Southampton Solent University Reviews 4

I would like to share a recent experience with QA Higher Education and Solent University, which highlights how student concerns can sometimes be dismissed. I raised serious issues about a welfare investigation that significantly impacted my academic performance and mental well-being. Despite sending detailed written concerns, I was met with vague responses and unstructured meeting suggestions that went nowhere. My emotional and academic struggles were dismissed with apologies, but no real action was taken. The matter was closed without any meetings taking place, leaving me feeling unsupported and ignored.

This experience reflects a broader problem in higher education: students’ voices are often not heard, and their concerns are not addressed effectively. Universities must be held accountable for how they handle student welfare and mental health. When issues like this are ignored, it affects not just the individual student but the credibility of the institution. I hope sharing this experience will spark a broader conversation about improving student support and accountability in academic environments.

#HigherEducation #StudentSupport #Accountability #MentalHealthMatters #StudentVoice

The Good:
There were a couple of teachers lecturing online or at the weekly seminars who were lovely in their way of explaining the topics clearly and concisely, and also engaging (with) the audience.
The Birmingham campus was central, easy to access, and clean spaces to use for the seminars, while the lectures were held online as part of the post-pandemic adaptations.

The Bad:
The rest of the teachers were either stiff upon interaction, or really hard to listen to during the lecture. I would highlight a certain lady who taught multiple modules including Academic Skills, and who probably knows things for herself but she fails at getting her message delivered. In terms of her soft skills, everyone could benefit from her developing those more.

The online platform was quite tangled up at times in terms of how it's built or organized, which led me at some point to submit my assignment to the wrong folder and because of that I got marked as a "no-show". I remember having raised the issue at the time, sent multiple emails hoping for an answer, but the administration basically dismissed me - although there was proof I had uploaded my assignment on time.

Also at some point for a year-long period it was uncertain whether our Diploma will represent an accredited certificate or just a cute receipt. It was a frustrating year given that all of us were paying a lot of money for a course that was losing its accreditation.

The Great:
I graduated together with my classmates in 2023 and we were all greaaatly happy to have finished dealing with this institution. Fortunately our Diploma is an accredited certificate in the end.
Also, some of us still keep in touch with a couple of our tutors who are great people.

I am a student at this university in Birmingham, and it’s an absolute mess. The toilets are dirty, smelly, and flooded. The university doesn’t provide access to the student account from the start of the semester—only after five weeks—which means students cannot prepare for classes or view presentations during lectures.

On the third floor, there is a prayer room, and a queue of students waiting to use it blocks the hallway, making it difficult to pass through. It also smells really bad there. The university doesn’t respond to emails. In short, I do not recommend this university.

The university takes ages to reply to some important issue. The London campus is a mess, always dirty, bathrooms are always wet and dirty, classes are super hot in this weather, they seem not to have enough people to work and help students in need. I am trying to get them my attendance aproval for months already so my student finance can be paid and nothing is solved, nobody replies emails, when they reply they say that in 5 days it will be replied back, 5 days passes and NOTHING happens. I hope that after this review someone will pay attention to my claims. As this is simply unaceptable.