Nur Ayuni Hassan Jaya

Why did you choose to come to Leeds to study?

I have always been interested in science and in particular human biology, which relates to the diploma that I’ve taken when I was in Republic Polytechnic. Representative of Leeds University came over to my school to give a brief talk, which gives me an insight about the university. Since then, I had put Leeds University at the back of my mind as the school that I would want to attend for my degree programme.

I have also been told that the most important thing when choose the university is to take a look at the modules offered. All the modules that were offered appeal to my interest of medical science thus I decided that Leeds University would be my first choice.

What was the highlight of your time at uni?

The highlight of my first year is that we are all able to go into the dissection room to look at prosections of the human body and this actually enhance my learning experience because what we have all been studying from pictures in books can be seen in real life and it is also different from what we see in the books. Even though we did not get to do the dissections but being able to touch and observe different parts of the body in great detail makes everything much worthwhile.

When I was in secondary school, I had this “goal” which is to see cadavers to learn more about the human body and who would’ve thought that it actually came true.

Did you get the chance to get involved with the culture and practices of living in Leeds?

I did get the chance to get involved in some of the things such as the German Market and Ice skating rink at the millennium square. It was fun while it lasted and it’ll probably be the days that I will not forget because I had a lot of fun trying lots of different food. I also went for the bonfire night in Hyde park and the fireworks was beautiful.

Are there any significant differences between studying at Leeds and the Republic Polytechnic in Singapore?

There is a really a significant difference between studying at Leeds and RP in Singapore. In RP, we used problem-based learning system, which means that a different problem is being given everyday and our task is to solve it. By solving it, we will eventually learn the main objectives of the topic for the day and to prove our understanding of what we have learnt, we are required to present the problem that was solved to the class. This was done everyday for every module.

We also do not have lectures; so instead, we call our teachers as facilitators because they facilitate our learning rather than lecturing us about the specific topics.

How is the support at the university helping you settle in at Leeds?

The second week when I was in Leeds, I remember that my personal tutor strongly encourage me to attend this Faculty of Biological Sciences International community meeting and I went for it. This community is specifically for international students in the faculty and the Leeds university staffs created it. So we have social events such as pub quiz and this allows me to make new friends from different countries also get to know people from the faculty even though they could be taking their masters or PhD.

The staffs that are in charge of the community were really nice and they did help me a lot in settling down making sure that I am adapting to the changes that I faced.

What advice would you offer to students considering studying at Leeds?

I would say that studying and doing well in our degree is important, it can also be stressful at certain point of time. So joining different societies will allow you to meet new people and new friends. This would make your time in uni less stressful and enjoy the time here as much as you can because time does fly quickly.