Higher Education Updates – 6th October 2023

CIS-EARCOS

CIS-EARCOS was a huge conference that was held 22-23 September here in Bangkok, Thailand. More than 250 universities from around the world came to attend the conference, held at the Shangri-La Hotel. This was a networking event in which university guidance officers, admissions teams, and other higher education professionals could discuss best practices in the world of higher education. The schedule was designed to maximise networking opportunities so that counsellors could explore the many exciting worldwide study prospects for their students using the latest admissions information. The event included sessions such as “Financial Aid for Low-Income Students Looking to Study in the United States” “The Benefits of Studying University in Belgium” “Using UCAS Tariff Points for University Admission” and “Hitchhiking Around the Globe: University Admissions Around the World.”

UNDERSTANDING NCAA ATHLETICS IN THE USA

Bangkok Prep was very excited to have a special guest, Hope College, a liberal arts college in Michigan, United States. Hope College is well-known for its famous rugby, basketball, and ice hockey teams. The Zoom session, titled “Understanding NCAA Athletics in the USA” was all about how to play sport competitively at the university level in the United States. Bangkok Prep currently has many sixth form students interested in playing sports in university, from football, to basketball, rugby, golf, swimming, and more. This session was extremely well attended by both students and the teachers and coaches of Bangkok Prep. Everybody walked away with a greater knowledge of the NCAA, different sports divisions, rules, eligibility, and how to get recruited to play sports at university. 

UAL Event [JVE]

Khun Best, a graduate of the University of the Arts London, visited Bangkok Prep on Wednesday, October 4th. Several of our students interested in studying the arts attended the session. Best spoke about her experience studying both a foundation year and the undergraduate degree at UAL. She also covered life and living expenses in London. One of the most helpful aspects of her talk was guidance to students on how to develop a portfolio for admissions to an arts school. 

A professor from UAL will visit Bangkok later in October and will be available for portfolio review for students interested in applying to UAL. Information on time, place, and how to sign up will be shared at a later date.

Y11 Parent HE Discussion Forum [IHA]

On Thursday, October 5th, the Higher Education and Careers and Student Pathways Teams held the first Year 11 Parent Forum for the 2023/24 academic year. The session focused on what students and parents can do now to prepare for upcoming options and higher education discussions. The teams covered several important topics, including an overview of the options timeline during Year 11, cultivating intellectual curiosity, and a few aspects of university admissions and financial aid. For parents who could not attend in person, a link to the recording will be sent out.

Success Canada Fair

Undergraduate Scholarship at the University of Surrey

The University of Surrey is offering undergraduate scholarship again this year and it is open to self-funded international fee-paying students regardless of nationality or domicile who are starting a bachelor’s degree programme at Surrey.

The International Excellence Award (Undergraduate) 2024 entry which is an application-based scholarship is awarded as a £5,000 fee waiver in the first year of studies and awards are decided by a scholarship awards panel. The panel will assess previous academic performance, predicted grades and the personal statement to make their decision.

In order to be eligible applicants must:

1. Be an overseas fee-paying student
2. Hold an offer to study a full-time bachelors degree programme at FHEQ Level 4 (first-year entry)
3. Be self-funded (you must be paying for your studies independently rather than being sponsored or in receipt of another scholarship) 
4. This Scholarship is not open to students from Surrey International Study Centre (SISC)
5. Applicants in receipt of the International Excellence scholarship will not be eligible for any other Surrey Scholarship.

Applications open 1 October 2023 and students must have made their course application through UCAS by 31 January 2024 to be eligible to apply. A lot of students missed out on the scholarship last year because they missed the 31 January 2024 deadline so please do share this deadline with any of your students who may be interested.

The scholarship panel will review scholarship applications monthly so students can expect to receive a decision the month after they apply.  Applications for this scholarship will close on 30 April 2024. More information and the scholarship application form can be found on their website.