HIGHER EDUCATION BOOST ANTICIPATED FOR NWSLC

Caption: Students looking happy sat around laptop pointing at the screen

As students across the UK get ready to celebrate their A Level and BTEC results, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC) is gearing up to support students wishing to continue their studies on higher education courses as an alternative to going to university.

With factors including the impact of the coronavirus crisis and the college’s strong showing in this year’s National Student Survey, NWSLC is anticipating strong recruitment to its higher education programmes this year.

Carrie-Anne Abdulai, Director of Higher Education at NWSLC said, “Our fees are lower than those for university-based courses and enable students to stay local. Our small class sizes make social distancing easier to manage and study patterns can be flexible to cater for mature students who might be returning to education following redundancy.

“Our course options are highly focused on employment in a variety of industry sectors from engineering and manufacturing, to creative arts, media and design, and healthcare. All courses are taught in industry-standard facilities and tutors have extensive experience in their field so they can advise about next steps and career routes.”

Currently, one third of students in England that apply through UCAS study in 165 colleges which teach 187,000 higher education students. Colleges deliver 82 per cent of HNDs and HNCs and 59 per cent of foundation degrees.

Carrie-Anne Abdulai added, “As well as being a registered provider with the Office for Students, we are an accredited centre for delivering professional qualifications for the workplace, including AAT, CIM, IMI and CIPS. Satisfaction with the NWSLC higher education experience has improved significantly over the last two years, putting the college ahead of the sector both regionally and across the UK.”

Results from the National Student Survey (NSS), published last month, show that nine out of ten students are satisfied with their experience of higher education at NWSLC with overall satisfaction seeing an increase of 30 per cent over the last two years. The college’s HE provision was also highly rated for the quality of its teaching, assessment and feedback, organisation and management, and the learning opportunities in which students can engage.

NWSLC offers an extensive range of Higher National Certificates (HNCs), Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) that can be converted into full degrees with a further year of study at university. The college works closely with its partner universities Coventry University, the University of Warwick, and the University of West London to deliver a range of foundation degrees and bachelor’s degrees. Specialist provision for the automotive sector is available through the MIRA Technology Institute.

Click here for more information on higher education at NWSLC.