My name is Meg and I'm a level 4 TV
film and theater student I'm also the activities officer on the Student
Union and my name is Lisa McClellan I'm on costume interpretation with design and
I'm the vice president of student [Music] s my experience with other Unis is obviously I
went to a couple open days but I actually went to a uni down in London for three months um and
kind of Christmas 2021 I decided it wasn't for me um so I came back to the Northeast just the
course wasn't as practical
as I would have liked um and it was a very academic based uni as
well as I didn't really settle into kind of the big city life so when I came here and looked
around I just got a much more kind of friendly um just kind of more kind of chilled out
comfortable Vibe and obviously being a specialized art college it was very you know we've got all the
equipment and it was all very focused on the Arts and to be kind of surrounded by other creative
individuals it had just a really nice feel about
it for me um and I kind of didn't realize until I
came here that that's what I wanted and I wanted a more practical course which this uni definitely
provides yeah I think it was quite similar for me as well um I went to quite a lot of open
days off of costume and production and I felt like the issue was that it wasn't a community
for because there was no kind of integration between the classes whereas when I've come here
there's this real Community feel in which the each course has its own
like faculty everyone has their
own tutors and teachers and there is like high-end like machines and products that we can use and have access to at all times which you
just wouldn't get at another University so the way it works are kind of contact time with
lecturers obviously you have your lecture for your timetable sessions but during your time you know
the self practice time they're always around so if you need them you can just go hunt them down
or find them or email drop them A team's
message there's always people to contact and there's
not just your lectures on the course to aligned there's actually there's like technicians um most
courses have a specialized technician who can help you out with any of the technical stuff or the
equipment the facilities that you want to use also there's a wide range of facilities in terms
of this TV studio this like photography studio that we're in now there's the costume Department
um the Scott Building which has got this Warehouse full
of amazing sets that the production design
students have made and as a student here you're free to kind of use any space that you want at any
time obviously providing that like no one else is using it so you don't you're not just confined
within your course within what your course provides if you want to be you know they really
encourage us to collaborate with other courses and other students to work professionally really
as like creative professionals yeah yeah I mean as I say it's quite
similar I've got a wide range
of facilities to use you know I've got my own costume building where we've got like The Sewing
Studio and we've got the archives so we can find references like in person which is something I
haven't seen at any of the different universities um so I've got that but then as you say you
can still work with the other departments so I can have the actors model for me we
use the photography department to get like proper professional shots for our portfolio
and come
to the textiles Department quite a lot for fabrics and kind of print work and those
sort of things so it's that sort of place where if you've got an issue that needs solving
or a realm that needs feelings there will be someone here to do it for you I'll help you
with it the size of the uni means that you can have a lot of one-on-one time cheers that you
definitely wouldn't get at other universities um academic support wise especially when we're
writing our essays we usually most courses hav
e to do just one essay um a year which is nice yeah
obviously a lot of great people don't necessarily like writing there's a lot of workshops that the
school offer as well as um the lecturers came around when we do like essay and it's like anyone
who wants to sign up for academic help like essay writing help you could do that so that's obviously
an option to for that kind of side of things and just general kind of talking to your lecturers
you just get a really kind of friendly feel about i
t you just it's like you don't feel kind of
scared to ask them if you don't know how to do anything you know that they'll help you and
that they'll be you know pleased to show you work they've done in the past because another
nice thing about the lecturers here and the technicians and stuff is that they have a lot
of experience in the industry that you know is that's your course and that you might want to go
in um and that's what the university likes to have like they sometimes allow them t
o have time to
keep practicing that so they can come to their students with real life experience and real life
knowledge that they're always happy to share so um as I say it's quite similar in my class as
well um I think one of the nice things that you don't get at big universe is or even of a
university I've been to every single teacher and like student knows your name they know
who you are yeah they know what you're doing yeah your projects are like they don't have
to check a system have
a number it is like um so because of that like when your teachers
are with you they know what help you need because they've got that kind of personal relationship
with you that is so unique to the university I'd say um with that you get a lot of like one-on-one
help with certain things you struggle with so in costume we have a lot of
different um kind of help in average roaring if you've shown on the design um
actual sewing skills um if you like need a model or anything they'll help Source
word anything like
that they're ready to help you on the spot and I think that is completely unique to the university
