Sunday 8 November 2015

Thoughts on university fee increase

Universities may be allowed soon to increase their fees beyond £9000 per year, subject to teaching standard monitoring. It is easy to fail to appreciate that universities did not see large increases in their revenue per student with the big increase in 2012 because this was largely caused by the withdrawal of much of the taxpayers' subsidy for Higher Education.

It seems reasonable that the universities with better teaching should command a higher price, but it will be important to follow how affordability for students from lower income households is sustained in these circumstances. Also all universities really do need to think about models of tuition which have very low contact time in terms of value for money. As always the decision to be made by future prospective applicants will be a subtle and challenging one. As much clarity of information as possible should be an essential prerequisite of any further change,

Law Apprenticeship Scheme

It is an extremely tough and to some extent risky route to approach a career in law via the university route. At some point it is essential to obtain a training contract to qualify to practice as a solicitor, and these positions are historically heavily oversubscribed.

SA Law, based in St Albans offer an alternative, which is the apprenticeship route. They are seeking to recruit two current 6th-formers. See the poster on the careers board in Common Room for more into or approach them direct via www.salaw.com

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Source of Medicine Applicants Advice

The Medic Portal contains considerable support for students considering this career :- www.themedicportal.com

EPQ gaining ground

Following on the heels of Bristol and Southampton, Birmingham University have recognised the value of students preparing for university study by taking this qualification. They have done this from 2016 by reducing their standard offer by one grade for any students who complete the EPQ and obtain an A or A* grade.

Sunday 1 November 2015

Name blind recruitment coming soon

I imagine that there are a complex set of reasons for ethnic minorities finding access to university and graduate employment careers more challenging than the average according to national statistics. However it is pleasing that there is now a co-ordinated attempt to tackle one possible cause, covered well in this article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11953841/Big-employers-agree-to-hide-names-on-graduate-job-applications-to-end-discrimination.html

Kings College Early Taster Days

We find great value in the London university degree taster programme which typically runs from Feb - July. Booking for this programme remains possible from 7/1/16 and we will promote it heavily beforehand. However Kings College have some organised ahead of the full programme, so if you are interested in Nursing, International Development or English Language and Linguistics then consider booking and attending these via the College site or google London University Tasters.


Monday 19 October 2015

Exam remarks

Bit of a spat between OFQUAL who blame the rise in remarking as a tactical device from schools and the Private Heads association which rejects this and states the issue is the poor quality of marking standards.

The figures are startling. The number of A level and GCSE remarks have more than doubled in the past five years, whilst the percentage of grades changed has held steady (at around 19% of challenges).

Beaumont School believes both sides of this debate are correct. Schools are getting better at advising students as to how best to approach a decision to remarks. However if the marking standards were better there would not be the huge number (77,400 in 2014) of grade changes. Certainly, in the world outside education, a near 20% fault rate in its product would soon render a business extinct.

There is, of course, an equity issue here as well. The cost of remarks might be prohibitive for some students on low household income, so a further divide in education outcome based on financial status may well have opened up, and be growing each year.

Choice of A levels advice from universities


The Russell Group of universities offer some additional guidance about the current status of AS levels and their view of Core Maths in their FAQ section at the bottom of this link:

http://russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/for-teachers-and-career-advisers/

Worth keeping up with, though, still, every university, including the Russell Group ones, develops independent policies that suit themselves.

Sunday 18 October 2015

Valuable experience

This is the time of year when an increasingly broad range of enrichment opportunities, mainly for Year 12s, get promoted. Already we have seen local legal work experience, science lab work from GSK and various lecture series programmes to sign up to. Now we have the Balliol College Floreat Humanities extension opportunity opening up for its second year. By early January the university taster course season start sin earnest with the London University Taster Programme.

Never has there been more competition for university and higher apprenticeship places, but never also has there been so much support for the pro-active and focused students.

Sunday 26 April 2015

Credit-Suisee Insight Days

This is for Year 13s who HAVE applied to university this year. They are designed to explain a career path in investment banking. General one on 22/7/15 and one for females only on 24/7. Both held at Canary Wharf. travel expenses reimbursed.

You must have an AAB or better A level prediction and a "record of high achievement outside of academia"

Deadline to apply is 31th May.

See Sixth Form Office for more details.

On the job training opportunities

Evening event 24th June in central St Albans. Chance to meet a range of employers in professional services i.e. accountancy, engineering, legal etc who offer "earning whilst learning" opportunities.

More details on www. cityofexpertise.com/events

New UCAS service

UCAS now will allow up to five universities to contact an applicant who is unplaced i.e. eligible for Clearing, offering a relevant course once summer results received. UCAS will be passing on these results therefore for the first time.

