Freshers' Handbook
2015/16
The essential guide for all PPE Freshers.
Written by students, for students.
www.warwickppesociety.com
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Welcome from the PPE Society!
Welcome PPE Freshers! Congratulations to you all for earning a place to study one of the most rewarding
degrees at arguably the most employable university in the UK!
This handbook has been created by the PPE Exec to help you enjoy and make the most of your first year at
Warwick. Students have written it, unlike most of the other guides you will be given, and as such it is the perfect
insight into life at Warwick and PPE in particular. We have many exciting prospects for you this year, including
the annual ball, a foreign as well as local tour, the PPE Forum, the high-profile Speaker Series, careers evenings,
fantastic socials, a Professional Mentoring Scheme...the list goes on!
Having recently won the title of 'Best Society' on campus, the PPE society has grown from strength to strength
since it was created 10 years ago, providing the best opportunities for its members. The PPE society was
originally created to complement the degree as a form of student representation, but has since developed into
an all-encompassing society to enrich member's student experience in every way. Membership of the society is
FREE; meaning that joining the society from the beginning of the year is an absolute must!
An important date to note down is Monday 5th October. Not only will this be your first dayat uni, but we're
holding our welcome social in Bar Fusion (First Floor, Rootes Building) from 7:30pm. We will be walking you
there from the piazza, so do not worry about getting lost! We really look forward to meeting you and it will be
an ideal opportunity to share your first impressions about Warwick, get to know your coursemates over a drink
or two, as well as to meet your Student Parents!
If you have any questions in the meantime just drop us a message at
info@warwickppesociety.com or message anyone on the exec, and while we're on this subject:
Like our Facebook page www.facebook.com/WarwickPPESociety
Join the PPE Freshers 2015 group www.facebook.com/groups/160538964131967/
Join the PPE Society group www.facebook.com/groups/10992724438/
Follow us on Twitter: @WarwickPPE
Join our society for FREE: http://www.warwicksu.com/societies/PPE/
We look forward to meeting you all, and good luck for your first few days!
Alessandro Faraguna (President)
Lanre Ige (Vice President)
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Secretary: Jasmine Dhaliwal
Hello everyone!
I’m Jasmine, the secretary for PPE Society. I’ll be responsible for lots of the things
that will be important for you guys in your first year, from the weekly e-mails to the
Professional Mentoring Scheme.
I organise the Family Mentoring Scheme, remember to come along to Bar Fusion (in
the Rootes building) on Monday the 5th to meet your PPE family. A scheme
designed to integrate the different year groups and ensure you make the most of
the course and fantastic people and environment you’ll experience. You’ll have 2
parents and a couple of brothers and sisters, and this will be your ‘family’ for the
year, your parents are there to help and support you, so don’t hesitate to ask us for
advice, we’ve all been there!
I’m also responsible for the book-sale (in B2.04/5 at 9.30-11.00) which is a great
opportunity for you guys to save some money buying your essential text-books
second hand- just make sure you get there in time as we sell out quickly! We want
to make sure you have an unforgettable first year and make the most of what’s to
offer. So prepare for lots of emails and updates from me and remember, if you’ve
ever got any questions I’m always an e-mail away!
Events Secretary: Vivienne Lazib
Hey guys, I'm Viv your Events Secretary for this year.
Welcome to Warwick, and more importantly to our PPE society! Hopefully
you're all very excited already (I am fresher excited even though I am now
a finalist!) Please come and meet us at the Society Fair which will be held
in the Sports centre on Thursday 8th October.
I'm organising our PPE Ball for February, this event is hugely popular and I
promise it will be a night to remember! It’s the perfect chance to get
dressed up prettily and be not wearing a ridiculous amount of fancy dress
cardboard or your dirty ‘pop shoes’. You will head out with your PPE pals
to a fancy pants venue, tuck in to a 3 course meal, drink plenty of wine,
and of course get yourself in hundreds of photos documenting the
evening! And if that doesn't entice you, the after party hopefully will!
As for advice, I am probably just going to reiterate something you will hear
everywhere this Freshers' Fortnight. Honestly, the best thing you can do
this year is get involved, there are a lot of opportunities offered at Warwick
and a lot of great people with similar interests to you - it's your job to
make sure you get out and make the most of that!
