25/07/2018, by CLAS

Work experience in the Faculty of Arts

As the heat wave blasts its way through Nottingham, turning our beautiful greenery into a yellow-ochre abomination, one place stands above it all, with its classic, grandiose campus established as a Teacher Training College in 1798, and a University College in 1881: the University of Nottingham. Here is my experience working in this magnificent place.

The motto on the University’s coat of arms boldly states: ‘Sapientia urbs conditur’, which translates to: ‘A city is built on wisdom’, no doubt this statement refers to it’s approach towards higher education, however, after my tour of the campus, it could easily refer to the University itself, for it struck me as just that; a city of wisdom. It seems to me that if you were to come here, there would be little need to stray out; the campus has everything, from restaurants to clothes shops. I did my work in the main building which is perfect for those who enjoy a little traditional flare to their University. The hall, with its organs, is grand (the word organs was not a mistake by the way, there are two in the hall), and every 15 minutes the bells of the clock tower sing their tune. Every hour, they are followed by a deeper bell, the amount of dongs indicating the hour. The beauty of the place is striking, if only I had pictures… you’ll just have to book an open day and see for yourself.

The actual work I carried out may seem boring to most, but was perfect for someone like me, who lives for boredom and monotony (any assumptions you now have of me are probably correct). My tasks consisted of: firstly, copying the online prospectus on the University’s website into word documents and, secondly, updating the online modules. The latter I made decent progress on and the former I finished. This is a reminder that university’s depend on a lot of usually unseen but hard administrative support work, which is vital and really helped the Marketing and Communications team I worked with. Something like this can give you a real insight into the working world, so – to people as like-minded as me – please do consider applying.

Ben Colley – Year 12 The Carlton Academy, Nottingham

Posted in Languages and Area Studies