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Good afternoon everyone a lovely warm welcome to our bite sized Q&A this afternoon so my my name is  Niall and I work as part of the External Relations team here at the University of Glasgow and I’m Â
Delighted to see so many of you guys on the stream today with a real interesting in coming to study  here at our lovely University of Glasgow. So for today’s session we are going to be focusing  specifically on accomodation and I’m delighted to be joined by two of my colleagues this afternoon Â
So that is Shirley and Erik, Shirley would you like to give a little introduction first? Hi  everyone I’m Shirley I’m the allocations manager at accommodation services so I’m primarily  responsible for dealing with your application for accommodation so yeah here to give you more Â
Information on that. So I’m Erik and I work for Res Life at the student residences and I’m also  the assistant manager of the McClay residences so I’m also involved in day today running of one  of the residences. Perfect thank you very much guys so obviously the three of us are coming to Â
You live from Glasgow today but whenever we do these information sessions we love to see  where everyone else is joining us throughout the world so if you feel comfortable enough please  just give us a little hello in the chat and let us know where you’re actually logging on today that Â
Would be great. So how today’s session is going to work is we’re going to be live with you guys  for roughly about 30 minutes so 15 minutes of that will be myself, Shirley and Eric here live Â
On the stream after that another 15 minutes or so we will be still active on the live chat so that  means that if we don’t get around to answer your questions here please just keep putting them in Â
The chat guys as we’ll still be hanging around and we’ll get them answered for you as quickly  as we possibly can so yeah I’m not going to wait around too much longer as I can already see the Â
Questions are starting to come in so Shirley, Eric if you guys are ready I think we just get  started and Shirley a couple of questions already if you wouldn’t mind answering on this one just in Â
Relation to how close our residences actually are to our campus. Okay yeah we’ve got a wide range of  residencies actually and the majority of those are located within about 25 minutes walk from  campus and we’ve got residencies in Dumfries they’re between 10 and 45 minutes to campus Â
In Dumfries, we’ve also got one catered residence and that’s our Wolson Hall that’s available for  our undergraduates that’s actually a short bus journey away from the Garscube and sorry short  bus journey away from Gilmorehill but located up at the Garscube area where the vet school is so it Â
Might be a good option for undergraduates studying up there at the Vet school. One thing to note  actually and which is is quite a good thing if you’re living in Glasgow or Scotland actually you Â
Get free bus travel if you’re under the age of 22 and so you can apply for that from the government  at gov.scot if you’re over the age of 22 then various travel companies do offer discounted Â
Travel as well and just kind of point to note but yeah have a look on our website at accommodation  services to see the wide range of accommodation that we’ve got there is actual maps on there to Â
Give you an idea of the location of most of the residences as well. Great thank you very much and  that’s something I always tell students whenever I’m speaking to them about that free bus pass  guys you are entitled to it whenever you come and study in Scotland so definitely make the most of Â
That if you possibly can um Eric a little question here if you don’t mind mate this one is saying  that I live in Stirling can I still apply for accommodation I suppose that could be applied to  anyone who lives in a commutable distance what’s the sort of deal with that? Yeah well basically Â
If you are living in Stirling or you’re living within a commuting distance then of course you  can apply for accommodation you know we’re always happy to have students coming in and especially  if you want to start your journey to actually you know living independently then we’re definitely Â
There for you and we’ll support you all the way. Perfect thank you um if you don’t mind  there’s just another one for you as well Erik and this student here has actually mentioned  the course they’re studying specifically so they’ve said I’m hoping to study aerospace Â
Engineering what is the best residence for me? Oh well first of all that’s a good choice of subject  I was nowhere near good enough in school to actually study aerospace engineering,  I ended up doing history but basically when we do things like looking at allocating you to a Â
Room we look at things like your age and your general field of study first of all rather than  automatically looking at putting every single in your case aerospace engineering student into  a residence or a flat, you can of course request as part of your application that you want to stay Â
With people studying the same subject field and that’s something will take into account um so we  do when we are allocating we look at what kind of share requests people put into your application so  it’s important if you have specific requests that you put that in even if you have friends you want Â
To live with you can put that into the request as well that’s not a problem but do keep in mind if  you want to live with specific people or friends that both of you put in each other’s names into Â
The application so we can actually match you up correctly. Perfect thanks very much guys,  just to reiterate at this point please if you do have more questions everyone keep putting them  into the chat we’re going through these at quite a fast pace we’ll answer as much as we possibly Â
Can but we will definitely be able to answer those questions whether it is just now or in that sort  of 15 minutes afterwards. This could be possibly be a bit of a lengthy question Shirley but someone  has just said can you explain the accommodation application process? No problem Niall it’s not Â
Actually that lengthy because it’s fairly simple to apply for accommodation with us, you first of  all have to register for an accommodation online account which you can do through the accommodation  services website. The first thing to note though is that you need to have accepted an offer of Â
Study with the university in order to do that. We’ll get information onto our system usually 72  hours after you’ve accepted your offer of study and we’ll know that information you can apply.  Do apply whether you have a conditional or an unconditional offer it really doesn’t matter the Â
Earlier you get your application in really the better we would encourage that you do that as  early as possible. Also when you are registering for an accommodation account make sure you keep  note of your username and your password when you’re doing that because it’s really important Â
You’re going to need that later on in the process to accept any offer of accommodation you get and  equally as well when you’re actually living in residencies you can manage your stay and things  using that account as well. A top tip really and also is don’t use the school email address Â
That you have because you won’t have access to that later on so it it only makes sense to kind  of use one that you’re going to be able to access later on. Applications for accommodation are open Â
Now they opened last Wednesday so you can get your application in now which is great. Be aware also  that all all the communications that you receive from us will come by email so be aware of the  deadlines for application and for accepting your offer you’ll see the deadlines for accepting your Â