is that each part of your course is attended to [Applause] um so a typical day for me is usually we're in
like three days a week with lectures the rest of the time we're expected to work in our own
time and we can make use of the equipment and the facilities obviously to do with our projects
but there's also time to kind of explore things outside your course for example lik
e I really
wanted to get involved with student union which I have been and we've kind of planned lots of
activities and different little things like that which has been nice um but yeah start the
day we're just go to your lectures you'll at the start of my course it was very kind of heavy with
getting us introduced to the equipment and telling us about what to expect in the course before
we were given our first brief and after that we learned um you know we learn the tech with like
special
ized lectures and stuff you know how to use it and then we kind of have time to ourselves to
complete the projects I mean it's different for me but also quite similar um so Staying Alive
usually I wake up about eight and get into uni for nine or ten depending on the day and for me
we have kind of workshops in the morning or we have a lecture depending on the cars that we're
doing at the time and between that you know we learned new techniques and then after lunch we
have our time to just wo
rk on them like actually kind of get our hands in there and do the actual
physical work learn new techniques like something brand new every single week um as I said I'm in
four days a week grabbing three but I have some half days and but even on the days off I still
come in and I still kind of catch up on work or even just work on my other projects and say I'm
in Street Union as well so we quite frequently have activities to organize United newsletter and
there's a lot of things to just kin
d of like dip in and out of and try something new like there's a
lot of clubs on live drawing and all sorts really so for supports such as like mental health there
is Michelle at student services who you can go to she can help with anything you are concerned
about with or without uni um that being kind of if you're struggling with kind of issues at
home or just how you feel like your mood your mental health issues and we're in touch with
like a bunch of different charities as well um who ca
n help out with that and give you the
support that you need even through the holiday period where you know not everyone does go home so
or if even if you do go home you can arrange kind of a virtual meeting or a telephone call because
this school doesn't want people to kind of feel like they're just abandoned through the summer
because we do have a long summer I think for me I've found a lot of support as we say Michelle
she offers a lot of different kind of personal help so there's financi
al support through student
services and there's counseling even available there's YouTube stuff with mental health issues
that's been a real help um budgeting as well um they've got like sort of one-on-one being able
to talk oh I have financial troubles how can you help us and unique does offer complete support
um with the LGBT community we have that sort of kind of percentage-wise the uni does have this
community that is noticeable and you can talk to other people with your sort of issues
that you
thought on you're struggling with there's kind of um Pierce a part that's now being
offered through Student Union um so some trans-pupils um queer pupils they can
help each other with issues they're having with either dysphoria or just even like coming out or
things like that and that's available through the university there's also an LGBT officer within our
student union and they offer kind of social like aspects that people from all walks of life can
join in and kind of have tha
t sense of community that maybe you didn't have back home and that's
what's nice about the university just adding to that as well the kind of at this uni you are
totally free to be who you are yeah yeah 100 it that's just a nice thing and being such
a creative environment nobody's judgmental there's no kind of standard there's no there's
nothing you can just be who you are find your group of people and you'll often find that
everyone is everyone has similar interests to you which is really
nice and everyone's so
individual and unique and God I've met like some amazing people yeah just being here for
the future like this year even um there's so many different talented people as well who are
just it's just very comfortable yeah it is yeah so I live in the crown Hall's accommodation um
which works there's three floors two buildings and seven rooms on each floor and I will sit hands
down I've been to a lot of uni accommodations I have a twin brother who's studying in Leeds um my
room in the crown Hall accommodation is probably twice the size as any other accommodation I've
ever seen you have so much free space to work with like I know people who have drum kits
and like organs and I have my sewing machine and mannequins and things like there's a lot
of space for you to actually do with what you want rather than the sort of cupboards that
you're so used to seeing as in accommodation um but accommodation for me worked out really well
I got along with not just the peo
ple on my floor but people in both buildings and as well as in
the other accommodation townhouse and Tower house um so it kind of becomes this community because
you shared a kitchen where I am and we kind of all have our own little rules to like make sure
that we're all comfortable living with each other um it works really well because you have this
sort of little community of these people who you know some of these people have never lived
by themselves before and you can kind of help each
other out like even not knowing how to make
pasta people can show you how or anything like that there is that sort of community where you can
live with each other and actually with each other rather than just ignore each other on the Halls
