The Payday Loan Peril

Posted on 7 August 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Peachy. Sunny. Lolly. Happy, friendly sounding words, right? Well that’s the idea. But these are also the names of three of the UK’s ever-growing list of companies offering payday loans, which don’t bring happiness to all who take them out… One poll showed that one in three students have applied for a payday loan. Reasons
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2018 Summer of Enterprise

Posted on 11 July 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Complete these easy challenges to keep your Entrepreneurial ambitions ticking over summer. Let us know how you get on by using #EnterprisingSummer! Exams are over, coursework is submitted and your room’s all packed up and ready to go: Hello Summer 2018! From us here at Enterprise, a massive congratulations to everyone for getting through another
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Are you missing out on a Cardiff University Bursary?

Posted on 3 July 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Max from the Advice and Money Team shares important information about the Cardiff University bursary. These bursaries are available to any undergraduate student who started in September 2017 and is: eligible for UK student funding support and whose household income is assessed as being lower than £42,000; and liable to pay tuition fees of approximately
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My experience of Anxiety and Depression

Posted on 27 June 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Wellbeing Champion and Biomedical Science Student, Abbie, shares her experience of anxiety and depression, and encourages others to talk about how they’re feeling. When anxiety and depression began to have a huge effect on my life, I found it difficult to talk about how I was feeling. I struggled to even put what I was
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Celebrating Armed Forces Day and Support for Student Veterans

Posted on 25 June 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Kirsty, Wellbeing Practitioner in the Counselling, Health & Wellbeing Service, talks about Armed Forces Day and the dedicated support available for student veterans… Armed Forces Day is an annual event which provides an opportunity to show our support for the people in the Armed Forces who are currently, or have previously served, as well as their
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Speaking out about Bipolar Disorder

Posted on 21 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

PhD Student and Postgraduate Peer Supporter, Sum, discusses Bipolar Disorder and shares his own personal experience of this mental health condition… My experience with mental health problems began when I was sixteen years old. After significant struggles and inaccurate diagnoses of depression whilst completing my undergraduate degree, I was correctly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Since
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Moving out checklist

Posted on 19 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Our student intern, Victoria, gives advice on how you can avoid a disastrous departure from your student digs… So it’s nearly the end of the year and the cherry blossom trees of the Main Building and the Woodville are blowing the hints of oncoming summer into many an unsuspecting face. It’s been so long since
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Support for disabled or dyslexic students graduating this summer

Posted on 18 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Delyth, from the Disability and Dyslexia Service, discusses the Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) available for postgraduate study, the access to work grants available and guidance on telling an employer about your disability. If your exams are over and you can almost feel the cap on your head, well done! I’m sure that all of your
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Speaking out about mental health problems

Posted on 14 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Music student and Wellbeing Champion, Sophie, talks about the potential side-effects of hormonal contraceptives on mental health and shares her own story… My experience with mental health problems began in school and correlated with when I began taking oral contraceptives. I suffered with low mood, mood swings and anxiety until I finally opened up to
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Carers Week and the support available for student carers

Posted on 12 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Gareth, the dedicated contact for student carers, discusses the support available at Cardiff University. This week (11-17 June) is Carers Week, which aims to support carers to stay healthy and connected, and raise awareness about the struggles that carers can face. Our community of student carers For the last 18 months we have been working
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Win a £10,000 Branding and Website Package for Your Start-Up!

Posted on 5 June 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

BRAND LABS, a competition by Designdough, will give one Welsh start-up an expert website and branding makeover package to support their Entrepreneurial journey! Designdough, a progressive brand design agency based in Cardiff Bay has launched BRAND LABS for the second year running. Following last year’s success story featuring winning business, Odddot, the competition will run again this year and
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Top Tips for Graduating Entrepreneurs

Posted on 28 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Rhys, Enterprise Manager, shares advice for anyone considering starting a business after graduating… Starting a business and freelancing are legitimate career paths after graduating! Enterprise and Start-up are able to help graduates up to 5 years after they’ve graduated and sometimes longer depending on demand. Here are your next steps to becoming an entrepreneurial graduate…
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Mental Health Awareness Week

