Linking London Sustainability Development Project Westminster Kingsway College Spring 2012

Aim of the Project  Develop & deliver ‘Higher Education Taster Courses’ for level 2 & 3 students within Westminster Kingsway College

To include:  Be one day from 9.30 till 4pm  Provide workshops around study skills including referencing, writing a good report, how to research beyond the internet, etc.  Provide lessons and workshops in particular topics like Marketing, Hospitality, Tourism, Human Resources etc.  Provide careers advice on courses at WKC as well as local Universities in the London area & career planning  Include current / past HE students talking about their experiences in HE & where they are now.  How to apply through UCAS  Employer speakers talking about the value of Higher Education for a future career

What actually happened?  Over the course of the academic year the HE team were enabled to get to a variety of events set up by the college internally and externally.  These events were in effect taster courses where we were able to spread the word about progressing to Higher Education courses in general, as well as specifically at WKC.  They were varied and ranged from a whole / half day of events to the odd half hour talk to a group of students.  We started in September with an HE Open Day in the college and visited about 5 different sessions including a Camden HE Fair at our Kings Cross Site on the 22 nd March.

We were joined by:  a range of other Universities, including:  Birkbeck,  University of Westminster,  University of Brighton,  LSBU,  London Met,  King’s College,  Leicester, etc.  We were able to highlight to students the balance and difference between studying at one of these other institutions versus studying at WKC.  We were also joined by a range of employers (albeit largely Hospitality) who were able to talk about:  the importance of Higher Education,  Employability skills,  communication skills and  adapting to HE.  Employers also encouraged students in what to look for from a HE institution and how to gauge if they are on the right course with the best employment opportunities.

Rough plan to the days we ran...  9.15am - room v314  Higher Education for mature students - Birkbeck, University of London  9.50am - room v314  Winning Personal Statements – Kings College, London  10.25am – room v314  Student Finance 2012 entry - Middlesex University  11.30am  Access to Business students booked to attend Higher Education Fair – 1 st Floor Professional Development Centre rooms  1.30pm – room v314  Studying for a degree at WKC – Clare Mannall, Program Manager, Westminster Kingsway College

Outcomes  Overall we have been thrilled with the outcomes of this project.  Thanks to our own careers team we have been able to get to far more of the college to talk about our opportunities than we could have hoped for.  In addition we have been able to get to the Camden Careers Fair and the LSBU Open Day.

AND...  We have seen a very positive increase in our internal applications (both through UCAS and direct) who are interested in progressing from their current FE studies onto our HE courses.  In addition we have been able to sow the seed for applications for and encourage students to think about staying local for their studies.

For  We will continue to attend the variety of events made available to us in because it has improved our own internal communications across the college in terms of what Higher Education we offer and what we could offer in the future to embed growth of our curriculum area.

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