which I've seen in many different accommodations it's definitely affordable it's so much cheaper
than any other accommodation like my learn covers it and I know the best majority of people as well
as covers it um and even like leaves you a bit of room for
spare like coming from a city where I
do I'm so used to seeing these massive prices and even with the cost of living with prices going
up it's still completely affordable and even if you move on to your second year the university
gives you contacts of um estate agents and like companies that do secondary housing and that's
just as affordable as first year yeah I would say it was stuck in your housing as well because
obviously like I live in private accommodation where and a lot of my frien
ds live in kind of
other private accommodation but it is for students so there are a lot more options than you might
first think like coming here and kind of I know people can get off and get stressed about having
to think about second third year accommodation in their first term but uni does like obviously
help you with that and there are quite a lot of options available in like nice areas the uni
will point you in the right direction as well as students that you and meet and talk to my fl
at in
the marina it's because I flat share so it's super affordable I think I roughly player bills included
300 pound a month um but obviously I share and you know that's kind of a good deal but what you
will get is like nothing said like you couldn't get that or anywhere near that do you know what
I mean it's um it is it's not a concern for me it never was a concern about the cost of living
especially with your student loan that you get it will cover it um in most cases and same with
kind
of shops and supermarkets like yeah there's a there's a like a wide variety as well you've
got like you've got like every single Supermarket literally every single supermarket in a small area
yeah um same with like the cinemas and restaurants and Nando's and these kind of like obviously uh
chains and stuff and the fast food chains there are a surprising amount in like a close vicinity
yeah which is Handy it is Handy yeah and it's not far from the uni as well it's like a five minute
walk so
yeah totally so even though it is a you know like a smaller town you've still got like
everything that you would ever need yeah yeah thank you so like the area itself is by
the Sea which is obviously really nice and I live by the marina which is a lovely
little location especially when it's sunny it's got a like bars cafes all sorts of things
and um there's a train station in Hartlepool which makes it really easy to get to places like
Newcastle like jump on the Train 50 minutes here in New
castle same with Durham uh and London the
train goes right down to London so I think having the train station there is obviously really
like a big benefit and it's two minute walk from the uni with the kind of area around the
uni there's at the minute especially there's a lot of nice little pubs popping up uh there's
that we've kind of discovered and you find you know you find your people that you can go with
so it's not a big city if you're expecting kind of big city like clubs open all th
e time it's
not that kind of town but there's something nice about it where it does feel more of a like
a community like a Seaside kind of community um which can be nice especially if you've come
from a city like I know you have yeah well as you say I've been from a city so when I was coming
to Hartlepool I really didn't know what to expect I'd only been here like twice before moving but I
live in the student accommodation which is kind of literally around the corner from the unit and what
I found is because the university is so Central like it's literally the campus is a straight
away basically it's this kind of like little Community right there so you've got all the small
businesses surrounding you know they know you're from the unit so they're always there for you
and I have a help in hand if you go there for lunch or like the bars are local they're really
um quite sweet to go to um prices are so good coming from a city I can't beat Hartlepool
prices um so I find that lik
e the location is quite perfect as you said the train station
is really close to my accommodation and really close to University I was gonna say do you get
the train home yeah I got should I I'm always traveling on the weekends you've never seen
friends that I went to high school with who go to different universities up in the north and then
I go home quite often and the train is so easy to do and it's right next to the university so it's
very accessible even if you get a bit homesick easy
to kind of work your way around as coaches
and as you say with cluster big cities like Newcastle um and that's literally so easy even
Middlesbrough that's 20 minutes on the train and that's can be caught like every hour or something
like that the train prices are super reasonable as well especially if you hit them at the right
time and if you get anywhere else oh yeah yeah I still have an existing job that I had before
here but there are I know a lot of people and my partner works at the Ha
rtlepool Museum where the
um treatment ship is so he got that opportunity through University actually the uni emailed out
um I think a bunch of different companies got in touch with the uni because they were hiring so he
then saw the email and got in touch with uh the museum and now works there through the summer
so it's nice because they've kept him on it on a summer contract from April to kind of October
time really uh so it's a nice layover obviously for students who are staying back or
live locally
also there's quite a few people who work at local bars and like I said there are quite a lot of new
nice bars popping up at the minute because I think companies and small businesses are realizing that
there is a little market here with the TV studios moving here with the students and everything
which is starting to create a really nice little creative Hub and obviously students being
