How to choose

How to choose a course and university

 

There are over 50,000 courses on offer in the UK at nearly 400 different providers including universities, colleges, private providers etc. There are also options available elsewhere in Europe and further afield. You can study one subject (single honours) or two (joint honours).  You can study full time or part time. Many courses have the chance to study abroad, complete work placements or do a whole year in industry or in the workplace (known as a sandwich courses).

With so many choices available it can be hard to know how to narrow down your options. We strongly suggest visiting some universities towards the end of College 1, over the summer and at the start of College 2. Details will be on university websites or visit www.opendays.com where you can search by university. If you miss an open day then lots of universities have pre recorded sessions and you can watch sessions in your own time.

Universities are also coming up with lots of other ways for prospective students to find out more about them. This includes:

·         On line webinars, tasters and masterclasses

·         Q and A sessions

·         On line chat with current students

·         On line videos

·         Online short courses

·         Virtual accommodation and campus tours

·         Online personal statement workshops and interview skills sessions

·         Student vlogs

·         Parent phone calls

·         Online summer schools

There are also careers fairs organised by UCAS https://www.ucas.com/ucas/events/find/type/exhibition?layout=list. UK University Search also hold fairs https://www.ukuniversitysearch.com/  

  

Things to think about when making your decisions

League tables

You might want to use league table to start to narrow down your choices. There are a few different league tables and they differ as to what they take into account for rankings but it generally includes student satisfaction rates (for teaching and assessment and feedback) career prospects, research information, expenditure per student, completion rates, entry requirement and student experience. This is a useful article to explain how league tables work https://bridge-u.com/blog/university-league-tables/

Type of university

You might have heard of the Russell Group. This is a group of 24 UK research intensive universities. Some students limit their choices to universities within this group. There’s the University Alliance group which are technical and professional universities who focus heavily on practical experience. The Million+ group are a more modern group of universities focusing on economic, social and cultural change.

Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF)

This measures teaching, learning and student outcomes. Providers are awarded gold, silver or bronze ratings for the University as a whole (it doesn't differ from course to course).

Scholarships & Bursaries

These will differ depending on what course you are looking at and which universities you are applying to. Check individual university websites for more information.

Campus investment/facilities

This might include the library, sports facilities, IT facilities, students’ union, lecture theatres, planned investment, facilities for students with additional needs and specialist facilities but think about what’s important to you. This could be particularly important if you’re studying a practical degree subject.

Graduate destination statistics

Most universities have information about this on their website or you can find it out through league tables.

Student Support Services

All universities will have a level of student support (inducing financial support advice, wellbeing, disability support, dyslexia support, care leavers support, counselling, faith support etc) but some universities will focus on this more and place it at the heart of the student experience.

Location

This includes distance to home, travel links and ease of getting around, big city or smaller town, rural or urban, location of university accommodation.

Size

This includes size of student population, number of students on your chosen course, staff to student ratio for your subject and size of campus.

Accommodation

This includes location, size, distance to university, price, facilities, contract length, en-suite or shared facilities, security, catering etc.

 

You might also want to consider the reputation for your subject area, module choice, whether the course is accredited by any professional bodies, size of your student cohort, application methods and interview methods, graduate destinations, number of applications per place, contact hours, industry links, work placements etc. There’s an enormous amount of choice so key to making the right decision is starting your research early and allowing yourself enough time.

Presentation on choosing firm and insurance courses and choosing university accommodation can be found here