The University of Portsmouth's Students experience and Student advisers

[MUSIC PLAYING] - Obviously, my original sort of search, if you like, was to find a course that fit the boxes and the modules that I felt were relevant to me and my line of work, because I was already working in the field that I wanted to study. So I wanted to find something that I felt was going to benefit my skill development in my career. So that was number one for me.

I found very soon that the course that I'm now on, which is the Cyber Security and Digital Forensics course, all of the modules in there looked like they were ticking all the boxes of what I wanted to learn. Obviously, I did find a couple of other options at other places. So I think the deciding factor for me is when I first inquired about how I inquire about enrolling and what happens. What do I do?

Just the initial response from University of Portsmouth, it felt very welcoming. And Rossella specifically was very approachable and informative. And I felt like it was a really easy process to get information and figure out how to start the ball rolling with it.

So yeah, in general, the course itself, the practicality and convenience of distance learning, and having something tailored around someone that works full time, or works in general, was great. So yeah, it just ticked all of those boxes for me.

- What was key in your decision-making was that initial introduction by the course advisor. Rossella is obviously an exceptional course advisor with us. And I assume then that it was how quickly you built that relationship together which sort of convinced you that this is a university that appreciates me, is considerate towards what I'm trying to do and achieve, has been able to explain everything really well. And that played some sort of significant role in your decision-making, I guess.

ERIN GRUNDY: Yeah, exactly, because I found I had quite a lot of questions. I do tend to ask a lot of questions because I think a lot of things. And if she didn't have an answer, she went away and found one very quickly. So I just felt-- it felt quite catered and not intimidating. It felt a little bit informal, obviously still on a professional level but informal enough to feel like I was being catered for in terms of finding the right thing.

FREDDIE DANIELS: You're a postgraduate student, right? You're in that stage of your life where it doesn't have to be a robotic sort of human talking to a human. It is an informal-- this is what you want to do. This is great. This is what it is. This is what we offer. This is how we can guide you through the process. So that's all really positive, and I'm really happy that you had that experience.

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- There is a lot to learn in construction, to be honest, and there are a lot to go through. So this course is giving me-- it's helping me to develop my knowledge, first of all, and my skills, which will make me become a good manager.

And it helps you learn what right CDMs to use and what right technology to use in terms of leading your project, because now we are doing contractual law. We started the contractual law module. So there is a lot to learn in this. There is a lot of regulations, obviously. There is a lot to learn in health and safety. And there is a lot to learn in how to price your job and to bring profit to your company.

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- It takes a little bit of getting used to. And you have to introduce it and let things settle and work things to your own personal schedule. But in general, I think it works as quite a nice balance. I'm a little bit like Ana. I'm quite headstrong. And I'm quite devoted to just quite working hard, and I can't not study. If I'm not doing this, I'd be doing something else.

So I like to occupy my time. But on the occasion where I do fancy actually leaving the house and socializing, I feel like because of the flexibility and the way that the course is structured, it does allow you to kind of manage your own time and squeeze things around that. But it feels balanced.

I work a full-time job. Obviously, there's the masters itself. And then I do other things like I do broadcasting on Twitch, and things like that. So I find I work everything around it, and everything is balanced. So yeah, it fits in quite nicely with everything.

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