Higher Education Helpful Links

New Resources

https://aspire.upreach.org.uk/live-webinars - 2022 Aspire Webinar Series, including a dedicated Career Exploration Week - taking place from 7th-11th March - to celebrate National Careers Week.

https://myurbanjungle.com/explore/blog/top-10-tips-for-viewing-a-student-accommodation/ - Urban Jungle have put together top 10 tips for viewing a student accommodation to help them find the right place to call home.

https://www.findcourses.co.uk/ – Professional training search engine with over 15,000 public, online and apprenticeship courses. Regular articles, advice and information for students on careers, qualifications and the latest industry news.

https://www.educations.com/ – A higher education search portal dedicated to helping over 3 million students every year find and compare study abroad programs around the world. Includes scholarship information, guides, student blogs and a career test.

www.annuity.org/financial-literacy/students/ - Annuity.org - a free financial web resource, accredited by the Better Business Bureau

https://futurelearncareers.today/ - FutureLearn partners with over 170 world-class universities, institutions and industry leaders to create world-class courses to help you with your career.

https://westernshamrock.com/resources/ - resource for helping individuals and families handle unexpected bills

University Entry

Achieving a degree from a good university is one of the best ways to secure a successful future career. The key factors in doing this are:

Choosing the right A levels
Being ambitious and hard-working
Developing independent learning
Achieving your fell potential
Being well informed and supported in applying to university

We have our own special course to help sixth formers to prepare themselves properly for application to university. We also have many close links with universities, invaluable when we need guest lecturers, when students want individual advice on specialist academic matters or when students need practice interviews.

Advice to Higher Education Applicants

Prospective applicants need to research thoroughly and to seek advice. For up to date and accurate course information, you can only expect the universities own websites to be reliable.

Those uncertain about Higher Education should look at

The main site is www.ucas.com for course searching, finance information, links to universities etc. as well as applying for entry which opens in June of the year before courses start.

Finance is a major concern for those new to the system and anyone who watches the news. Start by watching these videos:

http://studentfinance-yourfuture.direct.gov.uk
http://www.unitasterdays.com/Resources.aspx
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-guide
http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/money/student’finance
www.ucas.com
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm?PRO=hp&CRE=pop
www.studentsupportdirect.co.uk
www.studentunion.co.uk
www.slc.co.uk for student loans company
www.dh.gov.uk finance for healthcare students
http://bursarymap.direct.gov.uk
www.aimhigher.ac.uk
www.offa.org.uk
www.isco.org.uk for scholarships and bursaries
www.tass.gov.uk for scholarships for athletes
http://www.studentcalculator.org.uk for advice on funding and managing it

Applicants ought to register with sites which provide guidance and opportunities to enhance applications. This includes:

Other useful general sites include:

Most of these can be linked to from UCAS. On what to study, look at:

For medics www.mmc.nhs.uk

The role of the doctor www.medschools.ac.uk

Core values, skills and attributes needed www.gmc-uk.org

NHS values

http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/thenhs/about/pages/nhscoreprinciples.aspx

Where to go look at www.ucas.com first (and keep going back to it), then www.scit.wiv.ac.uk/ukinfo for locations of institutions, League tables are very varied www.unistats.com I the UK official source on entry profiles, student satisfaction etc., www.whatuni.com, http://www.push.co.uk/,

The QS international table is at http://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2014

And an alternative is http://www.shanghairanking.com/

(League tables must be used carefully and critically! Key points are to drill down to course level and to identify the criteria used and decide which matter to you.)

http://www.brightknowledge.org/knowledge-bank/education-pathways/choosing-a-university

For Higher Education convention visit planning

http://www.ucas.com/students/exhibitions/howtoprepare/

For open day dates look at www.opendays.com

For study abroad (finance is much more complicated and also means paying much more without government funding e.g. loans!)