All should note that this is an opt-in service which UCAS are currently contacting applicants about. There is no requirement to accept any of these places if offered. The general Clearing service is still available to be used in the standard way.

Monday 13 April 2015

Changing patterns of degree course choices

An interesting study of recent trends in UK university course choice reveals many surprising and less surprising elements:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-32230793

Less surprising -

The work carried out to encourage more students into the hard sciences, probably linked to more general economic realities, appears to have caused the increase of 50% in Chemistry and Physics applications. General engineering is up by 80%.

English (-10%) and Languages (-24%) have suffered.

The work put in to encouraging females into traditionally male dominated disciplines has also apparently paid off with a 25% increase for Engineering and 35% for Computing from female applicants.

More Surprising -

History has bounced back from an initial decline after tuition fees were raised and applications are now 4% higher than in 2012. A previous study of FTSE100 chief executives showed that more had a History degree than any other. So clearly the skills and interest developed here have commercial uses.

Other areas to contemplate:

Computing is now in the top 10 course choices with 75000+ applications per year. However it is one of the courses with the highest drop-out rates so caution must be exercised in making what might seem a sensible choice to some in the modern era.

Applications are at all-time highs despite the fee increase. However UCAS estimate that the figure would be even higher without, which seems to make fundamental economic sense. This does also suggest that demand for university degrees is currently highly price inelastic (or in other words there are not considered to be good substitutes for it) and that the loan system has addressed the affordability issue effectively.

It is encouraging that the young UK population is seeking to be more highly educated than previous generations. Something that is possible essential in the modern world.

Tuesday 10 March 2015

New Taster Days Search Tool

You can set a search for universities in your area and receive alerts when taster events are put forward:

www.unitasterdays.com

Health Careers Advice

An interesting site is provided by St George's University of London. This gives video advice on many aspect of preparing for medical applications including interview advice. Try it :

http://www.tasteofmedicine.com

Video Clips to Support University Applications

Advice from Birmingham University on several critical areas of the application process can be found via the webpage tips4uni :

http://www.tips4uni.bham.ac.uk


Monday 9 March 2015

Investment Banking for School Leavers

Investment 2020 is a site which hosts 26 employers offering 12 month paid work experience contracts which often turn into permanent positions. Currently two firms actively recruiting for 9 vacancies all Sept 2015 start, but also worth examining if you a Year 12 at present.

www.investment.2020.org.uk


Sunday 8 March 2015

Close Brothers School Leaver Evening

Thursday Evening 2nd April in London. Learn more about their Aspire programme. To be eligible you need a B in Maths and English GCSE and be on track for at least BBC at A level.

For more: www.closebrothers.com/careers

Monday 2 February 2015

Bristol University Taster Days

For Yr 12s. STEM day on 14th April and Arts & Humanities Day on 15th April. Involves three taster lectures either day.

In Easter Holidays so no need to miss school!

Students can book individually via:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/teachers/post-16/taster-days/

Baker Tilly Accountancy Apprenticeships from Sept 2015

Train for qualifications and be paid.

Need to be in Year 13, but expect a similar scheme to repeat next year. Multiple Locations to start including London and Milton Keynes. Need predicted 80+ UCAS points equivalent (BBC) + GCSE B+ in Maths and English Language.

Apply via: www.getmyfirstjob.co.uk

Further more general info including summer schools via www.wpp.com/apprenticeships


Thursday 29 January 2015

Law taster Day - Jesus College Oxford

Open to Year 12s in state sector who considering reading Law at Oxford. 10th March. Apply via:

www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/admissions/law-taster-day




Interested in Food and Nutritional Science?

Reading University holding a 3 day short course: 22- 24 July.

You need to be taking A level Biology and Chemistry. Details via link below:

http://www.reading.ac.uk/food/shortcourses/foodbio-sixthform.aspx


Business Insight Placements at PWC

This is for Year 12 students for this summer. Deadline is Friday 6th March. A week during the summer holidays. Good opportunity to secure a school leaver role at the end of A levels.

Go to PWC website - on home page for more details and application.

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Headstart Courses

Great pre-university preparation/experience in the Science (STEM) subjects. Promoted earlier in school year, but deadline approaching. 2 -3 we know have applied., but we think there should be more who might want to consider it. See link for more:

http://www.etrust.org.uk/headstart/

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Subject Masterclasses

At Cambridge University from February through to May. First wave in February in: History, Chemistry, Genetics, Modern and Medieval Languages, Medicine and Philosophy.

£10 a go see opportunities board for details.

National Grid Engineer Training Programme

Keep our lights on and earn a starting salary of £23,500 pa plus a fully funded degree or HNC. Another of the "earn as you learn" schemes.

You need to have 2 A levels (A8 - C grade) on must be in Maths or Physics.

Closing date this year is 31/1/15 for September start.