Details

• Great Britain & N.Ireland
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months
• Contact: Login to see contact information

1. Preparation

For the UK of course EU citizens now need an ETA, usually one can get these within hours, however the ETA should be requested latest 2 weeks before, as sometimes bureaucratic holdups can cause delays. To get to Sheffield, I flew from Zürich to Manchester, which when booked well in advance is very inexpensive in the offseasons (without my bags the flight was only 46 CHF). From Manchester Airport there are may trains to Manchester piccadilly, from there will go a train around every half an hour and one usually only needs to cross the platform, as the departing train to Sheffield leaves from the platform right next to the one coming from the airport. From there the trip to sheffield is around 45min. From the trainstation in sheffield it is best to take a uber/taxi (very cheap in Sheffield - i only ever payed around 5 GBP to my accommodation.

2. Accommodation

I was very fortunate to knew somebody from the CCC course that also went to Sheffield. He did a bit of research before me and suggested the Nurtur Student Living to me. It is a lot less expensive then the accommodation provided by the school and as it turned out the ones provided by uni are very far away from the city & equally close to uni as ours. Within 20 min of walking you could reach every building of the university. In generall you have your own little flat at Nurtur (in the uni accoms there were only very small rooms in flats with 8 others) and a lot of Facilities you can use for free (Rooftop terrace, small courtyard/garden, gym, homeroom, lobby with games, study rooms...) In general Sheffield is not like Vienna when it comes to saftey however being located very central, i never felt unsave walking home even in the night after going out it was not a problem. Regarding tips: stay in a privat accom, not one from uni - there are multiple very good student housing facilities like Nurtur that are cheaper and also simply better, people that stayed at the uni accommodations regretted it quite a lot after. Also be prepared for sheffield to be quite hilly! When walking to Uni I always had to walk up a big hill.

3. Academic life at host university

In general the campus is very nice (in the welcome week they offer a campus tour - definitely do that!). There are many different buildings however when your coming from WU most courses are located at the Wave, the medical school and the management school (sadly the management school is quite far to walk though and very much uphill...) Regarding courses, definitely stick to courses from year 1&2, year 3 courses can be quite difficult and a lot of work! The teaching style is quite similar to a VUE, where you have first lectures in big rooms (100 people) and then small 10 people classes. The grading is very different, as you pass with 40% and have a 1 with 70%, however not as nice as it sounds because getting 80% for something is quite literally unheard of as they grade very strictly! so do not be surprised when getting only around 50% on a paper (3 at WU) that is quite normal. For course recommendations again go the best for year 1 courses, specifically ones that dont just grade you on 1 paper - papers are graded pretty harsh vs. test and MC test during the year are very easy and often open book. Management Themes and Perspective was a course where a very good grade can be quite easily achived. On the other hand Strategic Organisational Crisis Management (Year 3 course) was pretty difficult and a lot of work.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport in Sheffield is a no. I used the tram twice to get to Ikea otherwise you walk, everybody walks. To get to University by foot was around 20min to get there by bus was 23min (including a 12 min walk), and the bus only came every hour, sometimes not at all. The busses to get to the national park however are more or less frequent and reliable (still be prepared for some to just not show up) and do not forget to signal the bus to stop when waiting at a stop, otherwise it will just pass you. I think Sheffield is a safe city in the UK, maybe not as safe as Vienna but I dont know of anybody that had trouble. Sheffield is a major student city so it does not lack leisure activities! Hundreds of clubs to choose from a lot (!) of nightlife (very cheap! - no entry to clubs and drinks for less then 2GBP) and then of course you have a lot of parks and the Peaks - a beautiful national park just 30min by bus from Sheffield that is great for hiking and exploring the english countryside!)

6. Testimonial

I enjoyed my exchange so much and it was definitely the most special because of the people! Sheffield organizes a lot of events so one can get in touch with the other exchange students, therefore there was not a day that i felt alone. I had many highlights and amazing opportunities and left with friends all over the world.