Fun-filled days give secondary school students insight into university life
A group of Year 9 and 10 students from across Lancashire got the chance to explore what life may be like if they go on to study at university, thanks to the specially designed Higher Education Insight Days held by Future U.
Over the course of two days a total of 120 students from Lathom High School, Central Lancaster High School, St Bedes High School and Darwen Vale High School got stuck into a series of activities at the University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) Westleigh Conference Centre in Preston.
The sessions were kickstarted with an Introduction to University talk which provided an overview of what to expect, followed by a Student Life talk delivered by Future U Ambassador Fahima, fresh from her first year of studying for a Law degree at UCLan.
Later, a discussion on student finance myth-busting provided an insight into the importance of sticking to a budget, before students were tasked with a challenge in which they had to guess how much money they could potentially save by buying non-branded items when shopping – which proved to be a real eye-opener!
In addition, the Design a Society activity allowed students to explore the non-academic side of university life, with ideas for new societies varying from motor engineering and Disney to Minecraft and cake baking.
The sessions were run by Future U Outreach Officers Theo Blackburn and Matt Lord.
Theo said: “The Higher Education Insight days enabled participants to visit a university setting and experience a number of fun and engaging activities, covering some of the core concerns young people may have about their futures. The activities were created specifically to help address perceived barriers to studying at university and feedback from the students and teachers was that they were extremely useful.
“Throughout the sessions the group experienced talks from both undergraduates and graduates on their own experiences of university life, as well as some of the misconceptions on finance at university which should hopefully help the students understand more about what lies ahead should they choose to embark upon a degree.”
