Friday 5 May 2023, 09:00am – 3:15pm, Business School
8.30am: Registration & Refreshments
9.15am: Conference Welcome – Simon Jenkins, Head of Student Recruitment and Admissions, Edge Hill University
9.30am: Plenary: HE Sector Overview – Dr John Cater CBE, Vice Chancellor, Edge Hill University
10.30am: Refreshments
10.45am: Workshop Sessions 1 – Delegates choose from:
a) Campus Tour and Q&A with current undergraduate students
Current undergraduate students will provide a tour around our campus and newest facilities, answering your questions about student life and their experiences of applying to university. Please note, this session will take place outdoors, but an indoors alternative will be provided if weather is unsuitable. The tour route is fully accessible.
Current undergraduate students and a member of the Education Liaison team, Edge Hill University
b) Subject session: Focus on Creative Arts
Film, Media, Television, Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre, English, Creative Writing
The UK’s creative industries contributed £115.9billion to the economy in 2019, according to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
In this session, delegates will learn more about the courses on offer and how our state-of-the-art facilities and impressive industry links ensure that our students are ready to embark on a career in this billion-pound industry after graduation.
Admissions Tutors and current students for these subjects will also be available to answer your questions.
c) Supporting children and young people’s mental health in schools and colleges and in their transition to university
Concerns about the mental health of children and young people is increasing. The prevalence of probable mental health disorders has risen in five-to-16-year-olds from one in nine (10.8%) in 2017, to one in six (16%) in 2020 (NHS Digital, 2020), and these concerns have been exacerbated throughout COVID-19, especially in relation to loneliness and social isolation (Ma et al., 2022). Tackling the Blues (TtB) is a school-based early intervention and prevention mental health literacy programme, delivered by Edge Hill University students and external partners using sport, art, and education-based activities. The programme is co-produced as part of a university-community collaboration between Edge Hill University Everton in the Community (the official charity of Everton Football Club), Tate Liverpool, partner schools, and children and young people.
This session will share learning from Tackling the Blues and the co-produced research, providing insight into the mental health concerns of children and young people across Liverpool and West Lancashire, the mental health-related challenges schools are experiencing, and how schools are supporting children and young peoples’ mental health and their transition to the next education stage will be discussed. In addition, interactive activities will be included to facilitate thoughts and discussions among attendees about their current provision for mental health in their school and college and how they can adopt learning from Tackling the Blues.
Aston Munro, Research Assistant, Edge Hill University
Rachel Wilcock, Research Assistant, Edge Hill University
Widening Access and Participation team, Edge Hill University
d) Supporting your students through their UCAS application
This session will provide advice on how to support your students through the UCAS application process from start to finish. The Education Liaison Team will deliver an insight into what makes an application stand out in terms of content, work experience and reference information from yourselves as staff.
The session will also discuss the recently announced changes to the staff reference structure for 2024 entry and further updates on possible changes to the personal statement structure for 2025 entry.
Throughout the session, there will be plenty of opportunities to interact and share best practice with colleagues, see some real-life personal statement examples, ask questions and discuss issues that you face within your school or college. The session will also include some members of staff from the admissions team.
*This is for less experienced advisers or those new to HE guidance work.
Education Liaison team, Edge Hill University
e) Supporting your students to apply for competitive subjects
Applying for competitive subjects at university can be daunting for students, especially for popular courses that have a limited number of spaces. This valuable session will provide hints and tips to support your students in writing an effective application for competitive subjects such as Medicine, Economics, Engineering, Midwifery, Paramedic Practice and Teacher Training and advice on what you can do to support them along the way.
Simon Jenkins, Head of Student Recruitment and Admissions, Edge Hill University
Peter Talbot, Senior Admissions Manager, Edge Hill University
12.00pm: Lunch, Sages Restaurant / Optional campus or facilities tour
There will be an opportunity to network with conference delegates, speakers, and staff from Edge Hill University.
We will also be running optional tours of the Catalyst Building and our Clinical Skills and Simulation Centre at 12noon and 12.30 (departing from the Business School foyer). Tours will last 20 minutes.
1.00pm: Keynote speech – University league tables – how to use them and what they show
There is a lot of misunderstanding about league tables and possibly less use made of them as a valuable source of information, produced in a digestible format and aimed at the potential students and their influencers. Alastair will draw on his 24 years’ experience compiling the Sunday Times Guides, as well as providing insight into the other rankings and league tables, explaining how university rankings are compiled, the rationale behind the indicators used, what they purport to show – and why they’re useful to prospective students.
Alastair McCall, former editor of The Sunday Times Good University Guide.
2.00pm: Workshop Sessions 2 – Delegates choose from:
f) Campus Tour and Q&A with current undergraduate students
Current undergraduate students will provide a tour around our campus and newest facilities, answering your questions about student life and their experiences of applying to university. Please note, this session will take place outdoors, but an indoors alternative will be provided if weather is unsuitable. The tour route is fully accessible.
Current undergraduate students and a member of the Education Liaison team, Edge Hill University.
g) How to build effective links and relationships with universities
This session will focus on supporting you as school and college staff to build strong and successful links with a range of university student recruitment and widening access teams. We will discuss initial contact, opportunities available, nurturing relationships over time as well as some top tips from ourselves regarding working as effectively and efficiently as possible.
There will also be plenty of interactive opportunities to discuss best practice with colleagues and opportunity to feedback to ourselves as a team.
Education Liaison team, Edge Hill University.
h) Student Finance – what every practitioner really needs to know
Student Finance England will guide delegates through the changes within student finance policy for 2023/24. Information will be provided to guide your students through the application process and to understand the student loan repayment system. It is an opportunity to discuss any concerns you have regarding student finance.
Kevin McMullan, Funding Information Partner Services Account Manager, Student Loans Company.
i) Subject Session: Focus on STEM subjects – Biosciences, Computer Science, Engineering, Geosciences
In this session, delegates will learn more about our STEM courses and their entry requirements and understand how to encourage students’ ambition in STEM subjects.
There will also be the opportunity to hear from Admissions tutors for these subjects who can provide information on our industry-standard facilities and links with employers as well as the different career routes available post-graduation. Current students from these subjects will also be available to answer your questions.
Admissions tutors and current students for these subjects will also be available to answer your questions.
j) Routes into working in the education sector and how to prepare your students
With over 135 years of experience training teachers, Edge Hill is a great place to prepare for the classroom. But qualifying as a teacher is just one career path. In this session, delegates will learn more about the courses on offer within Education and Teaching, which includes teacher training degrees as well as routes working within the wider children’s workforce.
There will also be the opportunity to hear from Admissions tutors for these subjects who can provide information on the different career routes available post-graduation. Current students from these subjects will also be available to answer your questions.
Representatives from Faculty of Education and Education Liaison team, Edge Hill University.
3.15pm: Tea and Coffee and Depart / Optional campus or facilities tour
A chance to meet Edge Hill University staff, current undergraduate students and take a tour of our campus.
