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UCL New Students Newsfeed closure
21 September 2016
After almost 4 months of posts, the
ucl.ac.uk/new-students/newsfeed">UCL Newsfeed will be
coming to a close on 23 September. Thanks to the generous and creative
contributions of staff and students, the Newsfeed has been a huge success.
It has averaged around 2,000 views daily (though often many more!), reaching a record number of just under 13,000 pageviews on a single day. At the time of writing, the Newsfeed has been visited by 31,000 users from 176 of the world's 194 countries, and has a total of 146,000 views.
The Newsfeed has run two competitions, one of which focussed on new students' anxieties about starting university and how they expect UCL to support them. The top worries came out as financial worries, making friends, adjusting to university life (including living away from home and looking after yourself), finding suitable accommodation and not being able to cope with the workload. Answers consistently showed that students expect a mixture of peer and expert advice that is readily available and easily accessible.
This is reflected in the most viewed articles on the Newsfeed, which are as follows:
1. Deborah's Top Tips: 22 Things I Wish I'd Known before starting at UCL
3. Deborah's Top Tips: 32 Things You Should Take To Uni
4. UCL Accommodation - what do you need?
5. Top Money Saving Tips from UCL Financial Advice and Support
6. Deborah's Top Tips: 16 Things I Wish I Hadn't Taken To Uni
8. International Student Webinars
9. Introducing: Student Funding Welfare
10. IMPORTANT: Updating your address on Portico
11. What is Portico?
13. A Levels vs Uni
14. Top 10 tips for surviving on the tube!
15. Introducing: University College London Union (UCLU)
We have received wonderful feedback about the Newsfeed, such as:
"After reading the detailed articles, particularly about what to expect at UCL and things to learn at the induction, I feel more prepared and confident that I can ask questions to find out more information. Or if not, then I know where to go for help or more information as I have learnt that UCL is a very welcoming university.reading the detailed articles, particularly about what to expect at UCL and things to learn at the induction, I feel more prepared and confident that I can ask questions to find out more information. Or if not, then I know where to go for help or more information as I have learnt that UCL is a very welcoming university.Thank you very much for putting your time and effort into the newsfeed, I have found it genuinely useful!"
"I actually bookmarked the newsfeed page and would go through it everyday to check for new articles as it made going to London and joining UCL so much easier for someone like me, who has never been out of my country. I felt better equipped with information about the university and the city. From clubs, to safety to practical visa information and travelling tips for vacations! Thank you for this amazing initiative!"
"The newsfeed made me aware that I really am in the same boat as the other students."
"I really don't know what I would have done without this newsfeed, I have read every single article/blog post (I think). It has helped me get introduced to all the basis of what I need to do and how/where and it also introduced me to the atmosphere and to the different things I can do or places I can visit and services I can benefit from and so on. I used the newsfeed to create my own to do list and then I bookmarked all the different articles that I know I will need to go back to later once I am in London."
"After reading the detailed articles, particularly about what to expect at UCL and things to learn at the induction, I feel more prepared and confident that I can ask questions to find out more information. Or if not, then I know where to go for help or more information as I have learnt that UCL is a very welcoming university. After seeing articles aimed at UCL's international students, I understand that UCL is a very inclusive university."
"I think that Newsfeed is a brilliant idea and had allowed me to do things earlier than I probably normally would have done them. Thank you!"
We are really proud of the Newsfeed and incredibly grateful for your enthusiasm and input - the Newsfeed couldn't have been such a success without your thoughtful contributions. We look forward to running the Newsfeed again next year.
Annie Warren, Student Adviser, UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Team, UCL Student & Registry Services
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