The Fact That I Didn’t Go To Oxbridge Doesn’t Make Me Thick

Choosing a university is hard. You’re not only trying to find something which will keep you interested for at least three years, you’re trying to keep everyone around you happy as well.

There is an ingrained snobbery in today’s higher education system, which values those institutions that ask for the highest entry grades, such as Oxford and Cambridge. This needs to be challenged.

When I was choosing a university to go to, as a bright student, I felt a huge expectation from my parents and school to choose somewhere like Cambridge or Durham to study.

I went to open days at such esteemed institutions, imagining that I was going to study history, and sat listening to the tutors harp on about how they expected you to work really hard to maintain their reputation.

And it was during one of these lectures that I decided that their version of Higher Education wasn’t for me. I completely changed my mind and decided that a vocational course in media was something that I would love, applied for my dream course and never looked back.

Here are the facts: new universities, sometimes known as ‘CMU universities’, are former polytechnics that were awarded university status in 1992 (although not all of these institutions have chosen to join the CMU group).

They aim to widen participation in higher education, and encourage diversity amongst their student body. As Michael Driscoll, the Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University once said: “We are infinitely more representative”.

New universities are often more aware of the need to provide their students with the skills needed to survive in the workplace. There is often more emphasis placed on work experience, an essential addition on your CV when it comes to looking for a job in your chosen sector.

The teaching quality at new universities is also better in many cases, and remember all universities are subject to quality checks through external examiners and the Quality Assurance Agency.

You have to decide what subject you want to study before you begin to look.

When looking for the right course and institution, the best piece of advice I can give is: don’t just look at the reputation of the university, look at the courses you’re interested in studying. Which universities have renowned departments relating to your chosen subject? You may be surprised by the answer.

By Liz Cooke