Can't wait to meet you all xox
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Social Secretary: Gauresa Nanwani
Hey guys! My name is Gauresa (or Gee as you'll soon know me by)
and I'm your social sec for the year! This basically means I play a
role in your year’s worth of alcohol consumption! ;)
In all seriousness, I will be in charge of various social nights out
and non-alcoholic events too!
First year is your chance to explore, and the best way to put
yourself out there is by getting to know the people on your course.
So don't forget to come to the PPE socials and meet your fellow
PPEople! This year's first social will take place on Week 2 of the
start of the academic year (more details to follow via Facebook), so
don't miss out!
Feel free to e-mail me or drop me a message on Facebook for any
questions be it regarding PPE, socials, or university life in general!
HAVE AN AWESOME FRESHERS!
Head of Talks: Arthi Nachiappan
Welcome to Warwick! You’ve got a lot to look forward to this year,
and I can tell you you won’t regret getting involved in as much as
you can!
I’m Arthi and I’m going into my second year of PPE. I’m Head of
Talks for the society which means I run the talks team and work
with the Speaker Series co-ordinator and Forum co-ordinator to
put together a year’s worth of talks from distinguished guest
speakers, debates, group discussions and conferences to show
how exciting and relevant PPE is to real world issues. I joined the
society as a fresher rep and deputy to the speaker series coordinator, which meant I had the chance to help out with
incredible speaker events, from Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti
to Boris Johnson’s economic advisor, Gerard Lyons. This year
we’re looking at expanding PPE talks to include more interactive
discussions and more interdisciplinary approaches to topical
issues. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!
If you need anything at all or want to get more involved in talks
team events, drop me a message!
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Forum Co-ordinator: Beatrice Palazzolo
Hi, my name is Beatrice, I am a second-year and PPE Forum CoOrdinator! Coming to its fourth edition, our annual Forum is
definitely a not to be missed speaker event that includes
insightful talks by top academics and professionals specialised
in the chosen topic.
The peculiarity of the Forum is its interdisciplinary holistic
approach, which reflects the nature of PPE as a course itself. We
aim at making a political, economic and philosophical analysis,
encouraging the audience to critically and constructively engage
with the speakers in the panel debate. This year the theme is
“Hidden forms of corruption: lobbying and vitiated democratic
mechanisms”. After the debate and the buffet lunch, we will also
offer two different workshops!
Have a great Freshers’ Week and new start at Warwick, and I
hope to see you all at the Forum!
Speaker Series Co-ordinator: Hasan Suida
Hi, I’m Hasan, and as the name implies – I invite speakers to be part
of PPE’s prestigious series to discuss topical issues with a
multidisciplinary approach. As the year progresses, I work closely
with the team to organise logistics and marketing and with the
speaker to develop bespoke content.
First year is certainly unique in its ability to let you try anything
with little to no consequence. For me, that involved activities as
varied as white water kayaking and working in Ghana to helping
organise a 1000+ conference and interviewing speakers. In short,
not much academic work. If I can give you any advice at all – stay
on top of the work by actually doing it (it won’t take long and will
help in the long run), choose broadly what you want to do with your
time (and then choose one or two completely random things) and
appreciate the fact you’ll never be exposed to so many interesting
personalities in such a short period again! It’s definitely worth using
the PPE society as an anchor to hit the ground running, we’ve done
it all before and can help you avoid easy pitfalls and guide you
towards to the best modules and places to go out. All the best and
any questions – send me a message.
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Charity Secretary: Amrisha Gill
Hey all,
My name is Amrisha, and I’m a second year PPE student, and this
year, I am charity secretary for our society. Over the past few years,
the PPE society has grown massively, and it has also began to give a
lot back to the community in terms of fundraising. I hope to build
on this, and raise as much as we can for our charities!
Studying PPE, has personally made me a lot more aware about the
world around me, and I think that makes our society, one that is
ideal for giving back. We will be having a lot of different exciting
fundraising events, so keep updated!!
xxx
Marketing Secretary: Taimour Mughal
Hey everyone! First and foremost, congratulations and welcome to
Warwick. Without doubt this will be a couple of years of your life
you’ll enjoy and never forget. Even better, the flexibility and breadth
of PPE means you can tailor it to your desire whilst maintaining a
wide scope in which you study.
