University Of Wales Institute Cardiff

UWIC’s Llandaff campus is the ultimate advert for visiting a university before enrolling: a decent walk from many of the student housing hotbeds in the city, it really is on the outskirts of Cardiff. Nevertheless, the campus is a multi-​faceted undergraduate honey-​pot for a variety of courses. As an arts hub, its fairly modern somewhat yellow-​themed buildings are decorated with displays of the most talented students’ portfolio work. There’s a print studio too that offers all manner of printing and binding. A new building has been opened for events management while business courses from Cyncoed have now moved to Llandaff. One computer room is open around the clock, handy for last minute cramming or, perish the thought, penning a dissertation in one splurge of coffee and Pro-​Plus. And though they’ve recently ditched their bar, which was never well patronised compared to Cardiff University’s union, there is a gym onsite. Smart locked bike sheds are about the only transport boon as buses back to most of the student areas aren’t spectacularly regular and the car parking is complicated in terms of payment options, so don’t just rock up and expect to avoid a ticket from the prowling attendant. But you can park a short distance down the road in residential parking. The pain of being so far from town is slightly eased by plenty of vending machines onsite and the fact it’s only five minutes away from the massive Tesco Extra across Western Avenue.

More commonly known as UWIC, this was my university. I studied English and Popular Culture here for 3 years and had an awesome time doing it.
My course was based on Cyncoed campus which is mainly a sports campus with the NIAC at the back.
All of the Campuses are modern and clean, and filled with helpful people to point you in the right direction when you inevitably get lost during the first week. The School of Art, Howard Gardens, is right next to the city centre, with Colchester Avenue is a little further down the road. Llandaff and Cyncoed are the biggest of the campuses and are a lot further away, but there are regular buses from town, and a dedicated bus service called the UWIC rider that goes to them all and Plas Gwyn halls of residence.
The accommodation on the UWIC campuses aren’t the best I’ve ever seen, but they are by no means the worst, either, and you are provided with everything you need. However, it’s worth checking out the Liberty Living halls of residence in Cardiff which, while slightly more expensive and some are a pain to get to uni from, are much nicer and most have rooms reserved for UWIC students.
The two big disappointments about UWIC, for me, were the library facilities, which leave a lot to be desired (although they are gradually being updated) and the Students Union. The UWIC SU hardly compares to that of other universities. Because sport is such a big thing at UWIC, it is the main interest of the SU and there are hardly any other clubs or societies. However, the SU bars (Centro and Tommy’s at Cyncoed and Howard Gardens respectively) aren’t at all bad, and the convenience stores and copy shops provide a good and valuable service to its students.
Some things do seem like a work in progress, but overall this is a great university with a lot of fantastic lecturers and courses, and shouldn’t be overlooked if you’re thinking of studying in Cardiff.

University Of Wales Institute Cardiff, or UWIC for short, has badged itself «Cardiff’s Metropolitan university» and seems to specialises mainly in more vocational, career-​focused courses rather than hardcore academic studies you’ll find at Cardiff University. A lot of their courses have been designed and developed alongside industry and business.
UWIC’s history actually dates back to the 1800s, when in 1865 the School of Art first opened in the Old Free Library Building in St Mary Street in the city centre. There’s no UWIC site at this premises now, but the art school at its current site in Howard Gardens is still the place to study art in Cardiff.
The university is made up of five Academic Schools: the well-​known Cardiff School of Art & Design; the Cardiff School of Education, which is one of the leading providers of teacher training in the UK; the Cardiff School of Health Sciences, which recently opened a £4.9 million research centre; the Cardiff School of Management, which offers the largest on-​campus MBA in the UK; and the renowned Cardiff School of Sport. It’s spread across four campuses — Howard Gardens (Arts) is quite central, while Cyncoed (Education & Sport), Llandaff (Health Sciences and Management) and Plas Gwyn Residential Campus are all a bit of a hike from the city centre.

Whilst it isn’t Cardiff’s most reputabe University, UWIC provides experiances that Cardiff University doesn’t. It is also perfect for those who aren’t academically gifted enough to get into Cardiff Uni, but want to go to a Cardiff based University due to their love of Cardiff as a city. UWIC also offers course Cardiff doesn’t, such as Primary Education.

My years at UWIC were the best of my liefe, so much going on, lectureres were great, campus had everything you could need on it, great field trips. Really miss it