Reviewed on Oct 8, 2025(Enrolled 2023)
What Students Say
Likes
- Style of teaching: practical approach with problem solving mindset as the base for learning. Compare it with Indian style of college education where focus is more on theory and passing exams
- Research environment: research as integral part of learning
- Supportive faculty: faculty providing resources as required for projects.
Dislikes
- Lack of proper job support
- Bad weather (atleast for me)
- Potential situations of racial abuse (I avoided a lot of situations like this)
Course Curriculum
10
- Courses were pretty easy to understand and the exams were simple but lengthy. Most of the courses were designed in a hybrid model of online lectures and classroom sessions. Interaction in class was key to the teaching environment in most courses. Assessments were either completely exam-based or completely project-based for my course.
- Classes operated on a 5-day week system, with any course ranging from 1 to 3 classroom sessions per week. A lecture was shared online in every few courses. Overall I had 5 courses per semester with 2 semesters of academics and one summer term of dissertation work.
- Number of students in classes ranges from 10 to 50.
- There were 3 indian students in my course with total batch strength of 24 students
Admission Experience
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I applied to the following universities:
- Cardiff University – admitted and joined in September 2023
- University of Surrey - Shortlisted. Got an offer letter to proceed with admissions
- Glasgow University - rejected (due to low CGPA in UG, lack of professional experience)
- University of Northampton - rejected (due to low CGPA in UG)
- University of Southampton – rejected (due to low CGPA in UG)
- Part of Russell Group of Universities and was recommended by a few people, including family, friends, teachers, etc.
- Wanted to explore a different region of the world and was fascinated by the city of Cardiff.
- Admission process was smooth, with the only hiccup being retaking IELTS as the previous score became invalid, as it would have been more than 2 years old at the time of admission.
- IELTS is the base requirement for applying
- Got a chancellor scholarship worth £5000 due to my academic background.
- I got admission in the September intake. There are 2 intakes in the university, which are the September and January intakes.
- I received the acceptance letter in late june while I had applied in late March. Some people applied in june and received an offer by August.
- Once the acceptance was received, the first step was to pay the confirmation fee. After this the CAS Letter was received, which is required for Visa application.
Faculty
10
- Faculty student ratio was great, with not more than 60 people ever in a class.
- Teaching methodology of my professors was interesting, with a clear approach to real-world problem-solving. Had a great time in most classes but there were a few who were deadbeat boring, which made me skip those classes a lot of times.
- There was a notification circulated by a professor for a part-time job but that led nowhere as far as I know.
- I'd like to specifically appreciate Professor Richard Marsh and Dr Andrew Crayford
Campus Life
10
- There were around 5 - 6 buildings/campuses of the University in the whole City. There was also a research facility of my school around 40 km from the City. There were plenty of student living buildings owned by the university.
- There were around 6 libraries around the city that were part of the University. There was a Student union building that had gym, study halls, pubs, cafes, restaurants, grocery stores, etc.
- There was a team by the name of Cardiff University Residence Life that organised multiple events which celebrated festivals from around the world, organised trips for students, organised mini events for student engagement and many more. There were local Indian communities that organised Indian festivals as well.
Part Time Jobs
- I didn't get a part-time opportunity at cardiff. There were only a fraction of postgraduate students who got opportunities, out of which most were only in blue-collar jobs in retail stores, security, cleaning, restaurants, bars, etc.
- There was a severe lack of opportunities for part-time work, especially for non-white international students.
- Maximum work hours allowed were 20 hours per week
- Indian students were desperate to find any job and very few of them even got any part-time opportunity. That had a huge impact on the finances of many students completely relying on their loan money or money from their parents. Applying for part-time was pretty easy but a lot of applications were just rejected without any explanation. Most desired jobs among peers after any academic opportunity were grocery store/retail store jobs.
Placement
4
- Not sure how many students got a job after their course. I, unfortunately, didn't find any opportunity in the UK and had to return to india to find a job.
- There was very limited support regarding job placement from the University. University was only assisting in self-evaluating our applications and most of the applications had to be made online on the company website, which in itself was a tedious process requiring writing different cover letters and answering multiple questions and even after that, getting a rejection without a clear explanation. Some companies even ended ghosting applications.
- There was also the issue of visas, and many companies straight up asked not to apply if holding a student or graduate visa.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- Since the University was an open campus with academic buildings spread across the city of Cardiff, all the accommodation was off campus. University did provide their own accommodation, ranging from flats to studio apartments to shared houses, etc. I myself opted for university-provided accommodation. The university provided a list of accommodation that they were providing. Since I was late to apply, I got a shared house with shared bathrooms and a kitchen with 9 individual rooms. The rent was £124 per week, which came down to around £500 per month.
- There are plenty of private university living complexes available around the city, suitable for every need.
- My accommodation was a 20 mins walk away from my academic building and 5 minutes away from the main university building.
Exams
- I appeared in IELTS and GRE, though I'm unsure if the GRE score was taken as a deciding factor for the application. For IELTS, I had to make a second attempt, as my previous score was expiring by the time I joined the course.
- I submitted a Statement of Purpose, 2 letters of recommendation and my CV as part of my application. There was a requirement for all the UG marksheets and the UG degree. Valid passport was also required.
- Interview was not part of my application but I know people who had to go through an interview round.
Fees
- Tuition fee for the course was £25400. I received a scholarship of £5000. Fees were paid in 3 instalments over the course period, which was 1 year, along with the first confirmation payment of £2000.
- There were various options for stay, including privately rented student spaces and ones provided by the university. I opted for university-provided accommodation, which was at the rate of £124 per week for a time period of 51 weeks.
- Monthly expenses, including rent, were around £1000.
Scholarship
- There were various scholarships, including ones provided by University, the UK government and the Indian government.
- I received the university's Chancellor's scholarship of £5000. This was presented because of my academic background.
- There were few students from India that were sponsored by the indian government.
- There were also scholarships from UK government, but I didn't have the chance to meet someone with one
