Aspiring HE students journey ‘back to their futures’ with virtual event

Last week, Aspire Higher hosted their second virtual event – ‘Back to Your Future’ – aimed at highlighting post-18 Higher Education options available to young people in years 12 and 13 across schools and colleges in Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Supported by a range of organisations such as SEMLEP, Student Loans Company and the National Apprenticeship Service, Aspire Higher used an appropriately futuristic online theme to help students explore Higher Education at university, college or by studying for an apprenticeship.

The live event, which had a four-hour action-packed schedule, used a combination of videos, animations and presentations from Aspire Higher, industry professionals, academics and students to give an insight into different HE routes available, employability skills, successful job applications and how to be a critical thinker.

Throughout the event, which was witnessed by 253 students across 89 schools across the Aspire Higher* region, viewers had the opportunity to interact with speakers through live question and answer sessions, the Aspire Higher Chat-Bot facility and through a live padlet. Aspire Higher students were also joined by students from other areas of the UK including Birmingham, Brighton and Yorkshire.

Simon Chapman, Aspire Higher Project Manager and member of the UON Schools Engagement Team at The University of Northampton, said: “Even though we are fully into Lockdown 2, the Aspire Higher team had already prepared to deliver this great opportunity for young people online, putting an enormous amount of effort into making it happen.

“We’ve had uniformly positive feedback and praise from the students who took part; students  across the board  took away important new knowledge to help them take the next, confident steps toward their futures.

“I take my own virtual hat off to all of the Aspire Higher team for the hard work they have put in to make Back to Your Future so successful.”

See recordings from the event.

Find out more about Aspire Higher on their website.

Follow them on Twitter at @AspireHigherNet and on Instagram @Aspire_Higher_HE

*Aspire Higher is a collaboration between The University of Northampton, The University of Bedfordshire and the University of Hertfordshire, working as part of the Uni Connect Programme. Aspire Higher is one of 29 partner consortia across the country tasked with supporting students in making well informed decisions about their next steps in Higher Education.