Widening horizons for university

A special event at QE encouraged boys to think globally when making their university choices.

The lunchtime and early-afternoon Global Education Fair in the Shearly Hall brought representatives from 15 universities in Australia, Canada, Finland and the USA to the School.

Organiser Sarah Westcott, who is QE’s Head of Pupil Development, said: “The event, which was well-attended by a large number of Sixth-Formers, aimed to encourage our boys to think widely and consider the global context when making university choices.”

“Studying abroad can also be considerably cheaper, with, for example, Finland offering completely free education to UK students (unaffected by the recent Brexit vote),” Dr Westcott said. She added that the fair was also attended by representatives of specialist colleges recruiting for business and languages courses which were looking to train graduates for jobs in the European business market.

In recent years, QE boys have won places at a number of overseas universities, including Yale, Harvard and Stanford in the US.

The fair was organised by BMI, a company specialising in international student recruitment. In its information for the boys, it stated that the biggest reason given by students for not going overseas was the intimidating prospect of finding a place to study and then actually moving there. The fair aimed both to address these concerns and to set out the advantages of studying abroad, which include:

• Opportunities to learn a further language
• Gaining a sense of independence
• The chance to avoid incurring the large debts typically accumulated by students in the UK
• A broadening of students’ horizons
• Advantages in the employment market, since employers value those who have the courage required to study abroad and also value the additional experience that these students gain.