Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to a bumper issue of the Agents newsletter covering updates from March and April from all areas of the University, including:
The Accommodation system has changed for 2017 with a new allocation procedure, new provision and a new opening date. Please read the guidance carefully in order to advise your students appropriately. Applications open on 9 May.
UG Programmes that are now closed for overseas recruitment are: International Management, Psychology, Addictions Counselling, Social Work. For Masters programmes we have now closed the following due to high demand for 2017 entry: MSc in Accounting and Finance, MSc in Finance, MSc in Finance with Banking, MSc in Finance with Risk Management.
Don't forget to fill out the Agents questionnaire - the deadline has been extended into April to allow as many of you as possible to have the time to complete it. Your country manager should have sent you the link.
Please be advised that the University is closed from Friday 14 April to Tuesday 18 April inclusive.
We are of course looking forward to welcoming many of you to our Agents conference in June and are busy making preparations for your arrival.
Finally, as many of you are already aware, we were sad to say goodbye to Brian as he left our team and the University of Bath earlier this month. I am sure you will join us in wishing him well in his new job at the University of Bristol.
With Very Best Wishes
Zoe, Virginia, Louise, Fay and Andy.
Accommodation Update - new system and opening date for 2017 - 9 MAY^
Please read this information carefully and refer to the newly updated website to advise your students correctly for 2017 entry to Bath.
Applications are open from 9am on Tuesday 9 May to Saturday 1 July 2017. This is one month later than previous years.
Applications are made via the on line Portal.
Eligible students must submit their application before 1 July to be guaranteed a room.
Eligibility criteria for University managed accommodation and Hello Student (privately manage accommodation) are not the same.
Students can check their eligibility here http://www.bath.ac.uk/guides/applying-for-student-accommodation/
University Accommodation criteria:
you are in your first year studying a full-time undergraduate course
you are studying a full-time Foundation Degree in Sports Performance (C601)
you are a new MA Contemporary European Studies (Euromasters) student
you are a new overseas, fee-paying postgraduate
you are a University student with specific medical conditions or disabilities
you are leaving care provided by the State or other organisations
you have been estranged from your parents for a long period of time
you are an exchange or visiting student nominated for student accommodation by the International Mobility team
you are a summer pre-sessional English student with a conditional or combined offer of admission
Hello Student criteria:
you are a new overseas, fee-paying postgraduate
you are a new home and EU fee-paying postgraduate
you are a summer pre-sessional English student with a conditional or combined offer of admission
UK or EU postgraduate students can apply for rooms in the Hello Student managed locations, but cannot be guaranteed a room.
Hello Student currently manage James House, Canal Bridge, Piccadilly Place, Radway House, Widcome Wharf and The Exchange. Approximately 375 rooms.
Students who can show a disability or diagnosed medical condition before the 1 July deadline will be guaranteed a suitable room. Applications are made via the on line portal and then passed to Student Services for decision. Rooms are allocated according to need.
Overseas students housed in Hello Student housing will need to find a UK based guarantor willing to pay their rent if they fall into debt. Students who cannot provide a guarantor can pay the full rental fee up front or use a guarantor service like Housing Hand.
How/when to apply
• Applications open 9 May, 9am via the accommodation website
• Only after “firm acceptance” with UoB can they apply for accommodation
• Eligible students need to have applied by guarantee deadline of 1 July 2017 to be guaranteed a room in University accommodation. Note this is a guarantee of University Accommodation/University Nominations accommodation, not campus University Accommodation. We have around 900 rooms in the City Centre and 350 with Hello Student on a nominations agreement
• Applicants will need to rank room types in order of their preference, eg 1 standard 2. En-suite 3. Catered standard 4. En-suite Part catered….etc
• Simple application, applicants just need to specify room type preference as well as group preference (eg mixed or single gender). Specific buildings will not be chosen
Room Allocations
• We allocate rooms according to course offer status, room type preference and group gender preference. When allocating rooms, priority is not given to the date and time that students submit their accommodation application
• This is not a “first come first served” approach.
• The order we prioritize allocations within lists of applications is randomly generated by our accommodation database
• We try to get applicants into one of their higher ranked room type preferences but this will not be possible in many cases. If we cannot allocate the first choice we work down their list of preferences. Applicants should try to manage their expectation accordingly. Room allocation always depends on the popularity of room types and the number of applicants.
