The Graduate Centre
Welcome to the Graduate Centre
Cardiff University is among the few universities in Britain to offer a dedicated facility for its postgraduate students. The Graduate Centre serves as a focal point for the broader postgraduate community, offering year-round, centrally-located study and social space to all postgraduates at the university, in addition to the facilities provided by individual academic schools. Students have the opportunity to meet and socialise with postgraduates from other schools and disciplines, in a welcoming and relaxed environment.
Situated on the third floor of the Students’ Union Building on Park Place, Cathays Park campus, the Centre is open throughout the year (including most Bank Holidays) from Monday to Saturday: 8.00am until 12 midnight, Sunday: 12 noon until 12 midnight.
What’s on Offer?
• The Café Bar – which will be newly refurbished for September 2008 - serves as a relaxed, comfortable social space, where students can take a break from their studies, meet friends or watch TV. A food service and a fully licensed bar is open weekdays and the Bar is also open on Saturdays for events. Vending machines offer an out-of-hours drinks and snack service.
• The IT Room has 35 networked computers, upgraded in summer 2008, black & white and colour printing, scanning, and photocopying. Two work stations have been equipped with assistive software. During peak hours, an advisor helps with computing problems and provides a fax service and stationery sales.
• Two well-equipped meeting rooms, with capacity for up to 30 people, are available free of charge to postgraduate students for group projects, revision groups, seminars and presentation practice. Equipment includes an LCD projector, lap top computer, TV/Video, flip charts, and a networked computer.
• The Reading Room offers study space – a change from your School or the library – with desks for up to 40 students.
• The Coffee Lounge is a multi-use space with group work tables as well as sofas and comfortable chairs. There are a further eight networked computers and a resource centre with information about the University, Cardiff, and the region.
• Wireless access to the University network is provided throughout the Centre.
Social Activities
A variety of social events take place throughout the year for postgraduates, organised by the Graduate Centre, the Students’ Union, and the Postgraduate Society. These include Film Nights (which will be held on Saturdays from September 2008), the Wednesday Pub Quiz and Friday DJ & Cocktail Night, as well as live music events, parties and games nights. The Centre’s What’s On page is updated daily with the latest events information.
The Centre also organises regular day trips at the weekend to a variety of tourist attractions such as Bath, Stonehenge, Alton Towers and Longleat Safari park. The full calendar of trips is available via the Trips webpage.
Training
The Graduate Centre coordinates the University’s Research Students’ Skill Development Programme, which offers an extensive range of workshops, courses, and student-led conferences for researchers. The Careers Services has tailored a series of career management workshops for taught and research postgraduates and offers them via the Graduate Centre.
How to Find Out More…
Website
The Graduate Centre’s website is updated daily and is an excellent source of information about the Centre’s activities, and provides links to other helpful information.
Visit the Graduate Centre Website: http://www.cf.ac.uk/gradc/
Facebook
You can also join the Graduate Centre’s Facebook page to receive the latest information and join the growing network of postgraduate students who use the centre.
An e-mail bulletin is sent every two weeks to all postgraduates with highlights of upcoming events and new students are automatically added to the list.