ARU Cambridge

As a commuter studying psychology in my second year, my experience has been perfectly fine. The lecturers are polite and the few times I've interacted with other staff they were pretty efficient and I got what I needed done. The campus is quite clean and it's easy to navigate if you follow the maps. I love the library too and that the upper floors are quiet (plus u can book rooms and booths). Course content is interesting too, if a bit repetitive of A Levels in the first year, though the modules have a good variety (especially year 3 ones tho I haven't personally taken them yet, just seen them). Met a lovely friend during the group coursework task too and the lecturer was perfectly chill with it when we needed to kick someone out of our assigned group cuz they never showed up (I dont even know what they look like). Coursework is alright and the guidelines are helpful, and it takes me a range of 2 to 4 days of constant work to finish a piece. Takes like 2 weeks to 2 months to get feedback and I haven't had any bad experiences with it, it's fine if you are patient. Marking was a bit iffy for one of my assignments (still passed tho) but the rest was reasonable. As long as you check Canvas and emails a few times a week you won't miss anything. Also check evision like once every week or two.

Excellent university with very high-quality teaching and dedicated teachers. It has a vibrant community and an incredible student support system. I loved studying here; I learned so much and felt prepared to apply for jobs or, if I wished, to expand my business (they truly support you with extracurricular activities and courses ranging from entrepreneurship to employability). They genuinely care about your wellbeing, career, and how much you can learn and implement your knowledge.

This university is a debt trap. As many have mentioned before, this is mostly a business (which can be expected from private universities with insane fees - I would say it is not even worth 20% of the actual fees). On top of everything, there are insane levels of incompetence, lack of accountability, immorality and structure. Furthermore, the current job market is a joke, having no way to even get to an interview without nepotism (which goes hand in hand with the "Letter of Recommendation" system). In a desperate attempt to become relevant, they are pushing IT students (kind of forcing their hands) into creating any AI-related research, stating that these are the final project subjects proposed by "the industry" (of course, "the industry" and the universities - especially private ones - have the same goals, and the students and their needs do not matter). It should not be possible that in Web Application Development nothing specific is taught about APIs, for example. At the same time, assignments are made so that almost everyone can pass, but the way they mark makes no sense and it points towards unfairness and subjective approach. If people with software development experience in several different programming languages get approximately the same marks as people who know nothing about software development and can barely use basic Linux commands, what does that tell you? In conclusion, the university gets a lot of money, you are basically forced into doing the research they need (they get their hands on more Intellectual Property), you go through a lot of stress for some useless "education" that you could learn in few months using free source resources, you are promised a much better chance at landing a decent job, but you end up unemployed while people with far less skills get jobs through nepotism or just by showing obedience. Let us not forget that by trying to keep marks as low as possible, the university most likely tries to portrait itself as exclusive/elite. To quote Noam Chomsky, "real education is about getting people involved in thinking for themselves", while at this university things are something like "follow our commands blindly if you want to pass (even if you are better than some of our assistants)". Let us also not forget that the state of the education system should be the foundation of the future. Who is to say whose future, though? It seems like "the industry's".

I studied Business with Marketing at ARU between 2021–2024. I had the best time here, I made friends for life, learned so much, and found so many opportunities to get involved. During my time at ARU, I completed a summer internship with the university, I was President of the Squash Team for three years, and I worked part-time for the website team throughout my final year. These experiences helped me grow both personally and professionally, and made my university journey incredibly rewarding. I would definitely recommend studying at ARU. If you choose it, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

*Important update from ARU* Please note that all students from Bangladesh will now be required to pay 60% of their tuition fees before CAS issuance. The initial deposit will remain GBP 4,000 (For Interview), but 60% must be completed for CAS. This change has been implemented following the challenges faced during the September 2025 intake, where several students were unaware of the 60% payment requirement at the time of enrolment. This measure will help ensure smoother enrolment and better compliance going forward. Thank you Is this legit?

I am a current female student studying and sometimes we girls need some sanitary products but the ones kept in the toilet are all taken by the first few hours of the uni opening. I needed one urgently and went to the icentre to ask for some . I was then questioned if it was urgent and if there are none in the toilet and the lady gave me only 1 in an envelope. I appreciate she helped me but the level of cheapness is insane . Not only that I needed more so I went to the student union later and found no products available so I asked the lady for some and she gave me only 4 in my hand and told me to keep the rest in the bathroom for other people to use.Why is ARU soo cheap about sanitary products? The university promotes justice for woman but can't even provide pads ?? Even bandages they wouldn't provide due to allergies but which is understandable but I got questioned if my cut was that serious ! I hope y'all can provide free products to use students as we really can't afford alot due to inflation and financial instability. The least they could do for us as we pay soo much for university fees.😓

The way that Anglia Ruskin University is handling its own academic processes is still a major cause for concern. In their complaints department, many students are reporting that the marking criteria for their work is not being adhered to from their academic rules and regulations, making up things as they go along with no other internal / external markers nor do they give any feedback for work unless you ask Many students have to go through and report to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for a review into multiple changes that have affected their plans to study such as misleading advertisement when a course starts and course date ends, overcharging tuition fee costs and for not providing adequate responses for course delivery delays. One student has even taken this university to court for selling a 'mickey mouse' degree design which was found in the news media. Another student has reported that they caught a disability advisor mocking them for having a disability whilst doing a group activity online and other disabled students speaking up for being failed with applying reasonable adjustments. This university often will not recognise if you have a disability on record nor will they acknowledge your medical notes, ignoring the student disability advice suggestions. Any work that has been submitted for marking with exceptional circumstances will often be forgotten by administration because the teams do not communicate with each other. Students report to the student advice centre regularly for their faculty team forgetting they had uncapped work approved by the panel board. They do not apologise when they get things wrong and falsely accuse students for their errors. One student reported that the course they applied for was delayed for almost two years and nobody at the University told them that it stopped running anymore Furthermore, the student advice centre and student union receive thousands of issues regarding course and module information because the faculty's do not update this - some students have noticed course content and material still being used since 2013. When students make a query to student advice, they are hostile and this is not something that they can help you with as they cannot get involved It seems that the university is focused on extorting tuition fees rather than ensuring students are treated respectfully. The fees department will not return any monies they owe to you if you do not take a module already paid for in advance, instead they enjoy taking students on a game of chase your faculty. This is leaving many students feeling incredibly stressed, sometimes suidicial ideation noted in the health and wellbeing teams due to the unhealthy reactions from their own University staff. This is not a university worth investing your time and efforts. It is such a shame as the teaching quality in most faculty's is very much world class. Their vision and values do not align with their policies and procedures. Recommendations are much needed in recruitment of better trained admissions and administration staff to bring back trust and support to students.

ARU Cambridge is a fantastic and modern university where I thoroughly enjoyed my time. I completed my master’s degree at the business school, which has excellent lecturers and teaching standards. Cambridge offers world-class facilities for students, and the environment is truly inspiring for learning.