Course Considerations

Subject

Image Credit: Pixabay

Subject

The next question to ask yourself is what you want to study - this is a decision you need to make for yourself, but we can give you some starting points. 

What courses are available?

Eluceo provides a search engine of all the undergraduate courses available in the UK. We are also going to have Course Guides so you can see what each course entails at university, and these pages also contain other website links which may help you decide what to study. 

Joint honours courses

Joint honours courses are made up of more than one subject, and are especially useful if you want to study a language alongside your main degree, such as Law and French or Economics and French. Two subject combinations are the most frequent, and you can often choose to study these subjects equally, or with what's called a major and minor split, so you undertake 75% of your degree in one subject, say Law, and 25% of your degree in another, say French. Joint courses are useful if you want to show off the range of skills you possess to future employers and want to further your knowledge of more than one subject, however, you won't learn as much in-depth as compared to a single honours course. Some course are famously joint honours degrees, such as PPE at Oxford (Philosophy, Politics and Economics). 

Full-time or Part-time?

The vast majority of you will be thinking of studying for your degree full-time, but part-time is always an option. Most courses are available to study in both formats, and part-time study offers you the chance to study while working, volunteering or caring for you family etc. We offer more information in our part-time learning section, with information on funding, the pros and cons, and how part-time learning works. 

Coursework vs. Exams

The unistats website gives you a breakdown for each course at each university of your time spent in lectures, independent study and placements, as well as how your courses are split by assessment in terms of exams, written work and practical work. You may prefer exams to coursework, and believing you will achieve more this way, want a university course that focuses on exams. The university's prospectus will also tell you this information.

Course content

Another useful thing to look at is the course content. Courses, such as Biology, may vary in their content and you may want to choose your university based on the content you are looking forward to learn about. Or you may want to attend a university that has a certain course "philosophy" - an obvious example of this is modern language subjects where some universities like to focus heavily on language, others focus heavily on literature and culture, while others offer a happy medium between the two. It's up to you want you prefer in this instance. Again, the university prospectus will give you this information. 

If you are studying a performing art, such as dance, drama or music, you may want to study at either a university surrounded by students studying a multitude of disciplines, or a conservatoire which is a smaller institution which specialises in an art e.g. the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts and the Royal School or Music. As a general rule, university will be more focused on academics, while conservatoires will be more performance focused, and, once again, your preference is entirely up to you. There are also specialised institutions for subjects such as veterinary medicine, medicine and art.

Further Course Options

Image Credit: Pixabay

Further Course Options

Year in Industry

A Year in Industry (also called a placement year or sandwich placement if it is less than a year (often 4-6 months or taken over the summer) offers you the opportunity to spend time in an organisation undertaking a role that is directly relevant to your degree studies. Not all subjects offer a year in industry, with science courses such as Chemistry or Engineering being the most common. If you do take a year in industry, your undergraduate degree will take you an extra year - you will most likely study for two years, take a year out and come back for your final year. You can also do this with an undergraduate Master's which will then take you five years to complete. The benefits to a Year in Industry include:

• Broadening your knowledge base - a year in industry offers new perspectives, experiences and enhanced skills that you can use in the completion of your degree and your future career. 
• Developing key employability skills - developing personal and social skills within a workplace environment
• Gaining a better understanding about career choices - the year offers you the chance to 'try' a career role without committing yourself permanently, will give you an insight into the operations of a specific employer and give you new ideas about career options. 
• Getting a graduate job - gives you a competitive edge when it comes to applying for graduate jobs and is a great way of building contacts. Employers value those graduates who have knowledge of the way businesses operate and look for those who have undertaken some work experience
• Broadening your horizons - you can undertake your year in industry anywhere in the UK, and indeed anywhere in the world. This may mean you have the opportunity to learn another language and experience a new culture.
• Earning money - many placements are well paid. 

The universities should advertise their placement vacancies and you will have to apply for them in a similar way to applying for a normal job. 

Year Abroad

Your university might also offer you a year abroad which involves studying in a foreign country as part of your degree. In this way you will most likely study for two years in your home university, one year abroad (or less if you wish) and your fourth year back at your home university - and you will obtain a Bachelor's. If you are studying a language, this will be compulsory, however many other courses offer this option. You can study via Erasmus, which offers placements in Europe, while your university will also have links with universities further afield, for example in Australia, Canada, America, Brazil, Hong Kong and Singapore. 

The European Commission recently released the Erasmus Impact Study which showed that those who spent time abroad enjoyed enhanced graduate employment prospects and gained "transversal skills" that are particularly highly valued by employers. Furthermore, the study found that young people who studied or trained abroad were half as likely to face long-term unemployment and after 5 years of graduation the unemployment rate of Erasmus students was 23% lower. Those who studied abroad were also in a better position for graduate employment on completion of their time abroad - over one third of Erasmus trainees who completed a work placement abroad had been offered a position with their host company, and one in ten had been involved in launching their own companies. 

Work-based Learning

Depending on the course, some universities also offer work-based learning opportunities. These are opportunities which form part of an assessed module (unlike a year abroad or a year in industry where the outcome doesn't influenece your final degree grade) and may take the form or student-led consultancy projects, internships, competitons and voluntary work. Some will be paid. 

The benefits of work-based learning include:

• Improving employability prospects and preparing for professional life by enhancing existing skills, and devloping new skills and knowledge that employers look for including team work, communication, problem solving and confidence. 
• Exploring employment/career possibilities and make potentially valuable network contacts
• Applying your theoretical studies to real work situations
• Improving your academic performance by drawing on real, work-based learning experiences

Some courses will also offer placements and work-based learning as a necessary part of the course - such as geology and archaeology, and nursing, midwifery etc.