Speak to someone about Higher Education – or just look at a website ?

Getting advice about Higher Education is am important thing, but who makes sure the advice you get is impartial and independent? Lots of people have opinions and thoughts about HE, but how helpful is it with the people giving the advice being trained? Some people do theirs training via their professional organisation, or by attending university events. However in Somerset we are putting 10 of our advisers through the new Higher Education Advisers Certificate run and validated by London South Bank University. This is a Masters level programme and builds on the skills and experience of our staff that between them have many years of working at this level. Indeed we do have staff who already give HE advice to undergraduates and graduates but have never been able to have this aptitude certified. Such an award will be in addition to the specific careers advisory qualifications they already need to be a Careers and Skills Adviser. At Connexions Somerset we feel it is important to build on the skills of our staff and develop our ability to help people make positive career choices. Higher Education can be expensive, involve commitment of time and applied academic effort. All of  which means that good advice on this option is important to ensure that you can benefit from the opportunity. There was an interesting article in the Guardian about this whole issue of speaking to someone who is able to offer professional advice and guidance on this area, compared to just looking at some websites and deciding by yourself. I’m sure all tutors and staff in 6th forms and colleges would recognise the work entailed in this area. As a prospective student by all means look at the web resources, log-on to various social networking sites and check out the various message boards that you might find useful, but do speak to someone who can give you unbiased advice as well. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/05/higher-education-careers-advice-professional

Receiving Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and wondering about funding for University ?

If you are currently receiving EMA financial support and looking to go onto University you may be unsure how this financial support would carry on after you finish your level 3 studies. Originally the Government plan was that if you were already receiving EMA then you would automatically get a grant to study at University – this was the HESSG or Higher Education Student Support Grant. This policy has now been changed and although the government is committed to any student already receiving EMA progressing onto HE, you will need to go through the financial assessment again. This has been done to ensure that those people whose financial situation has improved since the original assessment are treated fairly as other people applying to Uni. If your circumstances are unchanged from the original EMA assessment then you will get a clear quote of the financial support you can expect. For more information contact your careers and skills adviser or Student Finance England http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Gettingstarted/DG_171577

A website to help research your study subject

You might just have got your GCSE results and are now looking to go onto 6th form study, possibly considering which subjects you might finally take. Or you may be looking at a Diploma or another vocational or occupational course that would still allow you to go onto a degree should you choose. You might be halfway through your studies and now face completing the UCAS form to apply to University. What help is available for you ?
If you have every wanted to find out about a subject in more depth you probably use the internet, but it can be difficult to find useful, reliable info about your chosen area even if you use Google. Well now there is a website which has gathered the best of the web for you, arranged over the main subject fields covering degree areas from Aeronautical Engineering to Womens Studies. Have a look at this and see if it helps you with your career choices http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/
There is even an Internet Detective course you can take to help you sort out the gold from the dross http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/ Everything is free and quality controlled by a national team of lecturers and librarians from UK universities. An excellent resource I think

10,000 extra university places on offer

Currently the 10,000 extra Uni places are bring promoted as part of the governments response to the pressures that people believe we will experience when Clearing comes around. However the fact that the Unis will not be getting any teaching grant will have an interesting effect on who will actually be offering such places. On the one hand those universities who traditionally recruit students through clearing might well feel this could help them, whilst those who recruit fewer, if any, students via this route might feel less inclined. Obviously this has not escaped the notice of business people http://preview.tinyurl.com/FT10000Places. The real issue is that these places will only be for STEM courses, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), so these are not the courses that are usually oversubscribed anyway. It will be interesting to see what effect this new initiative has as we go into Clearing this year.

Bath University Higher Education Convention

There will be thousands of people on the move today. Not only those leaving the site of the Glastonbury Festival, but rather the thousands of prospective students heading to Bath University to attend the UCAS HE Convention, which now has over 140 Higher Education providers attending plus various speakers on topics such as "Student Life" and "HE Choices". It is open from 9.30am to 3.00pm today and tomorrow. No booking needed so just turn up. You can download a copy of the programme here: http://www.ucasevents.com/UCAS/media/uploaded/EVUCAS/event_213/Bath_ConventionGuide.pdf