Students attending the HE Conference
How to get the Best out of the Conference
- Your educational institution gives you the day off to attend the Conference as they know it can help you to research your choice of courses
and institutions in higher education.
- Attending university costs money and making the right choice of course and institution is more important than ever.
Making the wrong choice can be very costly.
- Use the Conference as a part of your planning to make sure you make the right choice for you.
Before the Day
- Study the booklet carefully and draw up a timetable for yourself for the day. Be familiar with where the lecture buildings.
See the campus map in the programme.
- If your school or college is not providing transport, you must make your own travel arrangements.
See www.merseytravel.gov.uk for details of buses, trains and ferries.
- Choose two subject talks and carefully check the times and venues. You should have a third choice in case a talk is full or cancelled.
- Allow plenty of time in the ‘Market Place’. Try to plan which university stands you want to go to. Where are you thinking of studying?
(NB. there is a one-way system in operation - see the floor-plan in the programme
- Think of what you want to ask the people on the stands – some example questions follow On the Day
- Take your Higher Education Conference Programme with you
- Think about which institutions you are interested in and collect the prospectuses (be aware that they are heavy).
Consider how far away from home you are willing to go to a Higher Education institution.
- Attend subject talks (at least two) and make notes of advice and information given.
- Speak to tutors who are staffing the stands in the Market Place, refer to the Floor Plan. Find out when Open Days are
taking place at the Universities in which you are particularly interested
Universities and Exhibitors at Conference
- Don’t wander around aimlessly, gathering prospectuses as you go. Don’t forget those prospectuses get heavy. Be selective –
- only take ones for Universities you are interested in
- If you do end up with unwanted prospectuses please don’t litter. We have an unwanted Prospectus collection point near the exit.
- Please allow adequate time to enable you to get to your talks and buildings in plenty of time (you will be walking quite some distance in certain cases – see the map!!!).
- These are some of the questions that you might ask speakers and representatives from the various institutions that are represented in:
1. Where is it? · How far away from home is the university or college? · Is it on a single site or split onto different sites? ·
Where is it in relation to the centre of the nearest town or city? · Does the institution have courses franchised to further education colleges,
and how far are they away from the main university?
2. What is it like to study there? · How many students are there and what is the proportion of mature and younger students? ·
Is it a university or college with very few students around at weekends? · Is the university or college expanding? ·
What are the teaching and library facilities like? (Some universities and colleges suffer major overcrowding problems.) ·
What sports facilities do they have and what other clubs or societies are there?
3. What does it cost to study there? · What does the accommodation cost? · What course fees will they be charging? ·
What opportunities exist for part-time work? · Are there any sponsorships or bursaries available?
4. What is the Accommodation like? · What proportion of first-year students are living in university or college-owned residences?
5. How does it differ from other institutions? · How is the university or college different from other institutions offering similar courses?
6. What Happens to Graduates? · Does the speaker have any recent figures about the destinations of graduates from this subject? ·
What proportion of graduates go into employment, and especially into ‘professional’-level jobs? ·
How many go into further (postgraduate) study?
After the Day
- It is recommended that you speak to your Teachers or Tutors in the subject (or related area) of your higher education choice.
- You will begin to work on a Personal Statement with your Group Tutor.
- You should do individual research into suitable courses and institutions by using the resources in the school library and/or relevant web-sites.
- You may sign up for an interview with your Connexions Personal Adviser through your school.
- You should send for your own individual copies of prospectuses if you did not collect them at the Conference.
- You should find out when the Open Days are for the institutions you are interested in.
N.B. All Connexions centres in Greater Merseyside and Cheshire & Warrington are happy for you to use their computers
to look up information in higher education on the Web. This service is free
For details of your nearest Connexions centre or please call free on 080 800 13 2 19.
