Details

• Great Britain & N.Ireland
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

The first thing I looked for were student accommodations in Sheffield, this took some time because the city has a lot of accommodations all around the city. Since Sheffield doesn't have its own airport I then looked for flights from Vienna to Manchester. The train ride from Manchester to Sheffield takes around 1h 20min and trains depart every hour from Manchester Airport. I also prepared myself for the rather mixed weather in England by buying a raincoat and proper waterproof hiking boots. Finally I selected my courses for The Uni of Sheffield using previous exchange reports as a guideline.

2. Accommodation

The search for my accommodation honestly took an extensive amount of time since Sheffield has an enormous amount of student accommodations. I finally landed on a private student accommodation called "Nurtur House". The accommodation was in the city center and in walking distance of the university (depending on the building I had my class in). Several supermarkets were close by as well and it was also very close to West Street (the bar and club street). I deliberately chose a private accommodation because I wanted a studio with my own private kitchen. Another reason was the price: The university accommodations were considerably more expensive. Furthermore, they only have a shared kitchen and are located outside of the city center. The only downside of living in a private university is that you may not immediately come into contact with new exchange students, however it is generally pretty easy to find new friends in Sheffield because everyone goes into the city center anyways.

3. Academic life at host university

The University of Sheffield doesn't have a campus like WU has so all the buildings are scattered around the city which means your walking distance kinda depends on your studies or rather which facility you have your classes in. The teaching style however was way better than at WU. I had three courses, Essentials of Marketing, Management Themes and Perspectives and Work Related Health and Wellbeing and all three were split into lectures and seminars. The seminars felt way more personal than I was used to from WU, almost every teacher I had my seminars with knew everyone's name. The lessons were also more interactive and were accompanied by lively discussions. I would recommend all three courses because every course is worth 10 ECTS and you don't have any exams. The workload is very manageable: In Marketing you only have to write one 3000 words paper, Management consists of one 2500 words paper and 4 online quizzes and for Health you only need to do a 10 min presentation and write a 3000 words paper.

5. Every day life in the host country

Sheffield is very walkable especially the city center so I almost never took public transport. The bus was very useful to get to the Peak District though. The Peak District is a huge national park located just outside Sheffield with beautiful hiking routes and idyllic views. Since it was just a half hour drive away we often went there on weekends as a day trip. Sheffield is also one of the greenest cities in the UK with great parks to spend your time between lessons or to just hang out with friends. The nightlife is also important to highlight. The city offers many bars and clubs especially on West Street. Due to Sheffield being a student city the nightlife is very lively and vibrant. It is also important to point out that the entry fees are very low and that there are student offers at almost every bar or club. The University of Sheffield also has its own bar and club in the Students Union building, where you can easily connect with fellow (exchange) students.

6. Testimonial

I had an amazing time in Sheffield and made so many friends from all over the world. What really surprised me was that everyone was so open and welcoming which I didn't expect. My highlight was definitely the trip to Dublin for St. Patrick's Week and the Wednesday night outs together. I am glad that I met so many great people that I will definitely visit in the near future.