Summertime, and the livin’ is easy. If only.

Oh, if only. The University may appear quiet, but trust me, there’s plenty going on. All over the University, colleagues are mopping up from the last academic year and putting plans in place for the near, not so near and the extremely distant future. Academics research; Partnerships run all sorts of events and are setting up - err - partnerships, Facilities teams repair and Estates open new buildings. Thankfully, most people find time to take a deep breath here and there, although you grab it while you can - in reality, there really is no ‘off switch’.

In Marketing, as you may have gathered from previous posts, we’re ClearingClearingClearing, and looking at getting our 2018 prospectuses ready. That’s right, 2018 already.

You can't tell me nuffin' about nuffin'

Sometimes us hacks in Marketing, Admissions, Recruitment and Marketing (MARC) – for the benefit of any colleagues reading this, I’m referring to myself here – think we know it all. Some of us have been doing our jobs long enough to have earned accolades, awards and the occasional and occasionally begrudging respect of colleagues across the Uni. Which, funnily enough, makes it even more important (for me) to escape the head-down-full-on activity and re-engage with one of our most important audiences; our prospective students.

And so I took a high powered sound archive recording device and a load of prospectuses to our Summer Schools, in Luton and Bedford. Speaking to Year 12s was a pleasure but, more importantly from the Uni’s point of view, it was also extremely illuminating. It’s surprising how views develop and diverge between different groups of people as well as different individuals. A year can make a huge difference. The only downside for attendees was being stuck in a room at the end of a long day with a befuddled market researcher, but this pain was eased with a ‘thank you’ voucher. Besides, there is such a thing as ‘too much fun’ – and after a day of taster sessions (for example, in Psychology, Computing or Business), there were still the evening’s entertainments in our bang up-to-date accommodation.

I’ve also recently worked with Adam and Donald, two Year 10 students who came to us on work experience. We were delighted to have them; both bought a professionalism and set about their tasks enthusiastically. This was the first time I’ve looked  after work experience students. The process has been informative and rewarding, hopefully for all concerned, with Adam and Donald getting involved in the Summer School as well as helping in our prospectus work and mucking in with general tasks around the office.

And those Summer Schools? Keep up to date through our Partnership Team's Twitter feed or check and see what course you can start in SEPTEMBER.