Wow!  Hasn’t Higher Education gone mad in the last few days?

The new White Paper, called Students at the Heart of the System details plans to make universities bid for a proportion of their places – a higher proportion than had been anticipated.

This proportion of universities bidding for places is “just the start”, said Mr Willetts. “We want to extend the system so more places are contestable.”

Whilst this is meant to be a step in the right direction, students are not happy!  Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students said: “Fees have been tripled and students have been exposed to the potential chaos of the market and yet there are still no concrete proposals for how quality, accountability and access will be improved.”

This report from the BBC is one of many published in the last two days….we want to hear your thoughts!  You can read the full article here.

Is it right to put students in the driving seat or is the prospect of graduating from uni with over £20,000 debt just ridiculous?

Let’s hear your vote

More students are applying to Universities in America, says an article from the Guardian!

The number of UK teenagers applying to Ivy League and top state-funded universities in the US has risen sharply in the past few years, figures show.

Data obtained from seven prestigious US institutions reveals that a major drive to recruit UK undergraduates is starting to pay off.

One leading headteacher told the Guardian that the growing interest came partly from a belief among parents and pupils that “UK universities were creaking at the limits”.

Harvard has received 500 applications from UK students for undergraduate courses this autumn, a jump from 370 last year.

Meanwhile, the University of California, Berkeley, has had 166 applications from the UK, up from 130 last year. The university said applications from other European Union students had fallen from 343 last year to 281 this year.

Cornell University, which is part of the Ivy League and is based in New York, has seen applications from UK students rise this year to 197 from 176 last year.

Some of the universities count only the number of students who enrol on their courses rather than those who apply.

Enrolments from the UK to Yale, another Ivy League institution, have doubled in the last five years, with a large spike last year. In 2006, 15 UK students enrolled. This grew to 25 in 2009 and 36 the following year. Enrolments at Columbia, also in the Ivy League, rose from 164 in 2003 to 170 in 2006 and 178 in 2009.

At Indiana, one of the top-rated US public universities, there has been a modest rise in UK applications this year – from seven to nine. Other applications from the EU grew to 50 this year from 41 last year. At Princeton, another Ivy League institution in New Jersey, enrolments from the UK have more than doubled in the last five years, from 32 in 2005 to 77 in 2010. In 2009, there were 81 enrolments from the UK.

The cost of studying at an Ivy League university for a UK student can reach up to £37,000 ($60,000) a year. Most undergraduate courses last four years. Fees at state-funded universities are substantially lower, but it can be difficult to obtain a place without US citizenship.

Despite this, the headteacher of a leading public school, King’s College school in Wimbledon, south-west London, said he had noticed that interest in studying at US universities was growing.

Andrew Halls said the near-trebling of tuition fees was one factor: from autumn 2012, universities in England and Wales will be allowed to charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees each year. But Halls also said there was “growing disillusionment” among pupils and parents with what most UK universities could offer. “There is a bit of a sense that UK universities are creaking at the limits,” he said.

“Our 13- to 16-year-olds are talking about applying to US universities much more than they used to. There’s a feeling that [if you go to a UK university that is not Oxbridge], you may not get as much teaching as you would like. US universities emphasise the ‘whole man’. They love to hear about students playing the piano and other extra-curricular activities. They want a fulsomeness that Oxbridge and others seem distrustful of. Quite a lot of parents say that it is because of this that they are prepared to make a big financial sacrifice and pay for a US university.”

A report on overseas students in the US by the Institute of International Education found that in 2004 there were 8,274 UK students studying in the US. In 2009 this had grown to 8,861.

Lauren Welch, head of the advisory service at the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which encourages educational exchanges between UK and US students, said many US universities and colleges saw this year as “an unprecedented opportunity to recruit British students”.

“They know that tuition fees are increasing threefold in just one year and that places will be capped on places for UK students, and they want to take advantage of this chance to make students aware of the American alternative.”

Welch added that the profile of students who went to study in the US was changing. “They were primarily from greater London and the south-west and attended an independent or international school,” she said. “We are now seeing more and more students apply to the US from state and grammar schools and from a much wider spectrum of the British population.”

King’s College school is holding a conference – the American Dream – this September for headteachers and pupils to discuss applying to US universities.

Feel free to leave your comments below. To view the full article, visit the Guardian website by clicking here.

Aaron has been blogging for us over the last year, whilst on placement at Trigger Software. It’s been great to hear from him and we wish Aaron all the best for the future. Below is his last blog for RateMyPlacement – enjoy!

“Morning all.

So as the title suggests, I am into my last few weeks at Trigger. After a lot of packing I will be heading home for the summer and to start my dissertation prep and prep work for any group projects that I will be a part of in my final year.

My final weeks at Trigger will be spent on finishing up a new European site for one of our main clients (cannot name), touching up on some surveys that will be finishing shortly and concluding any leftover documentation for CO229 (placement module at University for this placement).

I haven’t done as much as I would have wanted in my final couple of months at Trigger but over the course of the entire 13 months that I have been within the company, I have learnt a significant amount within different areas of the business. What I have learnt at Trigger will definitely ensure I take on next year and my future career in a new light compared to how I approached things before placement.

Below is a list of the departments/areas that I have worked within over the past year:

• Testing
• Support
• Support development
• Development

As I will not be on placement through July/August I will be making sure that I get stuck in with finishing (well, starting) sullivandoesdesign.com properly. It will probably be built upon WordPress but totally revamped. It will allow people to see my full collection of previous work, see what I am up to (new blog) and request any quotes for work that they may want me to do. This will go live end of August, ready for the new University year. The new blog will outline what I am doing for my University modules so you can see how I am getting on as the year progresses.

