University for the Creative Arts Employee Reviews

What is the best part of working at the company?Friendly supervisors, and an amazing team in general. What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Depends on the type of event. Days where you’re working with a high volume of people coming in might be deemed stressful but it’s always easy to flow with the rest of the team. What is the work environment and culture like at the company?It’s professional but also friendly. What is a typical day like for you at the company?Really depends on the event, some days you’re setting up for a program, other days you’re attending to prospective clients.

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Lovely place to work with some great people, but I was failed by an unsupportive support system.

Health and Safety Advisor (Former Employee) - Farnham - 8 June 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Some great colleagues and staff really passionate about educationWhat is the most stressful part about working at the company?Lack of software systems in my departmentWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?A little stressful. All the right processes and support in place but I received none when I had an issue. I wasn't even believed. What is a typical day like for you at the company?Mostly good, but one colleague made my life unbearable.

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Insights into University for the Creative Arts

Based on 4 survey responses

What people like

Energising work tasks
Feeling of personal appreciation
Ability to learn new things

Super good, seniors really helpful and guiding

Student Ambassador (Current Employee) - Epsom - 11 March 2023

The best place I have worked so far. Good work culture. Many perks. You'll get to learn so many things every day.best thing is nobody makes you feel dumb when you are fresher. Good place for growth and mental health.

Pros

Free lunches

Cons

No cons really

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Poor benefits & pay

Marketing Manager (Current Employee) - Farnham, Surrey - 20 November 2022

Very poor benefits, including the maternity leave which is well below industry standard. Pay is not consistent with industry standards. Little effort is made to retain good staff and HR is an ineffective mess.

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A nice place to work but salaries and benefits are worse than other universities

N/A (Former Employee) - Farnham, Surrey - 5 August 2022

The maternity/parental pay is very poor compared with other HE institutions. I can't understand why a University that prides itself on diversity doesn't make this a priority given the huge impact it has for staff deciding whether to progress within their careers at UCA or to move onto somewhere else. It's a very obvious glass ceiling and is reflected in the low number of women in senior leadership positions. In my experience the best candidates leave to pursue a better offering elsewhere.

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Patriarchal ethos. Women all in low level roles. Nepotistic.

Sessional Lecturer (Former Employee) - Farnham, Surrey - 15 July 2022

Patriarchal ethos. Women all in low level roles. Nepotistic. Teaching staff frequently not trained just well known in field. So don’t know how to teach. Recruiters go for image over substance. Lots of ‘jobs for the boys’ going on. Teaching is consequently substandard.

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Enjoyable

Student Ambassador (Former Employee) - Canterbury, Kent - 27 April 2022

The job felt very casual and encouraged you to collaborate with people on your course and year. The pay is good and the tasks set are very straightforward

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Good salary and learning opportunities but poor management

Marketing Coordinator (Current Employee) - Farnham, Surrey - 23 March 2022

I do enjoy working for UCA, I’m a fairly new starter and I like the fact that it’s a creative university and no 2 days are the same. I’m in hybrid working at the moment, but I would prefer fully remote. I don’t mind coming in to the office for a purpose, however right now i have to come in 2 days a week “just because everyone else is in” and to me this isn’t a good enough reason when I’m still having virtual meetings and petrol has gone up so much. I don’t think they necessarily support flexible working. Also as it’s a small uni, I’ve found they micromanage more and are quite controlling. Also everyone seems to be extroverted, which as an introvert I don’t mind as I’ve always worked with many extroverts, however at UCA I’ve found these extroverts don’t respect your boundaries and call out your quietness when really it has nothing to do with them and being quiet isn’t a bad thing, especially since I’m only there to do my job. Too much focus on “making friends”.

Pros

On site parking, creative environment, learning opportunities

Cons

Micromanaging style, lack of respect for boundaries, lack of flexible working

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A great place to work

HRBP (Current Employee) - Farnham - 21 March 2022

Fantastic team to work within. Great career opportunities. I have learnt much since I started and have been involved in so many exciting projects and a truly generalist role.

