Study UK

Seeking information on universities, their courses, and their performance from objective sources, can often help you make a final decision on your future as a student. Before filling in your UCAS form, why not check out the Unistats website, spoken about elsewhere, and other sources of information.

Although you won’t find any official league tables covering higher education colleges and universities in the UK, you may like to look out for unofficial tables published in some of the mainstream national press. Put both the above sources together, and it can help compare and contrast different courses and locations.  You could also do some research on the standards and quality of each university. Although this is the responsibility of each university, the Quality Assurance Agency checks that higher education establishments are keeping to and maintaining these standards. Reviews and reports are available to clarify and confirm good practice, which are available to view online at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/institutionreports.

When you’re making your study decisions, it’s always worth doing some career research as well.  Look up any relevant professional bodies for your chosen job, and see if there are any particular types of courses they approve, or will ask for. In journalism for example, many advertisements will mention National Council For The Training Of Journalists accredited courses. Choosing an accredited course could go a long way to helping your career prospects. Ask your course provider for appropriate information, or search online for relevant professional bodies. A few examples are below:

• Chartered Institute Of Marketing:  www.cim.co.uk
• National Council For Training Of Journalists: http://www.nctj.com
• The Institution Of Civil Engineers: http://www.ice.org.uk

You may also find this page helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_associations_in_the_United_Kingdom