University-level study and all things Higher Education (HE) was the hot topic at West Nottinghamshire College.

An all-day information event was held at the college’s Derby Road campus, designed to inform, reassure and inspire current Level 3 students to make HE their next choice for their studies.

Representatives from Nottingham Trent University, De Montfort University, Sheffield Hallam, University of Derby, Leeds Beckett University and Bishop Grosseteste University were on hand with advice about the variety of programmes on offer at those institutions.

West Nottinghamshire College’s own Vision University Centre staff were on-hand to help students go through the range of study options at the college. With over 20 university-level programmes available to study at the Derby Road campus, students could discover more about the programmes and what to expect when studying at that level.

Also available on the day was the DANCOP team, which is based at the Mansfield college. The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Collaborative Outreach Programme is a network between universities and colleges across the two counties which exists to provide targeted HE outreach programmes to secondary schools and colleges.

Students could also get involved in the fun side of things with the mock stage, where they could don a cap and gown and have their photograph taken in a graduation style.

Level 2 business student Nikola Greif, 17, stepped up to the graduation stage. She said: “I am planning to go on to HE next. I’m considering studying the criminology course.

“Today’s event has given me a better insight of what to expect from studying at university-level and think about the things I need to do next.

“I enjoyed dressing up in the cap and gown – that’s what I dream of doing in reality!”

During the evening event, parents of Level 3 year one students were able to come along to discover more about how to support their child when applying for and working on a university-level programme. Presentations were available on how to support young people through the UCAS process as well as a session which focussed on how to deal with emotional well-being and combatting stress.

Guest speakers from universities gave presentations on student finance and how to advance access to the Russell Group of universities.

West Nottinghamshire College’s In-reach project officer Theresa Garrington said: “The event was a great success. The advice which students and their families were able to get from both the college and other universities was priceless.

“Quite often the finance side of things can be confusing and worrying, but advisors were available to help people navigate through the finance process, explain how every student is entitled to the tuition loan and that fees don’t have to be paid up-front.

“Young people still have a lot of fears and uncertainty about stepping up their studies to the next level, but the information event was able to allay these concerns for many.”