Posted on 19 May 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Scot, Wellbeing Practitioner, talks about Mental Health Awareness Week…   It’s mental health awareness week and it couldn’t come at a better time! Exams and deadlines are happening for many of us, or are looming in the near future, so let’s not forget to take care of ourselves. The theme this year is stress and
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Insight into a Digital Start-Up

Posted on 14 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Austin, Marketing Assistant with Click Mechanic, asks his team about launching a digital start up. Here’s everything you need to know… Giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon dominate most business discussion as their influence on the modern world is unparalleled. Entrepreneurs are constantly hoping to be the next company to break through meaning tech start-ups
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Speaking out about depression and anxiety

Posted on 11 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Polly, Geography Student and Wellbeing Champion, talks about her struggles with depression and anxiety…. In 2015, I came to University, and symptoms of depression and anxiety made their appearance. Being in an unfamiliar place, away from my usual support network, made this even more challenging and I struggled to speak about how I was feeling.
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Speaking out about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posted on 2 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Psychology student and Wellbeing Champion, Nichola, discusses her experience of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how one honest conversation can make a world of difference. After suffering silently with PTSD at University, one honest conversation spurred a positive path towards acceptance and coping strategies. From once struggling to even express my feelings to friends,
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Exams and your tier 4 visa

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Kristina Bowers, International Student Advisor, tells us more about Exams and Your Tier 4 Visa… Exam season is almost upon us and I’m sure that all our students have been hard at work! With good preparation and sound study, hopefully everyone will get the results that they are hoping for. However, things don’t always go quite to
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Tips on coping with anxiety before and during exams

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Rachel, Wellbeing Practitioner from the Counselling, Health & Wellbeing Service, shares tips on coping with anxiety before and during exams. It is natural to feel anxious prior to an exam. In fact, a little anxiety can actually help performance. Anxiety and stress cause the body to release adrenalin which can be helpful when responding to challenging
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Top tips to help you manage exam stress

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Amy from our Wellbeing Team shares some useful tips to help you cope with exam stress. It is normal to feel a little bit of stress (some level of stress can help you focus), but too much of it can lead you to feel out of control and can make it harder for you to take
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Top tips to help you revise effectively

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Rachel from the Student Wellbeing Team shares tips on how to manage your revision time effectively.   It can be really hard to find self-motivation as the exam period gets closer. It requires a great deal of discipline and organisation to revise, especially when the joint demands of different courses or modules become overwhelming. Good planning
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In-exam guidance: Three golden rules

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Chloe, from our Disability and Dyslexia Team shares three golden rules for the exam relevant to all students… With exams looming, here are three golden rules from us at the Disability and Dyslexia Team relevant to all students!
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Organisation, revision and exam strategies for success

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Ann, our Academic Study Skills Manager, shares organisation, revision and exam strategies for success… Prior planning and preparation are the keys to exam success. So let me introduce my exams guide, with organisation, revision and in-exam strategies to help you set a course and stay on track. From planning to procrastination and revision notes to
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What to do if something affects your exam performance

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Amy from our Advice and Money Team tells us more about ‘extenuating circumstances’ and how you can make sure that a difficult time in your life does not unduly impact your academic chances… Despite your best efforts to concentrate and revise it’s quite possible that Murphy’s Law will strike and anything that can go wrong, will go
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Advice for my fellow PhD students

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Carolyn, Postgraduate Peer Supporter, shares some key advice for postgraduate students and tells us more about the Postgraduate Peer Support group. An old piece of advice and a lifesaving strategy for me and my work has been to “kill your darlings.” In other words, get rid of my most precious and especially self-indulgent passages for
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Presentation Panic? Tips to help

Posted on 1 May 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Victoria, Student Intern, shares her advice on preparing for a presentation… Most students experience a bit of presentation panic at some point. Your stomach drops, your mouth goes dry, your knees wobble beneath you and a lump forms in your throat. It can be especially terrifying if it’s marked. However, burying your head in the sand
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Congratulations to our Student Mentors!

