Category Archives: Postgraduate Student Experience

Societies at Newcastle University

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Valini Samaroo, an MSc Transport Planning and ITS student, writes about the societies she’s been involved in at Newcastle University and how societies can help when relocating to another country.

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Making the decision to pack your things and move to a new country, by yourself, for a whole year, is a nerve-wracking experience. So many things go through your mind: Will I fit in? Will I enjoy it? How will I cope with the weather? Suppose I miss home too much? What will I eat?

Before I arrived in September, I decided to do some research into the societies at Newcastle University via the Newcastle University Students’ Union webpage. What better way to settle into a new place and make some friends than joining a group of like-minded people? To my amazement, the Students’ Union offered over 160 societies from which to choose! I decided to join the Dance and Civil Engineering Societies, as well as keep a keen eye on ‘Give it a Go’ which offers opportunities to participate in completely new things like paintball and ice skating at ridiculously low prices.

Being a part of these societies has helped me settle in immensely. I was even encouraged to join societies by my Personal Tutor within my degree programme! It has helped me appreciate Newcastle University even more, as emphasis is placed on both work and play, and one needs only to find a way!

I have always been passionate about dance and the dance society’s classes are my way of connecting with both myself and other dancers from all around the Uni. The classes, taught by other students, have offered me a sisterhood that I know I can escape to after eight plus hours of lectures, to simply relax and have fun.

I attended the Civil Engineering Society’s Christmas Ball, which gave me the opportunity to interact with my colleagues and classmates in an informal setting, where we could truly relax and have a fun night out. This event and others allowed us to connect beyond the classroom and develop a kinship that truly helps when home-sickness sets in. You always have a group of people that you can look forward to spending time with.

Joining a society offers you a home away from home, and I would recommend it for any student coming to Uni, international or not. You get a chance to connect with people through a medium that transcends language and cultural barriers. The best part: you get to have fun!

 

Postgraduate student life at Newcastle University

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Luilfy, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Structural Engineering, writes about the social aspects of student life at Newcastle University.

Postgraduate student life at Newcastle is one of the best student experiences in the UK, due to its variety of programs and activities that you can take part in during the year. There are a wide range of clubs and societies for everyone and these activities usually work alongside the academic timetable. Therefore it is quite easy to be part of a society without it interrupting your studies.

Every society has a wide range of activities that can help you not only to focus in classes but to get to know more people at the university. In my case I support the Catholic society and the Latin society. These societies help me in my personal and student journey, for example: the Catholic society helps me to be calm and keeps me align with my beliefs and on the other hand, the Latin society promotes a lot of Latin parties that are really fun.

The university offers spaces in campus for its students for recreation and to socialise. What amazed me most when I started at Newcastle University was that there is a bar inside the university. At the beginning it was hard to understand but now it is one of my favourite places where you can have a nice drink and talk. Another wonderful thing about the university is the Students’ Union (SU). The SU is an organisation that represents and helps students; it organises a lot of activities and does a lot of trips in and out of the UK at affordable prices. Thus, NUSU trips are always good to enjoy because they have the support of the university.

Moreover, Newcastle is a very compact and quite a modern city where you can find almost everything. Since, the city centre is small and close to the university, there is no need for a car or bus in order to get to know the city. Also, Newcastle has one of the best nightlife’s in the country. There are a lot of pubs, bars and discos where postgraduate students can take a break and release all their stress.

Another good feature of the city is that it has an airport and a train station, which means that you can easily visit other cities in the UK and Europe without spending too much. Furthermore, Newcastle also has a metro, which facilitates the urban transport for those days when you do not want to walk or want to take a trip to near towns or to the beach.

Read more about the social aspects of life at Newcastle University for Postgraduate Students.

My passion for Structural Engineering

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Luilfy, a postgraduate student studying an MSc in Structural Engineering, writes about his passion for the subject and what he hopes to achieve after gaining his postgraduate degree.luilfy

Construction is a very relevant indicator of progress in countries and the skyline of a city says how organised the urban planning of the area is. Structural engineering has been helping the society to develop solutions of housing, transport and giving security and confidence to people in their homes.

The functionality of how a skyscraper or bridge works is amazing to me, how all elements are combined to form a structure is wonderful. In class, I was astonished to learn about structural analysis and design because we see and use structures like buildings and bridges all the time. Furthermore, it is amazing to learn a science that has such an impact on society because every person using it.

In my country, the Dominican Republic, structural engineering has a lot of responsibility as the country is located within an earthquake zone. Therefore, engineers have a crucial obligation when it comes to design and construction of buildings as these processes can save lives in a seismic event. After witnessing the severe earthquake that hit our neighbouring country, Haiti in 2010, the focus on structural engineering in the Dominican Republic has become more important than ever!

Before I came to Newcastle University, I did an internship in the construction of schools for the Government. After doing this internship for several months, I was approached to join the Government Construction System, which allowed me to work on the construction of the headquarters of the European Union in the Dominican Republic. Although, my work experience is related to construction management, I have always been interested in structural engineering. Also, during my internship, I often worked with different seismic and structural engineers and their work motivated me to gain a deeper knowledge in structures.

Studying a Masters in Structural Engineering will help me pursue a career where I can be creative in problem solving, design functional structures and at the same time give comfort and confidence to people. When I finish my Masters at Newcastle University, I expect to gain enough knowledge and experience to work for a consultancy company that has significant and challenging projects. I hope to make a significant contribution to society.

Find out more about our Structural Engineering MSc.