• En-suite rooms are normally highly sought after and we are not able to meet all such requests. Although the majority of our bed-stock is on campus, we do also have rooms located off campus in the City Centre
• We only allocate rooms after an applicant’s course offer changes to unconditional firm
*Applications made after 1 July may still be considered but a place cannot be guaranteed*
Do the non-University residences have the same rules/facilities? E.g Bringing a car? Utilities and insurance and internet included?
No, they don’t have the same rules across the board. These are operated by private companies. Information is available online at http://www.bath.ac.uk/campaigns/choose-your-student-accommodation-options/
New accommodation coming online for 2018 and renovations taking place for 2017
The extension to Polden Court is scheduled for completion in 2018. Westwood is to undergo renovation this summer.
Students on summer courses (July to September) can normally be guaranteed a place in University accommodation, which is normally on campus in Westwood (for PSM5 and PSG5 students). For summer 2017, the choice of accommodation includes Carpenter House and The Exchange (for PSM4 and PSG4 students) both located in the centre of Bath. Progressing Pre-sessional students housed in the Exchange will continue to live there throughout the year. Pre-sessional students living in Westwood and Carpenter can go elsewhere.
Accommodation prices for 2017 entry are yet to be published. There will be increases that average out at around 5% but may be higher for certain residences or room types.
Prices for undergraduate and postgraduate student accommodation from September 2017 to June 2018 will be approved by the University finance committee on 27 April 2017. The fees will be published shortly afterwards.
You can use our undergraduate and postgraduate 2016 to 2017 accommodation prices as a guide, though these are likely to change.
Pre -sessional Update^
- January-June news
Our student satisfaction rates at the end of term 2 (January-March) were high with 100% of students stating they would recommend the Pre-sessional course to others. We are also very happy to announce the following student success:
- Abdulaziz AL KHZEM, Saudi
Abdulaziz studied with us for 21 weeks (PS1-2) and, due to his high level of engagement on the course, managed to achieve his target grade (6.5) a term early. This means he can now start his MPhil Research in Pharmacy & Pharmacology, with a view to embarking on a PhD at the University.
We look forward to welcoming at least 22 students from 9 different countries in term 3 (April to June). Approximately 50% of these students have conditional offers for postgraduate degrees in the School of Management, including four MBAs. The other 50% of the cohort are pre-doctoral students and pre-Masters students with a conditional offer from the Faculty of Science, Engineering or Social Sciences.
Please note that from the next academic year, our Pre-sessional programme will start in January and run through to September. Students with a minimum Academic IELTS 4.5 (with at least 4.5 in writing) are eligible to apply for our 11-week course in January 2018. The minimum entry requirement for our 10-week April to June 2018 course will be Academic IELTS 5.0 (with at least 5.0 in writing). There will no longer be a course running from October to December.
- July and August news
Our summer courses are proving to be very popular this year, especially PSM4 and PSM5.
The Graduate Schools have also been able to issue a good number of our new 10-week combined offers of admission.
More information about the advantages of a combined offer can be found on our website.
Please contact your student’s Graduate School Admissions Office directly to request a combined offer as only the Graduate School can make these offers.
Key dates for summer Pre-sessional:
9 May: Online application open for Pre-sessional and degree programme accommodation to applicants who have accepted a place
2 June: Deadline to request 10 week combined & to apply for 10 week standalone
1 July: Deadline to apply for accommodation (Pre-sessional and degree programme)
5 July: Deadline to request 5 week combined & to apply for 5 week standalone
10 July: Start of PSM4 & PSG4 courses
10 August: Start of PSM5 & PSG5 courses
15 September: End of summer Pre-sessional
Visit our website to find out more about course content, to view sample student timetables, or to read one of our student stories. Click here for an overview of the Pre-sessional summer application process, entry requirements and dates.
For any queries, please contact Izzy or Bev in the Pre-sessional Admissions team.
Changes to our pre-sessional offering from 2017-18
We wanted to update you on the decision to streamline our year-round Pre-sessional provision by removing the Pre-sessional Preparation course and term 1 of the Pre-sessional General/Management course from 2017-18.
This will mean our year-round offering will run from January to June with two entry points (January and April). We will no longer be offering a separate course for Management students January to June but rather breakout classes to provide tailored provision for these students, and indeed any PGRs that may enrol. The minimum entry requirement for January will be Academic IELTS 4.5 with minimum 4.5 in Writing and for April minimum 5.0 with minimum 5.0 in Writing.
The 2017-18 course dates and fees and rename of this provision are now updated on our website.
