The island’s annual Higher Education Conference sees its Silver Jubilee this year. The Isle of Man Higher Education Conference, which first began in 1986, will take place on Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th June, at Ballakermeen High School. It was started by the school to ensure that the island’s students were not disadvantaged, by a lack of information, in making their university choices. Universities and other institutions of Higher Education are invited to the island to meet the students and parents. The number of institutions represented has increased substantially over the years. Over 70 organisations will attend this year, 67 of which are universities. This includes several who are here for the first time. These are Centre for Manx Studies, University of Liverpool; University College London; Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; Sparsholt College Hampshire and University of West London. Adrienne Burnett, Headteacher said; ‘The conference has grown in strength, partly as a result of contacts we have established with the colleges and universities. The main reason, however, is word of mouth, as delegates pass on the benefits of coming to the Isle of Man Conference to their colleagues. It is not just the hospitality that attracts them; they see the island’s students as excellent candidates for admission. They are particularly impressed by how articulate they are, the clarity of their questions and how they have already carried out a substantial amount of research into their future options. As well as advice from individual institutions we offer general advice during the introductory talks. Other bodies attending include Theological Colleges and Christian Gap Year opportunities; Student Awards and the Careers Service. Also attending will be Study Options which is a firm endorsed by the Department of Education for organising gap year experiences in Australia and New Zealand. I would consider the conference to be a “one-stop-shop” to meet all the needs of an aspiring higher education student and one not to be missed.’ The Conference opens on Thursday 23rd June at 7.00 pm in the Studio Theatre at Ballakermeen with presentations by Jane Murphy from the University of Huddersfield and Andrea Bourne from the University of York. They will be addressing parents and students about the application process for Higher Education. They will also be commenting on the different types of institutions and the variety and types of courses on offer. Following this briefing, from 7.30 pm onwards parents and students will be able to talk individually to the representatives from each university and Higher Education institution in the school’s Sports Hall, to get advice and information. Ian Kay, Head of Sixth Form at Ballakermeen said: ‘This is an excellent opportunity for parents and students to find out about courses, requirements and the style of the different institutions of Higher Education. The event will be attended by a wide range of institutions and parents and students will have the opportunity to talk to representatives from over seventy universities, some of them attending the event for the first time. It is also pleasing to note the increased number of opportunities available for Higher Education on the Isle of Man. Representatives from the Isle of Man University Centre, which offers undergraduate degree programmes at both the Isle of Man College and International Business School sites, will be available to speak to students at the event. Additionally there will also be a stand representing the DHSS nurse training programme at Keyll Darree, which has been offering a nursing degree programme on island, in association with the University of Chester, for the last 3 years.’ The Thursday night session is open to students from Year 10 upwards and their parents. During the day on Friday 24th June, all of the post-16 students from the island’s schools will be attending, as will students from the Isle of Man College. Members of the public interested in applying to university as mature students or recent ‘A’ Level students who chose not to attend university after their examinations, are all welcome to attend either session. The event will also be useful for Year 11 students. It will enable them to gain some idea of the requirements of the courses for which they will be applying, in just over one year’s time. This will be helpful in making their final choice of post-16 course, as many courses have specific ‘A’ level requirements. ENDS