groups throughout the entire academic year, and 2 other core modules required groups as well. This means I was in 6 different group coursework in the second year, although they are spread out across the whole year there was still overlap. The final year so far for me has been pretty good, the Final year project you do is as boring as you make it, it will require a decent amount of work but generally, if you are interested in the project you will have fun putting the work in. The Complex Problem Solving module is hell, it really will make or break you, I am confident if I make it through this module I will be a much better software engineer and person, but it is a group coursework and VERY demanding. I have put more hours into this module than I have in my other two modules combined. Your optional will obviously depend on what you pick, but I chose Artificial Intelligence and so far is very interesting. The good: Module choices - the module choices are pretty good, and you have a decent selection of relevant topics, like Artificial Intelligence, Graphics and Computer Vision, Robotics, and more. All of these seem quite interesting in their own ways so I am sure most people will find something here that they are very interested in. Lecturers - so far they have been excellent and very knowledgable, they are all very approachable, which is a very good but undervalued trait. I haven't felt nervous sending an email to any of my lecturers to ask for feedback on my coursework. The location for School of Computing - almost all the module timetabled sessions are grouped into one nice dense area of buildings. This means when you come out of your Core Computing Concepts lecture you can walk across the road and are already at your Database Principles practical (lab). The bad: Software access - some of the software you might need for a module you don't have access to, there have been plenty of times I needed Photoshop to quickly create a UI design but haven't had access or had to access through very specific and annoying means. Overall I think this course is very good if you want a career as a software engineer, it really has helped me develop skills and techniques I had no idea were even relevant in the field.

No