Let’s not forget, Sussex is still a sick university and here is why

Sussex has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently. This academic year we’ve seen the uni admitting its malpractice in dealing with a domestic violence case, anti-Semitic hate crimes, an apparent oppression of students with right-wing views, ‘riots’ at Varsity,  and the revelation that the Westminster attacker studied here in the 90s.

Safe to say, Sussex hasn’t had a great year, but we felt that all of these events do not paint the full picture of what Sussex University is actually like. We did some digging around to show that not everything is as gloomy as we once thought.

We’re bloody happy

A survey recently revealed that Brighton is the second happiest city for students in the UK. 93% of Brighton and Sussex students were found to be extremely satisfied and it’s hardly a surprise with the sea, the South Downs and the community atmosphere that surround the city on every edge.

Perhaps our happiness stems from our love for weed, as the Tab recently revealed that 86.01% of students who took part in their survey regularly smoke weed, making us the biggest stoner university.

The teaching is incredible

Sussex has secured top 20 places in the three major university league tables and in the 2016 National Student Survey 88% of students said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the teaching on their course.

In individual subjects, Sussex was ranked top in the world, above Harvard, for development studies. The UK Complete University Guide ranked Sussex in the top 10 for five subjects: American Studies (2nd), Marketing (6th), Anatomy and Physiology (7th), Chemistry (9th), Biological Science (10th).

The faculty do some amazing research

Sussex is a research-intensive campus and according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014, over 75% of research activity at Sussex is categorised as world leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour. Sussex had particular REF successes in Psychology, Geography, Biological Sciences, International Relations, Anthropology, Politics, English, History, and Media & Film.

The university counts five Nobel Prize winners in its past and present faculty: physician Sir Anthony Leggett for his work on superfluidity; Sir Paul Nurse (who was rejected to study at Sussex on account of not learning a foreign language) for his discovery of protein molecules that control the duplication of cells in the cell cycle; chemist Archer Martin for the invention of partition chromatography; Sir John Cornforth for his work on the stereochemistry of enzyme-catalysed reactions; and Sir Harry Kroto who discovered fullerenes.

Alumni

It would be impossible to list all of Sussex’s notable alumni as the Wikipedia page boasts swathes of politicians, journalists, diplomats, musicians and creatives.

We have produced 10 British MPs (three Conservatives, six Labour and one Lib Dem), Billy Idol studied at Sussex for a year and lived in East Slope, Jessie Ware and Frankie Boyle both read English Literature and Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman OBE achieved a 2:2 in social anthropology.

We’re getting a waterslide on deadline day

That’s right folks, a waterslide will be coming to campus to help us celebrate and cheer up after the deadline season blues.

East Slope Bar

Back in the 80s, East Slope Bar paid its staff in booze instead of cash. Now, years on, Sussex’s quirky edge is still clearly shining. Not to mention that over the years, our favourite and soon to be retired bar has been host to some amazing music artists such as Amy Winehouse, Fatboy Slim,  the Kooks, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.

URF is one of the oldest student radio stations in the country

Established in 1976 and run completely by student volunteers, URF gives student DJs and presenters a platform on which to create and gain experience in radio. DJs are given the freedom to decide the content and format of the music they play and topics they discuss which is a pretty cool thing for a university to do.

We’ve got the Chancellor dream team

Name a more iconic duo than Tickell and Bhaskar, I dare you.

Our Vice-chancellor, the beloved Adam Tickell, has the most meme-able face in town. Our Chancellor, comedian and actor Sanjeev Bhaskar, was in The Kumars, was a guest on Top Gear, and appeared in a film about a woman who kills men who won’t date her daughter with a poisoned curry.

Just imagine them together on Gogglebox.

The campus is beautiful

Even the bizarre 1960s architecture looks nice and that’s a pretty impressive feat. The leafy campus is stunning when the sun comes out and still nice when it doesn’t.

We’re the only British university in a national park

It’s not just the campus that’s beautiful. Situated in the South Downs national park, we’re gifted with acres of rolling green countryside hills to enjoy. On a sunny day, when you can enjoy a few beers alongside some cows, you know you’re living the dream.