Academia however is just one part of the experience you’ll partake
in at Warwick. The society hosts a large range of events from
socials, night outs to talks and forums hosted by world renowned
speakers and international academics.
As marketing officer, I have to produce publicity for the events PPE
society create. I also design flyers, order merchandise and generally
ensure the society’s vibrant presence on and off campus. So far, I
have really enjoyed being a society member and working with
amazing people to maintain one of, if not the best society at
Warwick
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Tour Secretary: Ugochi Onwuanibe
Hi everyone, I’m Ugochi and I will be your Tour Secretary for this
year.
Tour is a great opportunity to get to know other members of the
society and escape the ‘bubble’ by exploring a completely new city
and putting all your academic worries to the side.
Last year we had an amazing time in Cardiff and Prague and I’ve
got huge plans for this year, so you definitely don’t want to miss
out. Keep your ears and eyes open for more information on tour
coming soon!
Ugochi xx
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The Academic Side
There are so many new places and protocols that will seem endless at first—but this
essential guide will help you hit the ground running and get organised at the start of term.
PPE Course
You will probably by now realise that PPE is one of hardest courses at Warwick, and it is
likely to seem so in the first year with new subjects, a new place and everything else
that's going on. In fact, many students would argue that PPE first year is the most
challenging. But this is the perfect time to get used to time management and the
stress since your first year does not count towards the final result.
You will be the sixth cohort to take 'Introduction to Philosophy', which wizzes through
many different texts, as well as the quite theoretical 'Introduction to Politics', alongside
Economics 1 (for joint degree courses) and Quantitative Techniques.
Quantitative Techniques groups together three smaller modules: Maths, Statistics and
Computer & Data Analysis. You will be given the option of taking either 'A' or 'B'
modules in both Mathematical Techniques and Statistical Techniques. If you have
achieved highly in Maths A-Level or equivalent, you will be guided towards Maths B, as well
as Stats B, particularly if you have studies Statistics in modules as part of previous Maths
courses. The difference between the two is speed and depth—with Maths B and Stats B being
more intensive and introducing more concepts than their counterparts. If you wish to take
the Bsc pathway and include Econometrics 1 in your second year, you can take either Maths A
or B - only Stats B is required.
A WARNING: Some students who are unsure about their future pathway, and are not
fully confident about their Maths abilities or the time they will put in, yet still choose
Maths B as A seems like some kind of 'easy way out'. This is not the case - you can still take
most economics modules with Maths A; do not feel like you have to take B simply because
you did an A-Level or equivalent. Maths B is hard. Furthermore, you can switch
from B to A (and the other way round) if you need to, just ask the PPE Office. You may find
staff unenthusiastic about switching you, but do not let this put you off you have a right to choose between A or B levels. A similar argument pertains for
Statistics, but fewer people have problems there.
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Optional Module
You will have 30 CATS (university credits) allocated to approved optional modules. Most
of the modules people will choose will take up the whole allocation, but there are some
single term modules (15 CATS) on offer.
The most popular choice is 'World Politics', which is core for Politics and EPAIS students.
You will be set a deadline (normally Week 3) for registering for modules on EMR, which can
be found on your homepage at start.warwick.ac.uk (under Student Records Online).
Choosing your optional can be confusing, but there is plenty of time to attend lectures
and read specific undergraduate handbooks and read through module webpages. Some
departments require pre-registration for particular modules which are popular, such as
World Politics, so make sure you sign up before it fills up!
An excellent resource is the module reviews on the Society Website—
www.warwickppesociety.com/resources/modules/ , where students have given their
honest thoughts about the modules they chose. On this note, it is important to talk to
older years to get a feel for the style of teaching, the workload and assignments. Keep in
mind that you will have to sit for an hour and take in what the lecturer covers each week;
so the quality of the lecturer is an important factor. Your PPE Parents would be a brilliant
place to start asking!