Posted on 26 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Academic Study Skills Manager, Ann, tells us all about the celebration of our Student Mentors and Mentor Consultants and how you can get involved with the scheme before 8 May 2018. CONGRATULATIONS to this year’s cohort of Student Mentors and Mentor Consultants! On Thursday 22 March we held an event to reward Cardiff University Student
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Bring your creative dream to life with Ymlaen!

Posted on 24 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Jannat, founder of the creative writing magazine, Lucent Dreaming, discusses her experience of starting her own creative business and how you could do the same… Have you ever just wanted to drop everything and do your own thing? You’ve spent years in education trying to get a foothold on real life and now you’re here
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Launch your idea with Start-up Accelerator.

Posted on 23 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

It’s that exciting time of year when we invite you to apply to be part of our 3-day Start-Up extravaganza.  But why should you come along this year…                   Why should you come? Do you have a business idea?  Not sure how to bring it to life?
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The One-Page Business Plan

Posted on 16 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Sage are here to give you the full lowdown on why a Business Model Canvas IS the new Business Plan If you’re looking to start a business or want to expand, writing a plan is a key part of the process. An effective business plan will outline what you want to achieve and highlight problems
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Top tips for meeting employers at careers fairs: what to do next!

Posted on 16 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Former Cardiff Uni graduate Clare, now Senior Student Recruitment Associate at EY, advises on how you can make yourself stand out at a careers fair. With the Big Grad Fair only days away, I got to thinking back to my time as a Social Science student at Cardiff University, before I joined EY in 2016.
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Stand with LGBT+

Posted on 16 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Jo, Wellbeing Practitioner, talks about the Students’ Union’s new LGBT+ Mental Health Campaign: Stand with LGBT+, and how you can show support and get involved! For the LGBT+ Community, the risk of struggling with poor mental health is higher.   What does LGBT+ mean? ‘LGBT+’ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and other identities. The phrase
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Why Cardiff is such a great place for new graduates to thrive

Posted on 9 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

FOR Cardiff exists to make Cardiff city centre a better place to do business and one of the things we’re keen to do is convince lovely new graduates like you to stay in the city.   Yes this might be a little bit selfish but keeping hold of graduates is good for Cardiff but let’s
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Reasons why all year groups won’t want to miss #BigGradFair

Posted on 3 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Laura from Employer Engagement explains how all students, from all year groups, can benefit from attending the #BigGradFair… The #BigGradFair is coming! On Friday 27 April, Careers and Employability will play host to over 50 top UK employers with loads of amazing opportunities for students. You can visit the Big Grad Fair from 11:00 –
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SPARK’d Out – What have our entrepreneurs learnt so far?

Posted on 2 April 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Get the full roundup of everything SPARK 2018 and the life lessons our applicants picked up along the way First off, a HUGE congratulations to our SPARK Winners for Plan and Venture! Find out who’s won over on our Facebook! Another year, another SPARK. It was a hugely successful year for everyone who applied for
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Join us in supporting Trans Day of Visibility

Posted on 27 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Tamzin, Student Wellbeing Champion, tells us more about Trans Day of Visibility and how you can show your support for the transgender community. Saturday 31 March is Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV), part of the LGBT+ awareness days. TDOV is an opportunity to celebrate diversity and show your encouragement and support for trans rights and
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Commercial Awareness: What you need to know

Posted on 21 March 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Emily McCarthy from the Work Experience Team explains what commercial awareness is and what you can do to be more commercially aware… What is commercial awareness? Commercial awareness is a term that refers to a candidate’s general knowledge of business, their business experiences (or work experience) and, specifically, their understanding of the industry which they
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Brexit and your graduate job prospects

Posted on 21 March 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Emily from the Work Experience team discusses Brexit, the possible effect on the graduate job market and how you can negate it effectively. On 23 June 2016, the UK held a referendum on whether Britain should withdraw from the European Union. With a 52% vote in favour of leave, the UK Government triggered Article 50
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Married students – is your partner paying too much tax?

