Four times as many applicants per degree apprenticeship
The BBC reports that competition for degree apprenticeships has quadrupled as the cost of a conventional degree comes under harder scrutiny — earning while studying, with fees paid by an employer, now draws applicant numbers that look like graduate scheme competition. The practical consequence is that an apprenticeship is no longer the fallback option it was presented as, and applications open far earlier than university ones.
Universities face a choice between demand and breadth
A HEPI piece sets out the dilemma behind subject closures: follow applicant demand and a university ends up teaching a narrow set of popular subjects, preserve breadth and it runs courses that lose money. Either way, applicants should check whether a small department at their chosen university is under review before firming an offer, because the decision is being made now at several institutions.
Under-qualified and over-qualified at the same time
A recent graduate writes about the entry-level job market that asks for three years of experience for a starting role, and rejects a degree-holder as overqualified for the roles that would provide it. It is one account rather than data, but it matches the graduate vacancy figures reported this month. How to write a graduate CV covers making experience count when there is not much of it.
Five things that help in the last weeks of a dissertation
Advice for postgraduates in the final stretch of a sixty-credit dissertation: fix the word budget per chapter before writing, book supervisor time in advance rather than when stuck, and treat the literature review as finished at some point. The same discipline works for an undergraduate dissertation. How to write a dissertation is the longer version.
And what the freebies are actually worth
The counterpart list: what this year’s student accounts offer beyond the overdraft — railcards, cash, subscriptions and vouchers — costed rather than described. A four-year railcard is worth real money if you travel home often; most of the rest is worth less than a single month of an unarranged overdraft fee. Student discounts covers the ones that keep paying.