Offer on your offer later so yeah that’s basically the short of it. Perfect thank very much and it’s  great to hear that accommodation applications are open now so that’s often like quite a big date for Â
Everyone at this sort of stage of that UCAS cycle for our offer holders so it’s it’s great to hear  that those applications are open now. So this could be a question for both of you possibly to  answer but basically just some people saying why should I actually choose University accommodation Â
Obviously there is different accommodation options available in Glasgow so is anything specifically  as to why people should want to stay in the University’s accommodation? Well yeah there’s  a few reasons Niall first things first really you get the full University of Glasgow experience by Â
Staying in our residences so as soon as you come to the uni you’re part of Team UofG and living in  residences you’ll be living with people in the same University and perhaps studying the same  course if you choose that in your preference your additional information in your application. Also Â
For undergraduates we offer and postgraduates sorry a 39 week contract as opposed to some  private providers might offer 41 42 week contract and you really wouldn’t probably need that length  of contract so you’re not really paying for any more than you might need for when you’re Â
Studying. There is the option to extend as well if you need to extend beyond that for any reason then  you’re able to do that we offer 51 and 52 week contracts and some of our postgraduate residences  as well that’s an option that you can select. Also you get your Wi-Fi included as standard, Â
Personal contents insurance is included as well and you also one of the great benefits is that  you get you know all around the clock support from all of our University staff but also our Â
Res Life team, Erik will be able to give you some more information on that. Yeah so as part of Res  Life if you’re in accommodation first of all you might notice the beautiful beautiful blue hoodies Â
That we all wear so we’re easy to identify so you know do come up and say hi but one of the  great benefits about about having Res Life in the residences is that first of all they are  University of Glasgow students or staff members who have been part of the University experience Â
Either by doing the course beforehand or working there for some time. We’re always there to talk  to and you can approach us and ask us anything under the sun um I’ll give an example when I Â
First arrived to Glasgow as a first year student and I moved into accomodation at the time and it’s  my first night there I gotten myself a beautiful frozen pizza and it was not one of those cheap Â
Ones it was a really good one because I thought you know I’ll have good one and I couldn’t get the  oven to work and I had no idea what I was doing I’m not from the UK originally so I was looking Â
At this oven I was turning all the buttons nothing was turning on so I thought to myself well I’ll  phone the Res Life number and one of the Res Life team members came up and embarrassingly showed me Â
I had forgotten to turn on the red switch on the side of the oven and it magically worked  so it could be something as simple as that. We’re also here to help signpost you to the  various Support Services the University have and to offer good advice on how you can best you know Â
Make the best time of the University experience. We’re also first aid trained and also trained in  mental health so we’re there to help you out if you manage to injure yourself or you know  you have some more support that you need. We are also there the very first day you arrive, Â
We’re there to help issue you with your keys, find out where you’re actually going you know get  you a bit of information around Glasgow and the university itself and we can even offer advice on  say what’s a good local restaurant. One of the other great benefits is throughout the time in Â
University accommodation we also arrange a bunch of events and various trips to various places,  events can include things from a simple movie night to crafts night to we’ve had video game  tournaments and as someone who considers himself good in video games I took part in one of them Â
And I placed last so that’s not to say that’ll happen to you but it’s actually quite good fun  and some of the trips we’ve done before we’ve gone to Loch Lomand for the day we’ve gone to  Stirling but you know like in the previous question if you live in Stirling you’ve Â
Probably already seen most of it but there is a bunch of trips and events throughout  the year pretty much one every single month at least so it’s a good opportunity to actually  get to meet all the other people living in the residence and make some good friends for life.
Perfect thank you very much that was a great answer to those questions guys it just really  showed how much community atmosphere we kind of have at our accommodation sites so yeah so  great to hear that and so we’re getting close to the the end of the actual visual stream so Â
I’m going to do one quick question but just to reiterate guys we’re going to be active on the  chat after we finish here so please because we haven’t answered your question please still put  it in there and we’ll definitely get that answered for you. But as a sort of final question Shirley Â
Erik just to round us off when will people likely hear about the result of their application? Yeah  as I mentioned already applications are live so we’re collecting all those applications at the  moment we expect offers to go out around about April time so we’re just kind of sitting tight Â
Until then and for any undergraduate applicants that have a conditional offer of study just note  that we won’t send you your offer until you’ve met the conditions of your study so that might not be  until August until you get your exam results and so just note that we allocate based primarily on Â
The date that you make your application so even if you are a conditional offer holder when we  do come to allocate everyone that’s kind of passed their exams then it is the date that  you’ve applied that we kind of work through for applications so just note that as well. Note that Â
Also the applications are open throughout the academic year so regardless of whether  you’ve applied before or after the deadline we will welcome your application and so just note  that as well. Also refer to all admissions policies we have got one for undergraduate, Â
Postgraduate and a study abroad exchange students have a look on there and that’ll give you more  detailed information on the deadlines that are expected of you when you’re applying. Brilliant  thank you very much guys so yeah that’s all we have time for everyone on the actual stream Â
Component today so if you are joining live and you do have some more questions please get them  in that chat and we’ll get them answered for you. I just want to say a big thank you to Â
Everyone who’s come and joined us this afternoon, I really hope you have found that useful and it’s  given you a better understanding of exactly everything that’s involved when it comes to  accommodation here at Glasgow. Shirley, Erik thank you very much for joining me as well Â
And providing all those useful answers and it’s been really beneficial. So yeah thank you guys  but I will end it there just simply by saying thank you everyone stay safe and have a great  rest of your day and hopefully the three of us will be welcoming you to TeamUofG in the near Â
Distant future but yeah thank you very much and have a lovely rest of your day bye-bye Ni