Pros

Great pension

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Bullying and terrible pressure. Unfair treatment.

Course Administrator (Former Employee) - Canterbury - 22 January 2022

I resigned from the post after a year, a mix of remote working with zero training and on site working in a very unfriendly environment. I hated it there. I put in a complaint to executive leads and it was ignored.

Pros

Creative environment, onsite parking.

Cons

Bullying, lack of training, depressed work force and unfair demands. Constant resignation if staff.

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Jobs at University for the Creative Arts

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Attendance Systems Officer

Finance Systems Manager

Facilities Assistant (Canterbury)

Canterbury

5 hours ago

Part-time Student

Student Ambassador (Part-time) (Former Employee) - Rochester, Kent - 30 April 2021

This was only a part-time job during my 2nd year of uni so there’s not much to it. My job was to be the assistant for our lecturers as they held interviews for potential 1st year students.

Pros

Flexible, Easily Done

Cons

Minimum hours

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Challenging but enjoyable

Senior Lecturer (Former Employee) - Illustration Department - 16 April 2020

Administration increased gradually during my tenure. Teaching students was always a pleasure. Very full days of teaching content. Very good resources with good access for students. Very fair management.

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Productive and engaging workspace

Student ambassador working at open days, HE and UCAS fairs (Current Employee) - Farnham, Surrey - 3 October 2019

Working as an Ambassador for the University for the Creative Arts is very fulfilling. I engage with prospective students and their families, refining my customer skills and helping the students find the right degree for them.

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Friendly work environment

Student Ambassador (Current Employee) - Canterbury, Kent - 27 July 2019

Working as an ambassador has given me extensive skills in different roles and helped me gain confidence as a person. Great experience to work in a friendly team.

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A great employment opportunity for students

Course Ambassador (Current Employee) - Rochester - 9 July 2019

UCA as a company offer many benefits for students, plenty of opportunities and a competitive wage. However communication between employers and employees is unfortunately very poor, leading to issues which can be extremely tedious to resolve. Other than that the community is fantastic.

Pros

travel expenses paid, variety of events, great community, competitive wage

Cons

very poor communication regarding job, resolving any expenses, job issues, pay queries, or other things that require management support, can take a long time to resolve

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Fun Place to work

Stores Technician (Former Employee) - farnham - 26 January 2019

Made some life time friends from here. Students great to work for, supporting them issuing them equipment for their studies. Staff were friendly and have great memories working here

Pros

Location

Cons

When quiet was sometimes too quiet

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Fun!

Open Day Ambassador (Former Employee) - Kent - 22 May 2018

Working open days with UCA are always fun, energetic and completely welcoming from the team. I loved working the high profile events to welcome prospective students into the Uni.

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Productive and adaptive working environment (Catering team)

BARISTA (Former Employee) - Farnham - 16 May 2018

The job was relaxed when on the coffee cart. Perfect for students looking to get their own personal work done whilst also serving up coffee to other students and staff members. Shifts could sometimes be quite slow and so you had plenty of time to focus on work during down-time periods. Working in the main canteen or in the kitchen however was fast-paced with plenty to do. All the staff are pleasant and if you do things correctly and you're friendly with everyone, constantly signing up for shifts whenever you can, allows you to be more trusted and therefore get more shifts. If you don't do this, you might get 1 shift a week, so push yourself and always volunteer for more. Great place to work for.

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Good Workplace

Student Warden (Former Employee) - Canterbury, Kent - 16 June 2017

Good Workplace, given a lot of training for the role, support is available, good salary, learnt a lot about student needs and how to provide support to them

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Fits around Uni timetable

Student Ambassador (Current Employee) - Rochester - 10 April 2017

I like working for my university as they understand my timetable and allow me to work around it. The salary is extremely good for someone my age, especially as a student. The additional money is very handy

Pros

Salary

Cons

Minimal hours

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fun but upper management ruins it.

Photo Studio Technician (Current Employee) - Epsom - 31 March 2017

No progression in the job, upper management spoil what could be a really good institution. student numbers reducing but also resources being taken away and staff not replaced.

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