Higher Education conference 2020

The sixth form was buzzing with young people considering their future pathways and finding out about the enormous wealth of opportunities available to them after they complete their A levels.

Students were able to put together a schedule of visits to listen to colleagues teaching in a wide range of post-16 contexts, including University College London, the universities of Manchester, Dundee, City, West London, Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham, Newcastle, Westminster, Hertfordshire, Queen Mary College, King’s College, Kent, Liverpool, Bristol and the Working Men’s College.

Degree and other qualifications that were discussed included Classics, Physics, Biomedical science, English, History, Geography, Economics, Architecture, Art Foundation, Mathematics, Medicine, Journalism, Business Management, MFL, Pharmacology, Sociology and apprenticeships. 

In addition, students attended talks at which university colleagues explained student finance, how to make informed choices about universities, the application process and the whole experience of student life. They were also introduced to our own UCAS advisor who they will work closely with over the coming year. 

This was an excellent chance for our students to meet university teachers and to have group or individual discussions with them about the demands of higher education. They came away with a much clearer idea of the value and challenge of degree study which will help them to contextualise their current learning, and will enable them to make the right choices about their own future.

We are very grateful to all the speakers for taking the time to come to our school and sharing their knowledge and expertise - it is an invaluable contribution to our students’ decision-making process. Many thanks as well to the sixth form management team for making it all run so smoothly.

Student Feedback:

"None of my immediate family or any relatives I am close to have been to university or even studied since young in the UK, so I didn’t really have any idea of what university life would be like and the workload, so attending the conference about student life and schedule was informative and allowed me to have a better understand of overseas learning and trips and working. But also the apprenticeship conference was very useful as it highlighted key factors that would play a big role in what I chose to do after A levels. I also appreciated learning about student finances."

"The Studying in Scotland talk was particularly interesting and has made me think more about going to Edinburgh particularly"

“At the QMUL Geography talk I heard about an upcoming lecture about gentrification at the School of Geography. I went to this and it was very interesting especially as it was about my area of Hackney. It has directly influenced my choice of A Level coursework subject”