28 Feb 08

Teachers from 52 schools and colleges visited Oxford this week for a teachers' conference held jointly between the city’s two universities.

The conference aimed to give teachers up-to-date information on admissions issues and general information about Higher Education. It was the first time that Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University joined forces to run an event aimed specifically at teachers.

Mike Nicholson, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford University, gave the keynote address on changes to 14-19 education and developments in UCAS procedures. The afternoon featured a series of workshops on interviews for competitive courses such as Law and Medicine, on student finance, post-HE careers, admissions testing and access projects.

The teachers came from schools and colleges across Oxfordshire and surrounding Local Education Authorities. Ms Jo Ferguson, Head of 6th form at Bartholomew School in Eynsham, said: ‘It was good to spend the day getting a comprehensive overview of university admissions at two different but local universities. I wll now be able to pass on very useful information to my students regarding personal statements, admissions testing and interviews.’

John Little, Careers Coordinator at the European School in Culham, added: ‘I have been to Oxford University on occasions in the past but I found it very useful to see both universities in one day. The interview sessions in particular were very useful to me. The way the admissions tutors presented a mock interview with a student gave a fly-on-the-wall impression of what goes on at interview, and what the tutors are looking for.’

Admissions staff at the two universities also used the opportunity to learn first-hand from the teachers about how to improve their support for potential applicants.

Mike Nicholson concluded: ‘Teachers play a very important role in advising their pupils on career and university choice. We have had very useful feedback on what sorts of questions are on the students' minds when they consider applying to university.

‘The teachers I’ve spoken to seemed to find the format of this conference useful and we are already thinking of running a similar event next year.’