Ma at London Metropolitan — Bad reputation?

J

I'm planning to study a MA in Graphic Design at London Metropolitan University but am quite surprised to find so many negative comments about the school online.
I have been accepted to Kingston and UCA as well but London Metropolitan sounded best at first.

Is it important to have an education from a university that looks good on a piece of paper when looking for jobs? And are the rumours and bad comments about Metropolitan true? Is it a "bad quality" university?

Q

http://www.ucu.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=3680

Until recently London Met was 'grey-listed' which means that all members of the academic community were asked not to go to conferences/accept jobs/do collaborative work etc with the uni because of the decisions of managers to sack a large number of staff to recoup money lost for being fined for over-recruiting undergraduates. Or something like that. I don't think this bad behaviour will affect the way in which employers will think about London Met, you may just not want to go to a uni that behaves in this way. Kingston is alright. maybe a bit more prestigious than London Met, and I dont know what UCA is.

For your MA I think it is important to attend a good university, more so than for your PhD (where the reputation of your supervisor matters most). But often these charge more for their fees and there is certainly a sense that some courses 'sell' places on their courses to high fee paying students, and hopefully employers recognise that.

Maybe people on this forum are from London Met and can advise as to their experiences?

J

Thank you! I have also been accepted to London Collage of Communication and I think maybe I will choose to go to that university instead. It's located pretty close to Metropolitan so I won't have to change my accommodation-plans. It's feels better to study design at an art-specialized collage... Certainly more "safe" than London Met.

I just wish I had read all the reviews a couple of months ago, not yesterday :)

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