More than 100 heads of sixth form, headteachers, school and college higher education (HE) advisers and administrators, from comprehensive, Welsh-medium and independent schools across England and Wales attended the one-day event this week. 

Entitled From Admission to Employment – Helping your applicants make informed HE choices, the conference brought together speakers from a range of organisations to pass on their knowledge and views of issues that inform the HE programme and guidance of individuals, in schools and colleges.

Mike Nicholson, Head of Undergraduate Admissions at Oxford University, spoke on a broad range of topics relating to the current and future university admissions process, including the latest information on the move to a Post Qualification Admissions system, Admissions Testing, UCAS, and qualifications.

Dr Charlie Ball, Labour Market Analyst and Joint Editor of What Do Graduates Do? discussed the latest UK graduate employment and salary surveys and their relevance to applicant higher education choices.

And Elaine Robinson of the National Association of Student Money Advisers outlined the imminent changes to the student finance system and their ramifications for students.

During the day delegates, who had travelled from as far afield as Essex, London, and Yorkshire, had the opportunity to visit two academic departments of their choice.

They were also opportunities to discuss admissions procedures, including students' personal statements and the role of interviews, and advice was available on writing the UCAS Reference, led by a panel of Admissions tutors.

Conference organiser Barrie Clark, the University's UK Student Recruitment Manager, said: "This year's conference was again a tremendous success and we were pleased to welcome a significant number of key student advisers to Swansea, for what we hoped was an invaluable experience of University Admissions processes first-hand.

"Swansea welcomes more than 2,500 new undergraduate students each year and holds a number of general and programme specific open days throughout the year for potential students and their parents.

"In addition to showcasing what Swansea has to offer in terms of an excellent student experience, the reason for establishing this biennial conference is to support the advisers by providing them with up to the minute Admissions sector information, which will assist them in helping their pupils make informed choices."

For further information about undergraduate study at Swansea University visit the website.