University of Central Lancashire Simon Jones is a former soldier who spent 26 years in the British Army but swapped the front line for the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). The 46-year-old graduated with a First in BA (Hons) in Social Work in July 2017 and now works for Lancashire County Council’s Children’s Social Care […]
The Open University Amy, a postgraduate chemist studying at The Open University (OU) has hypermobility syndrome which forced her to miss large periods of school due to poor health and frequent surgeries. Despite this, she achieved good grades in her GCSEs and A-levels. She progressed to a BSc (Hons) Natural Sciences degree with the OU […]
Coventry University Laura was told to give up on education when she fell pregnant at 18. But she overcame the odds as a young single parent to succeed at university. She enrolled at CU Coventry on a foundation course in healthcare just weeks after giving birth to gain the qualifications she needed to study for […]
UWE Bristol As a mum of two in her thirties, Debbie decided to completely change direction and retrained to teach children with special needs in primary schools. She did a master’s in Special Education Needs near where she lives in Wales, and then applied for the PGCE teacher training course at UWE Bristol. Changing careers […]
Nottingham Trent University Sam first came into contact with Nottingham Trent University’s Schools Colleges and Community Outreach team (SCCO), in year nine when he was about to start studying for his GCSEs. Sam was struggling with maths and took part in a one-day Raising The Grade Conference at the university, which helped to push him […]
Liverpool John Moores University Hayley taught in Hope School in Liverpool as a Teaching Assistant. She wanted to become a teacher and came to LJMU on a PGCE primary Salaried route into teaching. Upon completion of the course she gained a PGCE with 60 masters credits – and achieved grade 1 (the highest possible grade) […]
Sheffield Hallam University Victoria was awarded the first IMechE & AESSEAL Postgraduate Scholarship in September 2016 to study on the MSc Mechanical Engineering which is one of Hallam’s first conversion courses, designed for students who didn’t study engineering at undergraduate level. Most of Victoria’s family work in engineering in some form, but when choosing career […]
Our new report, Ladders of Opportunity, explores the extensive range of university provision from sub-degree qualifications (Levels 4 and 5) through to postgraduate study (Levels 7 and 8). The findings shed a light on diverse pathways, qualifications and experiences of students, as well as the challenges facing provision at each level. We have also published […]
University of Portsmouth Vincent was a professional football player who played for Juventus and at two Premier League teams. Unfortunately, health problems led to retirement at 29. Having no formal education to fall back on, Vincent was faced with questions about what to do next. He started an organisation to help support professional sports people […]
University of Salford Former soldier Ryan Mulvey, from Hyde, decided to pursue his dream of becoming an actor and won a degree place at the University of Salford despite not having any qualifications. He was offered the chance to study via the Alternative Entry Scheme which provides access to higher education for talented students who […]
