Bath Time conducts a Survey of Experiences and Expectations of students at Bath University
Photo taken by Nihat Guldogan
The questionnaire received 35 responses, which isn’t representative of the entire student population. This should be considered while reading the article. All research is available upon request. This article is designed to share the opinions of a group of 35 students with the wider public by discussing the experiences that shape an everyday student's life.
From the amount you pay at the till to the comfort of the sofa you sleep on at the SU, 35 students told us what they really think about life at Bath, and their answers might surprise you. Please relax, put on your reading glasses, and enjoy our shoutouts and meaningful insights!
💸 Cost of Living Pressure on Campus
Our highlights consist of: Students appreciating the University's efforts in creating good value meals, although limited, but they prove to be inefficient, as 65% are unsatisfied. We must comment that the food outlets have become a free rein sector, as the competition is very limited and Fresh is very good at putting on horrendous prices. 21% of people think that coffee and hot chocolate on campus are expensive, and one respondent stated that “Everything is overspriced, go to Lidl instead”. Also, note that some students are commemorating the removal of bangers and mash from the Fountain café!!!
🛋️ Spaces We Actually Use
Students were mostly satisfied with the amount of communal areas on campus, except for peak times, which is self-explanatory. Although our sources indicate a popularity in the Virgin Building, as students crowd the place within 5 minutes of opening! City Communal Areas are in high demand, therefore it must be met with a high supply.
As for the quality, while 72% of students are in favour of the decorations and comfort, some seek a more hygienic environment. As your analysts and authors, we can't do it without saying that we have never seen them get cleaned, which might imply a low-frequency cleaning schedule.
Question of the day for our readers from one insightful respondent: What do you think the free space by the car park at 10W could be used to host?
A shoutout to our current Community Officer, Izzy, for securing a 40% satisfied vote on whether the students are happy with the Sensory Spaces on campus. Don't worry about the less-than-average result, Bath Time readers, because the other 50% are neutral. Although this is a decent approval rate, almost 20% explicity mentioned that they didn't know what they were or how they could use it. A shoutout to the ones who enjoy the library with its very bright lighting. I hope it is going to get better for us someday.
For the ones that are still in the dark, Sensory Spaces are areas specially designed to calm the senses.
Being crowned the Sports University of the Year by The Times, sports are really in students' hearts. Out of the 85% of people who are in sports clubs, 75% are satisfied with the university catering to every ability and range of sports. Please take into account that another 15% were neutral, mainly because of the difficulty of purchasing new equipment for high-end clubs like Windsurfing and Snow Sports.
If any future or current committee members are reading this article, there is a slight demand to conduct more beginner-welcoming sessions.
🌱 Sustainability — Promise vs Reality
Promised by the university that 2040 is going to be the year that they reach net zero on all its carbon emissions, which they advertise on every virtual and physical wall possible, but what do the students think about their current achievements?
"The exchange cup programme is genius"
"A ton of small-sized projects exist"
"We must be rewarded with snacks if we purchase a certain amount of coffee when using the Exchange scheme"
We must state that when asking students "What do they feel about the SU's initiatives on sustainability?", the lowest reply rate was encountered when a follow-up question was asked, "Why do you feel that way?" While there are many small-scale initiatives going around, we think it would be better to say that there should be more big-scale efforts going on, such as the very recent Re:Imagine Sustainability Hackathon.
🎓 Careers & Future
Being ranked very high on the employability ranking in many publications, our survey participants can endorse this claim fully. 62% of students are satisfied with the support provided for employability skills, while the other 35% are neutral. This is probably due to the fact that our survey distributor is still in their first year, and there is a decent amount of participation from their fresher circle.
Some of the shoutouts we have received about employability are;
"Too much focus on employability tbh"
"Really good placement team and careers team"
"Not used by me"
Before making our closing statement, the participants of the survey were still passionate about sharing their valuable ideas with us, even after being asked 30 questions, some taking around 18 minutes to complete it. Therefore, here are some of the highlights:
"I would like to see more students get opportunities to work with the SU, perhaps as team members under the main SU officers. This would provide more exposure to them."
"Honestly, I love uni and am satisfied with the experience. I would love to see cheaper bus fares but what can one do. Also, more funding to snowsports"
"Good job on the survey Nihalt ?"
To sum it up, there is an ongoing fight with the prices on campus, sufficient support for clubs and activities and a considerable effort to keep up with their net zero carbon emission promise by the University and the Students' Union. We hope that the future SU Officers campaigning this week, take these results and analyses into consideration while fulfilling their duty to be the students’ voice.
The University of Bath comfortably holds its place in our hearts, but what can one do but hope it stays there?