Reading and Books
With books, everyone is different. Some people spend a fortune on every book on the
reading list safe in the knowledge they have it, others go all through the year relying on
hogging limited copies in the library. We would recommend a good balance; if a lecturer
recommends buying a book, and you're going to answer that question in the exam, it is
probably worth buying—with loads of resale opportunities on campus once you're done.
Reading lists change every year, so the best advice would be to wait until you arrive on
campus to find out which books you need. The SU runs an online book
marketplace, and we run a PPE Second-hand book sale early in term 1, where you can
grab a bargain as long as you can arrive after a heavy Fresher's week!
You're likely to receive/have found a gigantic reading list with lots of classic and
expensive texts covering the page from the PPE office or departments. This is just really
to get you used to seeing such lists, and forces you to prioritize—a massive skill with
reading at university.
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Personal tutor
Every student has a Personal Tutor, and you will find out your allocation in the induction
packs provided at the induction session for the PPE programme. PPE tutors are drawn from
staff in any of the three departments, and will most likely not be your lecturer or seminar
tutor. You will need to meet your tutor in the first week and in any 'Personal Tutor Week'
designated by the course. These tutors are here to make sure you're
having the experience you want at university—do feel free to email them for an
appointment to discuss and ask questions about anything academic, social, personal or
residential. If on the off-chance they can't answer your question, they will know who to
put you in touch with. Its best you meet with your tutor early on and get off to a good
start—they'll be writing your references!
PPE Office
This is the office for the PPE programme currently located on the first floor of the
Social Sciences building.
The current PPE secretaries, Lucy and Clare, are very friendly and fantastic in sorting out
any course related problems you may have, whether that be switching modules,
timetabling issues or your choosing your degree Pathway.
The PPE Office is conveniently next door to the Economics Undergraduate Office, which
you will be using as Economics is technically your 'home' department.
Getting around
It’s easy to get lost on the Warwick campus, especially in the first few days trying to find
particular rooms and lecture halls for inductions and the start of your modules.
All over the University room numbers have the same format:
A building letter followed by three digits. The building letter is the first letter of the
building name e.g. R for Ramphal, H for humanities, or S for Social Sciences, while the
following number is the floor number—0 for ground, 1 for first etc. The next numbers
after the dot are the room number. E.g. S1.98 will be in Social Sciences building, first floor,
room 98.
This interactive map is very useful in finding your way to a particular room: http://
www2.warwick.ac.uk/about/visiting/maps/interactive/.
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Social life!
Societies
Warwick is known for its abundance of active and diverse societies on campus—there is
literally something for everyone. Whatever you are into; curry, real ale, cheese and
chocolate, breakdancing, campaigning there are sure to be loads that take your fancy.
You can even start your own one up if nothing takes your fancy!
There are loads of great academic societies too which open up so many opportunities
and put on a whole host of events.
PPE Society membership is essential— Check out the Societies Fair to join!
Sports Clubs
Joining Warwick Sport means you can join every sports club you can think of, and even
try out some sports you've never heard of. If you play a sport or want to try something
new, we would strongly encourage heading to the Sports Fair and seeing what's on
offer; chances are you'll fall in love with a completely new sport—like Korfball! Be sure to
make the most of taster sessions in the first few weeks, so you can find out what you
like before you have to pay to join a club or even have Warwick Sport membership!
The Campus
You might have heard Warwick is a bit of a 'bubble' being a campus University, but
that's probably only true if you never ventured out once the entire year!
Don't forget to use the Eating at Warwick service installed on your University card—for
10% off in many Uni outlets—which means cheaper pints on campus!
The Union is the staple diet of the first year student and composes of:
The Copper Rooms is the SU gig and club venue. Both rooms have a joint
capacity of 2100, and you will some wonderful evenings there, especially
during Freshers'. It's home to popular night 'Pop', which is where sports clubs carry out
the famous 'Circling', Skool Dayz and much more. We would suggest
you make the most of Freshers' and make it out as much as you want—the
buzz around those first few weeks of term wont come around again so its
good to make the most of it. The hard work will come soon enough!
The Dirty Duck is your student local, serving traditional during lunch and
evening hours
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The Terrace Bar is a nice bar - look out for drinks deals - and the first PPE
Society social will be here!
Curiositea - the union coffee shop!
