Changes to student finances released

The National Scholarship Programme, which was a government initiative established to support students whose household incomes was £25,000 or less has been scrapped.  There are no changes to the maintenance loans and grants system however. Many universities do offer extra bursaries and scholarships so it is wise to check their websites and talk to finance departments. This additional funding is typically offered to students from low household incomes or particular groups, for example, care leavers will receive £1000 bursary per year at the University of Hertfordshire.

Click here for government advice on student finances.

Changes to UCAS tariffs announced

There will be a new tariff system for university entrance for the 2017 admissions cycle.  It will therefore affect students starting 'A' level and BTEC Level 3 courses in September 2015. Students who apply 2016 and then defer their places will still be under the old tariff.  A key change is that AS levels with now be worth 40% of an 'A' level ( i.e. the "full" AS + A2 course ) and not 50%.  The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is still worth 50% of an 'A' level.

Click here for a fact-sheet from UCAS on the changes.

Click here for an explanatory video from UCAS.

Hertfordshire leading in Apprenticeships

According to a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), hundreds of school-leavers are being failed by the government’s Apprenticeship drive, with too few places to fulfill demand. Last year, there were 1.8 million applications for only 166,000 Apprenticeships in England. The picture is very different in Hertfordshire where we have more Apprenticeship opportunities than we can fill. Take a look at current availability on the Youth Connexions website here or follow them @hertsjobs16to19

Skills for the 21st Century

Last week Google held an online conference exploring the skills young people need in the 21st Century. To support the conference, the Economist conducted a global survey of business leaders, teachers and students to discover the attributes most needed in the workplace. It won’t come as much of a surprise that the top five ‘21st Century Skills’ were:

- Problem Solving
- Team Working
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Creativity

Loughborough tops university poll

Loughborough University has been named university of the year by WhatUni, based on the opinions of over 20,000 students, followed by Harper Adams and Swansea University. The results, were based on averages taken from reviews submitted by students to the website over the past year. In total 113 universities met the minimum threshold of 100 reviews to be included in the rankings. The figures also showed that student satisfaction has risen compared with 2014, with a 3.4% increase in the overall category. However, accommodation has seen a year-on-year drop, while facilities at London universities were rated lower than in any other region.

Increase in unconditional offers

At least 20 universities are offering unconditional offers, a quadrupling in the past year. They include; Birmingham, Sussex, Nottingham, Queen Mary, Leicester, Lincoln, Lancaster, City, Leeds Beckett, Sheffield Hallam, Liverpool Hope, Swansea, and UEA. Reading has an ‘academic excellence scheme’, which removes some, or all, A-level conditions for selected “outstanding” candidates. Keele is making initial conditional offers, but switching to unconditional for students with high GCSE and AS results, and A-level predictions who accept them as their firm choice. Aston is contacting ‘strong’ candidates who have yet to confirm their first-choice institution, offering to change their offer to unconditional. 

The approach has critics, with some saying the practice is not fair and warning that students may “go off the boil”. Mike Nicholson, head of admissions at Bath, said: “It would be a tragedy if candidates found their more relaxed attitude to their A-levels resulted in them failing to secure a place on a graduate scheme several years later.”  [ Source GTAssociates ]

The rise of Physics

The Institute of Physics said the number of UK students applying to study for a Physics degree has risen by 40% over four years, whilst Oxford University said it had seen applications rise by a third over five years. Applications for Physics and Astronomy at Manchester rose by 37% between 2008 and 2014, while its postgraduate applications increased by 40%. Laura Prichard, an astrophysics PhD student at Oxford, said that although movies may “push the realm of reality”, they are inspiring the children she speaks to at outreach events. She said that, “The easiest way to convey how cool a subject is, is to make it into a huge blockbuster.”