United Kingdom

What if you could land your first graduate job just by playing a game on your mobile phone?

That possibility is, as of March 2016, a reality. On UK campuses, students are connecting with employers through a new app that uses custom games to help employers identify top talent.

Claim a free copy of the full data set in the Student Experience Survey 2016 digital supplement

The best universities in the UK for student experience have been revealed, according to a Times Higher Education survey of current students.

Loughborough University in the East Midlands tops the list, up one place from second position last year.

View the full results of the Student Experience Survey 2016

The East Midlands has triumphed in the Loughborough University taking the top spot, and two Nottingham universities in the top 20.

View the full results of the Student Experience Survey 2016

More than 15,000 students across the UK have contributed to the Times Higher Education's Student Experience Survey 2016. Now students at the best and most improved universities explain what their university life is really like at these institutions.

I make myself a cup of tea, I clear my desk and I get comfortable in my chair.
I’m ready. It’s time. 
It’s the National Student Survey.

The thought of studying in London can be overwhelming for some people when they first consider it and realise that they might become just one small ant among tens of thousands. It doesn’t help that Londoners are often labelled as “cold” or “unfriendly”, but don’t let the misconceptions about London and its inhabitants put you off.

I don’t quite remember when I first decided to study public policy. Over the past seven years I’ve been lucky to work with some really talented practitioners in both politics and the public service, and I loved the experience. At a certain point I realised that this meant a career in government – and that was that.

Despite the hours students and their lecturers spend together, there’s a disparity in how much each knows about what the other thinks.

Students have their chance to formally evaluate classes, just in case their feelings weren’t flashing across their faces throughout the lectures. But, coursework grades aside, students don’t tend to have access to the inner thoughts of their university teachers.

Some of your teachers may be giving the wrong advice about how to write personal statements for UK universities.

In some cases, teachers said that a personal statement did or did not increase the chances of the applicant getting accepted to university, while the admissions tutor responsible for those kinds of decisions took the opposite stance.

Using examples from the research, the following teachers’ tips are ones that you might want to take with a pinch of salt:

In April 2013, Ellie Wood dropped out of her undergraduate degree at the University of Liverpool, just seven months after starting.

In this time, she’d been forced to take on crippling debt just to afford university housing and the other expenses that come with living in a big city. Ultimately, the cost was too much to bear.