Posted on 21 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Are you a married student? Money Adviser, Max, shares how your partner could save some tax… Marriage.  An institution as old as the hills. Maybe even as old as some of my jokes. And it has seen a lot of change through history (Henry VIII even created a whole new church to get out of
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Speaking out about Social Anxiety

Posted on 20 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Final year geography student, Callie, discusses her experience of social anxiety and the impact that being more open about mental health can have. In 2016, I finally admitted I had Social Anxiety and found help at University. This year I helped to launch a University Campaign and found out I have an interview for my
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5 top tips on getting your funding right for your Placement Year

Posted on 20 March 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

Siobhan and Tania from our Advice and Money Team explains what students need to do to apply for their placement year funding … It’s that time of year again when you have to reapply for your funding. If you are on a Sandwich course, the application this time will be slightly different because next academic
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Make time for conversation

Posted on 20 March 2018 by Your Student Life Supported

The 19 – 25 March is National Conversation Week and, in an era where much conversation has been replaced with staring at phones, it has never been more needed! Social Media Cleanse? Social Media can be great – catching up with friends or just seeing what’s going on in the world – but it’s so
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5 Top Tips for Creating Great Visual Content

Posted on 19 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Sean, Enterprise Officer, gives you his 5 top tips to creating social media content that can help boost your following and brand awareness. One marketing trend that is hard to ignore is the power and value of visual content in your social media.  Posts that contain images produce 650% higher engagement than text-only posts.  Having
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My Student Innovation Experience

Posted on 12 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Idoia, Innovation Ambassador, tells us more about her involvement in the Student Innovation Festival and the event she helped organise… Volunteering in an area related to your professional aspirations is one of the best things I would recommend every single student to do. Is all about gaining valuable experience without the fear of failing or
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Working Hard Or Hardly Working? Striking A Balance When Your Office Is At Home

Posted on 5 March 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Caspar, our Enterprise Intern, tells us how you can stay focused on your start-up when you’re working from home It’s been full steam ahead for the past week at Enterprise. Between supporting students with their last minute SPARK applications and getting the Student Innovation Festival ready for launch, we really needed all the office hours
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What’s on your mind? #LetsShare

Posted on 21 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Jo, Wellbeing Practitioner and Time to Change Champion, talks about Cardiff University’s new Mental Health Campaign: What’s on your mind? #LetsShare, encouraging us all to share more when it comes to mental health… Mental health problems are common. One in four of us will be affected at some point in our lives. So being able
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5 Skills You Need To Start Up Your Own Business

Posted on 19 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Stuart McClure, co-founder of LoveTheSales.com, lets us in on his 14 years of business management experience and how his LoveTheSales is all the better for it. Starting your own business is tough. It takes a lot of hard work, effort and emotion, but most people understand that the rewards of doing so outweighs the toil of
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Move out (with a full deposit!)

Posted on 16 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Our student intern, Victoria, gives advice on how you can avoid a disastrous departure from your student digs… If you’ve caused significant damage that clearly isn’t general wear and tear, the likelihood is that you won’t get all of your bond back. These things happen. In my second year I blew up my oven because
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Housing hacks

Posted on 14 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Siobhan from the Advice and Money Team, shares some housing hacks that all students should know this Student Money Week… You’ve completed your first-term and there’s a whole host of people you’ve yet to even meet. Some will be acing the independent living, though maybe you still haven’t quite figured out how to use the oven without
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Could you knock £1500 from your Student Loan debt?

Posted on 14 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Are you a Welsh student (and apply to Student Finance Wales for funding?) Do you want to knock £1500 from your student loan debt? If you started a course in Sept 2010, or later, and you took out a maintenance loan of at least £1505 in one academic year from Student Finance Wales, then you should
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Guarantor Scheme for care leavers and estranged students

Posted on 13 February 2018 by Your Student Life, Supported

Are you a care leaver or an estranged student unable to find someone to act as a guarantor to secure accommodation in the private sector? If so, Cardiff University has a Guarantor Scheme to assist you. Basically, this means that the University will act as your guarantor so you can secure somewhere to live in the private sector
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