Careers & HE Fair 2022 — Solihull Sixth Form College

Careers & HE Fair 2022

Year 12 students at Solihull Sixth Form College got a head start with their plans for after College, thanks to a Careers Fair at the Widney Manor Road campus.

The Careers Fair is one of the biggest of its kind in the country and saw more than 63 Higher Education and Apprenticeship providers attending, along with employers. Staff from the visiting institutions set up stands in the College Sports Hall to hand out prospectus and talk to our 1,200+ Year 12 students, offering advice on the courses they offer and their options once they finish their A level or BTEC studies. Among the universities present were local providers Aston, Birmingham, Birmingham City, Newman and Coventry Universities. Many prestigious Russell Group universities were present from further afield too, including Bristol, Exeter, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Warwick.

Apprenticeship providers Work Pays and ASK Apprenticeships were present to talk to those students who are considering progression routes other than university. Among the employers in attendance were Barclays, NHS Birmingham & Solihull CCG, PM Group and Skanska.

A programme of more than 30 talks were also taking place. Students had to book places on these talks in advance and they included many curriculum area talks such as Chemistry, Economics, English, History, Geography & Geology, IT, Languages, Maths, Psychology and Sociology. Career presentations in areas like Law, Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Teaching and STEM also took place to help guide students aiming to study Higher education courses in these areas. Most of the talks were delivered by university staff, with some also delivering more general sessions on how the UCAS application process works, apprenticeship options, CV writing and developing employability skills. Employers delivered these talks

Careers Co-ordinator Emma Podmore organised the event. She commented:

“It was great to have our Careers Fair back for the first time since 2019. We ran online sessions during the pandemic, but there is no substitute for face-to-face conversations and we are very grateful to all the universities, apprenticeship providers and employers who gave up their time to visit us.

“Our Year 12 students will be making important decisions about their future in the next year, with most applying to university this autumn, so getting to talk to so many providers in one place was of huge value to them. We are one of the biggest providers of students to Higher Education in the region, so it’s great to be able to support the students in this way.”

30 June 2022