Higher education
Degrees to the east, degrees to the west
Choosing a university is no longer a straightforward process, and many sixth-formers are thinking outside the box—as well as looking abroad. Janette Wallis weighs up the options
P
ITY the bright sixth-former. Until recently, he or she was content to tread the well-worn path of sitting A levels, then trotting off for
a hazy three years at a British university. Perhaps they might take a gap year first, if they wanted added sparkle. But today, there’s nothing automatic about the process. Starting with their choice of sixth-form
qualification (so complex that pupils may wish they had the higher degree first to help them find their way around), the cornucopia of options is vast. In addition to A levels (currently going through an unpredictable reform process), there’s the International Baccalaureate diploma or IB (six subjects plus dissertation and community service; exams in the upper sixth), the Cambridge Pre-U (three subjects plus project; exams
at end of upper sixth), Applied A levels (with a vocational bent) and Scottish Highers. Newly launched is the IBCC (similar to the IB, but career-related). Layered over all of these are entry tests (including the UKCAT, BMAT and LNAT for top courses such as medicine and law), and a number of univer- sity-specific annoyances. But onto university. What subject should
one read? The sixth-former of today need no longer be hemmed in by choosing only one or two. Both King’s College and the mighty University College London (UCL) are now offering liberal-arts degrees, during which students can dabble in history, geography, politics, languages and religion, following, says King’s, in the footsteps of alumni such as Nobel Prize winners Desmond Tutu and Mario Vargas Llosa.
UCL’s course goes even further, and incor- porates science and engineering. Should one consider a private university?
Last autumn, A. C. Grayling’s New College of the Humanities took its first students. Charging £18,000 a year (double the cost of Oxford or Cambridge) and boast- ing lecturers such as Richard Dawkins and Sir Partha Dasgupta, this niche institution will grant degrees in economics, law, English, history, economics and philosophy. The private University of Buckingham cranks out degrees in two years instead of three, and was ranked 16th out of 120 British universities in this year’s Guardian
Students at New York University’s Abu Dhabi offshoot benefit from world-class facilities and generous financial support
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