Bread Oven - Great baguettes 11-3pm on weekdays
The Atrium - with chill out sofas for breaks between lectures. Has a STA travel
shop, pharmacy and a Costcutter
Xananas Restaurant - fairly expensive
Non-Union Bars
Bar Fusion restaurant serves palatable Asian food in Rootes Social Building,
www.warwickretail.com is a good place to look for info about other non-union
outlets
Varsity is just off campus and is actually a 'proper' pub - as such prices are a
bit higher, but does some good food
University House
A massive building where there are numerous extra facilities for Students ranging from
a café to Student services and working areas (the Learning Grid which is open 24/7 with
some reference books) but also the International Office, the Academic Office and the
Finance Department. The lovely people at the University House reception will also
replace your University card if you happen to lose it.
Westwood
A mini offshoot of campus where the many sporting facilities are located, such as the
five-a-side football pitches (be sure to participate in the competition early in the term),
open and closed tennis courts, athletic track and a dance studio. If you are not too much
into sports and don't stay in Westwood Halls you might only find yourself there towards the
end of the year in any of your exams are held at Westwood Game Hall.
It’s also where the student post room is located—be sure to bring your post slip and your
University card!
The Arts Centre
Hosts theatre productions, a cinema and art exhibitions. It also has a café, a bookshop
and music store. However many students prefer to get their books through Amazon or
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second hand as they are very expensive! Keep an eye on SU Books AND the PPE book
sale at the beginning of term 1 to save yourself buying all new copies. The Music Centre
is also located in the Arts Centre and is very lively so if you have any instrument or can sing
sign up for the Warwick orchestra, bands or the choir.
The Library
The library has somehow become the new day-time hang out, believe or not. The 1st
and 2nd floors are there for checking emails, chilling, and errstudying. For some
serious work with some peace and silence, go to the 3rd floor silent areas or the 5th
Floor which has the Politics and Economics books—the 5th floor is where it's at for
PPEists. You're going to be spending a lot of time in the library whether it's finding that
crucial journal article just having or coffee with a friend, so make use of the 'Get
Started' initiative at the start of term to get yourself as familiar as possible.
Rootes Grid
This swanky space is great for group study/presentations. As is the case all over
campus, there are also plenty of computers. But it gets very busy here in term 3 filling
up in a matter of minutes.
Off-Campus
Coventry (No. 11 or 12 National Express bus)
Every now and then it is nice to get off campus and into the "real world". Coventry
has a good selection of restaurants, pubs and clubs and is not too far away.
Kasbah is one the most popular clubs there but every year tastes change. Like
most cities, Coventry or "Cov" (as you will soon fondly refer to it), does have its good
and bad areas.
The train station has great connections to London and Birmingham . It is about a
£10 taxi ride from campus.
Leamington Spa (Buses - U1 (weekdays), U2 (Saturdays) and U17 (Sundays)
"Leam" is one of the main student towns as most second and third year students
live there. It has a lot of very good pubs (ideal for pub crawls), clubs (Smack, Neon,
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Moo Bar and Saints) and shops.
Taxis are a minimum of £15 from campus, minibuses are a good option for getting
back from nights out. Once things quieten down on campus you can explore Leam - get
there by bus and then just walk around and find out yourself where the nice places are!
It's a town that repays some exploring and there are some really nice cafés and
restaurants about.
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Enjoy it!
You've just had a heck of a lot of information thrown at you in the previous pages, and
there is sure to be plenty more where that came from during your first few weeks at
Warwick.
The most important thing to remember is not to stress out too much—whether that be
the academic, social, sports or whatever side of things—you'll be sure to have a great
start to uni and begin an amazing three (or more if you really fall in love with it!) years at
Warwick. Coming from an outrageously biased position, PPE at Warwick is fantastic, the
course, the campus excitement and the people are amazing. Just enjoy it and have fun!
We're really looking forward to meeting all of you at our PPE Parent Social on Monday
5th October. See you in Bar Fusion (First Floor, Rootes Building) from 7:30pm
Don't hesitate to contact the Society with any questions of queries—all the details are at
the front of this booklet.
All the best for your first few days!
Your PPE Exec xxx
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