at the Forefront of them and you know businesses are very keen to kind of get hold of students
here so I definitely think there are quite a few opportunities for part-time jobs as well as
work experience I've got a lot of friends who work in the local bars restaurants and personally
I still work back home so I don't work within the city but I do volunteer and help out within the
unit so I'm an ambassador so I help out on the open days and on like events and that way I can
still kind of feel productive as well as get paid for some things so it's really helpful that the
university doe
s offer that sort of support without you know kind of leave it as yeah hustle on
our own I think a good thing about the uni with the scale of it as well like we're quite
small size so when businesses get in touch for work experience and things like that you haven't
got a mass amount like you would download like I had down London this massive pool of creative
Talent all fighting for the same thing yeah um you can really kind of get your foot
in the door first and there's been quite a few tim
es where I've just popped off at
the TV studios to see the manager there or uh at the biz which is this kind of offices for
Creative businesses and got a few contacts there and they all want in promotional stuff done as
well as bars around the area it's really kind of easy to network and chat to people and find
these opportunities and open indoors it feels um like a much more relaxed environment to be able
to do that for me anyway so yeah no I completely agree as you say it's a lot of kind
of working
with what you got people will come out and speak here just at the bars and like kind of ask oh
could you help me with this this and this and it's a real good sort of opportunities within
the yeah yeah everyone's always up with Ryan um so I actually went to every freshers
event I was really trying to lay the land um so I found it was really nice because
it was student-led so I kind of like met some the Student Union from last year's
and currently this year's as well so it was nic
e to kind of get a Vibe of like what the
actual students within the university are like um as well as that it was kind of perfect to kind
of lay out a map in your head because it kind of spanned from the Town Center on Church Street
to the marina so I got a like which pubs I liked which pubs I didn't really like and like what
sort of bars and restaurants even that were nice and you can kind of like find that all through
freshers whilst in a real safe like environment because you're surround
ed by a bunch of people
who are in the exact same situation as you um and as well as that you kind of got used to
the Street Union bar and like just a building that I wouldn't go into because I'm in the
costume building so it was kind of fun to see the different areas within the university but
then I think freshers was good because it was so kind of specialty made they Blended straight
into your introduction week so I felt that I had something going on during the day
kind of getting to kno
w my cars because for me it was as you say working on kind
of getting to know the equipment getting used to sewing machines getting to use
like not getting lost in the building um kind of meeting the class meeting the other
students and then on the night me and the people who'd met that day went to the freshest
events like managed to socialize so it was nice but I think if you're worried about cost of
living obviously go to the university go to the school they are like more than willing to
help
there's a bunch of bursaries that are available a couple of my friends have them um as well as
kind of advice and guidance and how to budget a wet shop how to Memories if you're living
in like a community space how to kind of live you know more affordably together maybe as you
can share shopping and things like that so there is definitely a lot of advice given out from the
school so yeah yeah I completely agree I mean I think the university has been really great with
kind of helping w
ith financial issues with the cost of living crisis everyone got stressed and
kind of freaked out and thinking about like oh I'm going to go around how I'm going to cover
the house but the uni is very upfront with it and there's been budgeting kind of workshops um
teaching like what sort of things you should be buying at supermarkets like how to kind of avoid
unexpected costs um using student discount so handy 100 when she just have your badge on you
you get extreme discounts it's brilliant
um but as well as that like as you said those bursaries
are available for certain circumstances and even DSS if you think you can like get one apply
because there's a lot of my friends who have never in their life thought they'd be able to get a DSA
and immediately got one with the help of the unit I would say if you're struggling to make a
decision if you want to do a practical creative course this is a uni For You especially within
the North like there is nothing like it no and the kind
of environment the location the affordability
of all the factors kind of combined even though it's not a well-known town and it's not well
known uni so you might be worried about the kind of career opportunities and jobs prospects you've
got to be here to really see it and really see the the opportunities you've got just a chance good of
chance of making it here as you do anywhere in the creative arts especially so I would definitely if
you want a practical creative experience this is yeah
this is the uni yeah I completely agree as I
said my advice would be if you have in your head a vision of like the life and Industry you want
to be in this would be the university for you I've never had sort of more opportunities kind of
displayed in front of me than coming here there's so many links that you just wouldn't get anywhere
else there's so many people who are willing to help you so that you have a full professional
portfolio by the time you've left the University
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