HE opportunities after access courses for Adults

I attended the recent higher education opportunities day for adults who had completed their access courses in Somerset this week. Excellent day with 10 providers of HE attending, Universities such as Bath, Bristol and Plymouth etc plus those FE colleges offering HE, such as Trowbridge College which offers a BSc in Social Work. A good buzz about the day and it was interesting to hear people’s journeys which had taken them to this place. Spoke with prospective HE students from 18 years of age to… well a bit older (!) and it did remind me of the true value of the work we all do. Got a nice writeup in the local paper which might encourage more adults to explore this as an option. http://www.chardandilminsternews.co.uk/news/4709099.Student_boost_from_university_open_day

It was good to see so many Higher Education Institutions coming into the community. I do realise many do this but unless you see it yourself it is easy to forget what happens. After the exciting side of choosing possible careers that some HE options might lead to, the funding and more practicaly aspects of how it might be managed alongside the other circumstances of the students was discussed. Hopefully the advice they received from the various attendees would have helped them to answer these questions.

Perhaps this type of event could be made into more of an awareness raising event for local communities wherever it takes place. A smilar event at Strode College earlier this year had this focus and very good it was. http://www.strode-college.ac.uk/events/he_open_afternoon/8

Facts about Higher Education in the South West

With shades of the Steve Wright show, some interesting factoids I came across the other day make interesting reading. Did you know that we have the following in the South West: 13 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), comprising 8 Universities, and 5 HE Colleges.
With 33 Further Education colleges (FECs) teaching Higher Education courses.

We have a total population of 155,660 students, of whom 2,405 are registered at FECs, so you will not be alone if you study here (!).
In Somerset every FEC offers some Higher Education study, offering a total of 196 different courses. Somerset College having over 1,000 students taking HE courses for example. The largest HEI is the University of Plymouth with just under 30,000 students, and the smallest was Dartington College of Arts with 645 students. (Although since Dartington College of Arts merged with University College Falmouth in April last year this number will eventually be merged with Falmouth).

A full list of all HE courses in Somerset institutions can be found at this weblink: http://somerset.floodlight.co.uk/somerset/courses-classes-lessons/best-subject-courses/higher-education/study/somerset/16180339/220706/100/domain.html Of course those taken via distance learning, such as the Open University courses, are in addition to this list. If you have any questions about courses and study please email me or contact your nearest Connexions Somerset centre. Details can be found at http://www.connexions-somerset.org.uk/

Explore Higher Education – see the world!

Sometimes you just wonder if there is more out in the big wide world than you are aware of. This can be about holidays, people, and places to visit or, as this is a blog about Higher Education, universities! You may have heard about the Russell Group of universities in the UK, comprising 20 research intensive institutions which have quite a high media image, but have you heard of their equivalent in other countries? Such as the Australian ‘Group of Eight’, the Canadian ‘Group of Thirteen’, the American Ivy League institutions or the Universitas 21, which is a group of universities from 11 countries?


Apart from being useful to know in case these questions ever come up in a quiz they can help you be aware of the wider world of HE which you might want to consider. Some degrees in the UK can include time abroad as part of your study. Some uni’s may have links with other institutions abroad which you could benefit from. If you like league tables, of which there are many, the QS World University Ranking lists even more.


Normally this would primarily be of interest to those who like long lists but a helpful fellow in Germany has plotted the location of the Top 100 universities in both the QS World University Rankings and the Shanghai Jiao Tong exercise on a friendly, interactive Google map to be found here. http://www.university-rankings.net . All the other university groupings mentioned above can also be viewed on this website.