Apologies for not providing as much content on this placement blog throughout the year as I would have wanted. The year has been very busy and I haven’t had that much time left to go into that much detail.

If you are at University and you are thinking of doing a placement, make sure you try your hardest to find one; you won’t regret it in the long run.

Thank you to anyone who has read my blog over the year and special thanks go to Trigger Software for allowing me to work within the company for 13 months.”

Any questions, queries for design work or anything, contact me.

E: aaron@sullivandoesdesign.com FB: http://facebook.com/sullivana

Feel free to leave your comments below!

An update from Rishi…

‘Hi all. I realise it’s been quite a while since I last blogged so I apologise for the lack of updates. It’s been 10 months since I begun at Hays and the recruitment game back in August. To re-cap, working on the Investment Banking Operations Team has been helpful in more ways than one. To give a description of what it is I do, I thought I’d include a few key points from a day in the life of a consultant:

• Specialise in recruiting for the following, but not limited to: Trade Support, Settlements, Loans, Reconciliations, Data/Static Data, Securities/Stock Lending, Pricing/Valuations, Client Services, Payments/Pricing, Corporate Actions/Dividends and Funds.
• Gaining a theoretical understanding of financial products, both exchange-traded and OTC. Covering roles with the following asset classes: Securities (Fixed Income/Equities), OTC Derivatives, Futures & Options, Commodities and FX/Money mar
• Attracting new business in cold-calling new candidates; interviewing candidates from entry level to top-end management level, and advising on current market conditions and potential career routes.
• Attending agency briefings and client meetings in order to understand different business areas and recruitment needs; building and developing long-term relationships with new and existing clients.
• Sourcing new candidates through a variety of different methods; including online sources, and meeting and greeting at various networking events, outside of working hours.

From very early on I took it upon myself to dive into the deep end and get right into the thick of things. Interviewing candidates from entry-level to management/vice-president level has been great exposure. I have a huge responsibility, not only towards the organisation in the image that I portray to candidates, but also to the candidates themselves in regards to knowing my field; being able to advise accordingly on the market, career paths, managing expectations, preparing candidates for interviews, and building a long-term rapport. Having interviewed candidates on a daily basis, I’ve come to realise the power of questions; as a consultant, it’s my job to ask the right questions, and know when and when not to ask certain types of questions, or in fact how to phrase particular questions. Asking the right questions can be the difference between obtaining a key contact or lead on a new job & filling it, and not. This idea of influence is a key tool when used to effect. Having been in this position, I’ve had the opportunity to build long-term relationships with a wide array of candidates, not only of value to the organisation, but of value to myself given my long-term ambitions (a little shrewd I know but without this level of tenacity, it can be difficult to maintain resilience in recruitment, let alone the square mile that is the city).

This brings me onto my next point, and something I’ve referred to in my first blog. Long-term, I am aiming – let me correct that – more-so not settling for anything less than Front Office trading eventually, preferrably on the Commodities/Foreign Exchange side of things. Don’t get me wrong, I had my fair share of interviews etc. at leading Investment Banks before being offered the job at Hays (20 interviews in total, after 120 applications for a placement/internship, including various others). Reflecting back, reasons for not securing an internship directly in the Investment Banking scene was perhaps that I wasn’t aware of methods to portray the value I could add in enough depth. So that leads me onto the reasons for choosing to work for the Investment Banking Operations team here at Hays. Having impressed in two other interviews with different teams in the company, I knew this was going to be the team in which I would gain most out of, post-graduation – here’s why. Not only do I liaise with clients, i.e. line managers and on-site teams within the banks, but I’m in a position whereby I am able to build strong relationships with candidates who I can potentially place in a job. As you may be aware, reciprocity is a powerful thing. If you want to know the game of influence, ask yourself the right questions – ‘what is it that he/she wants that I could possibly help them with?’ Like I’ve said, as a consultant, it’s my job to ultimately get candidates working. So when a candidate (s) is reminded of my name after I have placed he/she in a job whereby they are utilising their previous experience and it looks to be something they can progress in, what do you think are their thoughts? Hence I refer back to reciprocity. As shrewd as it may seem, each candidate that I place is a potential connection, a connection to maintain good relations with even throughout my last year at Uni. So when it comes to graduation in 2012, my foot in the door may well lie with these key contacts that I’ve made. That’s also where the Mountbatten Internship Programme comes into play – but that is for another blog!

Much has been debated about the famous recruitment consultant, and I have to admit there are, like anything else, positive and negative opinions. Essentially, the ultimate name of the game for a consultant is to ‘fill jobs’, although there is alot more required of one to become an expert, a specialist consultant, in your field.

Regular contact with clients are a great way of getting to know our specialisms, the market, and generally what’s ‘hot’ in a job-market sense. Recruitment is very cyclical in that respect given that this information is fed back to our candidates in order for us to match job-seeker to job so to speak. I think it’s important to have a degree of intelligence and a fresh tenacity that would naturally be apparent in the younger workforce, i.e. 20-35. There exists a sales element is in the sense that I believe one must possess a certain flair when developing new business and generally ‘selling’ the benefits of using our business services. However, it’s important not to come accross as used-car salesmen, and rather portraying that we are consultants who know our markets/clients, and are able to display our specialisms knowledge – this way we are emphasizing our value to the market – ‘subliminally selling’ if you like.

With two months left to go, I’m draining as much value out of my position as I can in order to maximise my time left. Having been studying for the CFA Level 1 since January also (an exam with a 300-hour recommended reading time), I think my time has been utilised well in relation to long-term career goals. The market is picking up again following the hit that we all experienced during the consecutive Bank Holidays. So expect another update very soon whilst I keep plugging away, and I’ll leave you with a quote of the day: “To gain what is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.” ‘

A great entry from Rishi, please leave your comments below!