Parent/Guardian Progress Evenings for First and Second Year Students

Our Parent/Guardian Progress Evenings for the Autumn Term will take place as follows:

2nd Year students – Wednesday 8th November, 4.30pm – 7.30pm

1st Year and 1 Year course students – Monday 27th November, 4.30pm – 7.30pm

Both events will take place at the Hele Road site, with the following exceptions: Engineering, Aerospace and Automotive Faculty – will be held at The Technology Centre, Monkerton; Construction Faculty – will be held at Falcon House, Sowton.

University Application Support

All 2nd year students applying to university should now have their UCAS applications underway. UCAS opened the application cycle for this year on 6th September and we encourage students to make an application as soon as possible. Increasingly there is a trend across the country towards making early applications. An earlier application, ahead of the national closing date of 15th January 2018, will help our students to secure the place they want at the institution of their choice.

To support this process we run regular UCAS application clinics as below:

• Every Monday at Victoria House Learning Centre until 11th December 2017
• Every Tuesday and Thursday at the Pop-up Learning Centre, Tower until 12th December

All run 3.30-4.30pm

Students can drop in for support with:

• Researching university courses
• Completing UCAS application form
• Personal statement writing

The progression and employability team were also thrilled to welcome colleagues from the following universities who offered our students all-important personal statement writing advice: Exeter University, Bristol University, and the University of Law. We also look forward to hosting further university colleagues at the college for similar sessions throughout November and December.
This term we also offered specific help and advice to learners applying to Oxbridge, medicine, veterinary and dentistry courses ready for the 15th October deadline.

For those students interested in progressing to medicine the college Medical Society has been supporting with various activities in partnership with Exeter Medical School and we are also now pleased to be partnering with the Exeter RD&E to offer all of our students, particularly those with interest in medicine or the healthcare professions, volunteering opportunities.

Receiving offers from universities and making choices

After submitting their UCAS form, students will start receiving decisions from universities via their online ‘track’ account. Students are only able to keep two offers from the maximum of five original choices applied for. It is recommended that students ensure that they are happy with their programme choice, university location and accommodation before applying and certainly before accepting an offer. Should students fail to receive offers from their first round of applications or change their choice of course they can take advantage of UCAS ‘Extra’ which starts in February 2018. This enables students to make additional choices. Students can visit the UCAS website www.ucas.com for how this system operates or talk to the progression and employability team.

Higher education student finance

It is important for students and parents to be aware of the financial implications of going on to higher education, not only in terms of the loans which will be accumulated over the period of study, but also the level of repayments and the availability of university specific bursaries and scholarships. The Student Finance England website contains information on the financial support available to students. There is also a calculator on the site which will assess how much support applicants can expect from the Government and higher education institutions that they are applying to. All 2018 UCAS applicants will need to make an application for their student finance package. This can be done online from January 2018 and should be completed by the end of May 2018 to ensure arrangements are in place for the beginning of the university academic year in September.

Please ring the progression and employability team on 01392 400330 if you would like to discuss the UCAS process further.

Did you know Exeter College offers a wide range of university level courses?

Working in partnership with other educational institutions, including Plymouth University, University of Exeter and University of St Mark & St John, we deliver a variety of higher national certificates (HNCs), higher national diplomas (HNDs), bachelor of arts (BA Ord) and bachelor of science (BSc) degrees and foundation degree (FdA and FdSc) programmes. To find out more visit our website or contact our higher education adviser, Candice Tooze, on 01392 400909 or headviser@exe-coll.ac.uk

Other news from the progression and employability team

This term we have been working with the National Citizen Service to promote this fantastic programme to our students. We have had several visits and presentations from the local NCS Team. This programme is designed to support students in enhancing their personal development through an exciting programme consisting of:

• Adventure activities (as part of a residential)
• External speaker workshops and mentoring
• Community engagement project

For more information please visit the website or contact the progression team.

Our dedicated progression and employability team offers advice to all students, whether they are considering university, a foundation degree, an Apprenticeship or a job or training after college. We encourage any learner who feels they need help and support in finding the right direction to come and talk through their options. Students are welcome to book an appointment during the college hours by emailing us.

For more information and advice the team can be contacted on 01392 400330 or progressionteam@exe-coll.ac.uk.