The University of the West of Scotland (UWS)

For information, I am part of the Business program at the University UWS. I am doing a Licence 3 abroad in partnership with the IAE of Montpellier, I am also validating during this year the Bachelor's degree offered by UWS as well as a DUETI. I therefore validate three diplomas in one (this is different according to the Erasmus destination countries).

Presentation of the University of the West of Scotland

The University of the West of Scotland has five campuses in Scotland, including one in Paisley, where I am doing my Erasmus year. Paisley is a little town situated to the West of the City of Glasgow.

The main entrance

The entrance hall

The entrance hall

Knowing that I live in Glasgow, I have to take the train to go to school. This is very simple because travel time is only 10 minutes and trains leave from Central Station (Glasgow Main Station) every 5 to 10 minutes during the week.

Courses

The school year is divided into two semesters, from September to December and from January to April.

During the first semester, I had 13 hours of classes per week which included four different courses: Human Resources Management, Strategic Management, Business Research Skills and Advanced English. Then, I had three imposed courses and one English course that I had chosen in addition to that to improve my level of English.

The second semester is only composed of 7 hours of courses with Designing Event Experiences, Digital Marketing and Enterprise Creation.

The courses are partly composed of courses and tutorials often devoted to individual or group work. Depending on the course, there are either two hours of amphitheatre and one hour of tutorial or two hours of tutorial and video lessons to watch at home.

Ratings are made in percentages. The average is 40%, then if you want to validate a subject you need to have 40% or more.

Concerning the individual works that I was asked to do this year, they were either individual reports (case study, research proposal), reflective journal, or a blog.

As for the group work I was able to have this year, it was either group reports (case study, business plan) or 15-minute oral presentations in general.

Assessments

Evaluations are different for each course.

Generally each course is evaluated by taking into account a personal evaluation and a group evaluation. Each of these evaluations counts, in the final grade of the subject, according to a percentage defined by the teacher (e.g.: 40% personal evaluation + 60% group evaluation).

Here is the evaluation grid of UWS based on the scores obtained:

Holidays

During the first semester, we had a week of holidays, called 'Reading Week', in mid-October and then we also had a month of holidays spread over the months of December and January.

During the second semester, we have a 'Reading Week' in mid-February and we will have two weeks of holidays in early April.

Personally, my classes finish at the end of March.

Useful mobile applications

If you are studying at UWS, several tools may be useful throughout your school year.

First of all, there is the mobile application 'UWS' which allows you to access the university's Internet portal directly.

There is also the mobile application 'University of the West of Scotland navigation' which allows you to find your way around the campus because the application has a GPS so you can find the right building and classroom.

Finally, the most useful mobile application is the 'Myday' application, which allows you to access your student portal. You will then be able to easily access your timetable, your emails...