New ‘Meet Our African Students’ film to add to our collection^
We’re excited to announce our new film ‘Meet Our African Students’ which is the latest addition to our series of country/regional films featuring some of our international students. These now include India, China, Malaysia, Latin American and Africa. View our collection of ‘Meet Our International Students’ films here
Update from the Faculty of Engineering and Design^
- First Modern Building Design MOOC a success
http://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/first-modern-building-design-mooc-a-success/
The MOOC will run again in June 2017
- Two new MSc courses will be starting in the Faculty of Engineering and Design in September 2017:
- MSc Sustainable Chemical Engineering
2. MSc Electronic Systems Design
- Student design projects are a key part of many of the courses available within the Faculty of Engineering and Design. Hear more from our students on our design project blog:
http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/engdes-student-insights/
- Placements offer our students a real advantage in developing their skills for the workplace. Hear more from some of our students currently on placement
http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/engdes-student-insights/category/engineering-placements/
Update from Humanities and Social Sciences^
- New video showcasing our BSc International Development with Economics available on youtube and vimeo. Dr Aurelie Charles and students Nabaa Zaynah and Robin Guy talk about our undergraduate degree in International Development with Economics.
- Hear from our MA Interpreting and Translating alumni as they talk about their experience at the University of Bath, how their Masters in Interpreting and Translating has helped them in their career and share advice for future students
- Catherine Pollard and Rebecca Edgington talk about the special partnership between the UN and the University of Bath and why our interpreting and translating graduates play such an important role
- The University of Bath’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences was proud to organise and host the One Young Bath event on 26 March 2017. The event was following on from the international One Young World event and welcomed inspiring speakers from business and industry including Bath alumni. Read more about the event.
- Our live chats have provided offer holders with the opportunity to ask lots of questions about their course and life at Bath. All the transcripts including the answers to the individual questions can be found on our website. You may find some of the questions of use and some of the answers may be there to questions that you get regularly.
- The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences recently visited Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL) in Bogota, Colombia. Find out all about their visit on our blog.
Update from the School of Management^
- Due to high demand we’ve closed international applications to our Finance courses.
This includes the following courses:
MSc in Accounting and Finance
MSc in Finance
MSc in Finance with Banking
MSc in Finance with Risk Management
All of our non-finance courses are still open. If students would like to apply to study a finance course in 2018/9, they will be able to from September.
- Information on School of Management Masters Scholarships
For School of Management Masters courses, candidates who have accepted their place and paid their deposit, will be emailed asking them to apply for a scholarship by Friday 14th April 2017. Further candidates who have received an offer and are within the 6 week reply deadline date, will also be invited to apply.
Deadline for applications
The deadline for applications is Thursday 1st June 2017 (12:00 noon GMT +1).
Decision making
Decisions will be made by Wednesday 5th July 2017 (18:00 GMT +1).
- New videos for MSc Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management and MSc in Innovation and Technology Management
We’re very excited about our new MSc in Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management course. To help students understand what the course is about, they can watch our new infographic film. Students can also hear from alumni working in this exciting field. We’ve also created a teaching and learning video so students can experience how they will be taught on this innovative course.
We’ve recently worked with our Department of Mechanical Engineering to produce a video on the unique features of our MSc in Innovation and Technology Management. With an employment rate of 100% within six months of graduation*, students on this course can look forward to exceptional career prospects.
* Employment data based on those looking for work and for whom data is held (68% of 2015 class)
Update from the Faculty of Science^
- Computer Science master’s programmes webinar - Friday 28 April 12:00 - 13:00 BST
Sign up for our live webinar to find out more about our programmes and ask questions.
We offer the following MSc programmes:
· MSc Data Science
· MSc Software Systems
· MSc Human Computer Interaction
· MSc Digital Entertainment
· MSc Computer Science
During the webinar Dr Marina De Vos (Director of Studies) will give a short presentation where you will learn about:
• the benefits of studying computer science at Bath
• the structure and content of our programmes
• teaching and assessment
• employability and further study
You will also have the opportunity to put your questions to Marina and a panel of current students during a live question and answer session.
Register for the Computer Science webinar
- MSc Chemistry for Drug Discovery programme webinar - Wednesday 31 May 12:00 – 13:00 BST
Sign up for our live webinar to find out more about our MSc Chemistry for Drug Discovery and ask questions.
During the webinar Dr Steve Flower (Admissions Tutor) will give a short presentation where you will learn about:
• the benefits of studying Chemistry for Drug Discovery at Bath
• the structure and content of the programme
• teaching and assessment
• employability and further study
You will also have the opportunity to put your questions to Steve during a live question and answer session.
Register for the MSc Chemistry for Drug Discovery programme webinar
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