Every month we publish a topical article by a member of our panels or someone working in Higher Education. Our guest articles cover current debates on the student experience, higher education policy and student marketing. Students chosen for Article of the Month win £50!
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By Lucy Woods Journalism Student , UEL January 2012
NEET [noun]: a person not in education, employment or training. Specifically...young people.
I decided not to go down the academic route, like many young people now. After dropping out of a shockingly unproductive college course, aged 16, I moved to Surrey to find a job, soon blagging some impressive employment. From...
By Raphaël Sarker Trainee Teacher , Roehampton University December 2011
Is it a really a tougher ride for the “youngest” in the class? Does birth month affect academic success and future achievement? Are summer babies at a disadvantage when compared to the “future CEOs” of the world? The BBC seems to think so, and a recent survey...
By Ben Roberts 2nd year Theology student , The University of Cumbria November 2011
“Freshers Freshers everywhere, some are clothed but most are bare
Children of the night they are, with origins from field afar
Happiest in costume and in the nightclub shouting ’tuunnneee!’
And then they meet the morning after, at the local greasy spoon”
As a second year now, being a Fresher already seems like...
By Aaron Porter Freelance journalist, broadcaster and education consultant , October 2011
Heading to university for the first time is usually one of those rare moments that bring together a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Excitement at the prospect of starting a new lifestyle, meeting new friends and a whole host of upcoming opportunities. Trepidation at whether you’ll fit in, cope with...
By Katharine Terrell Final year German student , St Hilda's College, Oxford University September 2011
Young people are currently all over the headlines, whether they are ‘reengaging with politics’ by taking part in student demos or behaving like ‘mindless thugs’ in looting and rioting. Commentators point out that the latter is closely linked to social exclusion: these young people have fewer life chances than their...
By John Morris A level student, hoping to start a Politics degree , St. Ivo Sixth Form August 2011
Your heart is beating fast - thumping loudly against your chest as you wait, nervously, for your A-level results. Finally they arrive. You hastily open the envelope and at long last find out what you’ve got. But whether you achieved good, bad or moderate grades your parents will be there...
By Simon Cox Final year Law student , University of East Anglia July 2011
Simon Cox’s vid won the July slot in our Article of the Month series, so congratulations Simon, your £50 cheque is winging it’s way to you now! His video is quirky, fun...very different. Let us know what you think in the Comments section!
Sam...
By Liz Cookman Final Year Creative Writing Student , Bath Spa University June 2011
Picture the scene – in the sitting room of an average looking student house three girls are sat twiddling their thumbs. They are already made-up and ready to party, but instead they're stuck waiting for the other two housemates to finish sprucing. They’re taking some time. In front of the...
By Harriet Fielding 1st year Politics and International Relations student , Southampton University May 2011
A recent poll in the Metro found that a third of women at university would trade a year of their life in return for their ideal body. This does not shock me. Whether we care to admit it or not, we all judge, and are judged, by our looks. This...
By Richard T. Watson English Graduate , University of Hull April 2011
Lots of people find love at university, including our future monarch and his lovely bride to be. We're all looking forward to their Big Day on 29th of this month, I'm sure! This month's Article of the Month celebrates finding love at university and managing that fine balancing act between...
By Andrew Scherer Marketing Manager , Inspiring Interns March 2011
Internships have been all over the press lately. Chelsea defender Ashley Cole recently shot one (by accident). Is this a metaphor? Are they little more than proverbial cannon fodder? Or do they represent the modern fast-track route to a great career? At OpinionPanel we’re fans of the internship. The last...
By Wesley Stephenson Producer - Current Affairs , BBC Radio 4's More or Less February 2011
Wesley Stephenson is Producer of the excellent BBC Radio 4 programme, ‘More or Less’ (presented by Tim Hartford “The Undercover Economist”). The following article is a specially modified transcript of the programme, first broadcast on 10th December 2010. Our heartfelt thanks to Wesley and the ‘More or Less’ team for...
By Natasha Footman 3rd year Geography student , University of Cambridge, Jesus College January 2011
At the beginning of this academic year, I had high hopes for my career. I was starting my final year of university and I knew that an exciting job would be there waiting for me after graduation. I was eager and ambitious. And, just a few months later, I now...
By Dominic Taylor 2nd year Modern and Mediaeval Languages , The University of Cambridge December 2010
"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." These sentiments from Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel were reflected recently in the violent outbursts in London. With the flames of debate fanned by increasing signs of...
By Emily Paddy 2nd year Nursing Studies with Registration (Children's) , King's College London November 2010
The amount of work required for university courses can at times seem overwhelming and people find different ways to cope with this stress. Some people put off their work, hoping that forgetting about it will make it go away, and then they get more stressed as they struggle to complete...
By Monique Geddis 1st year history student , Queen's University, Belfast October 2010
There are a variety of far-fetched rumours, that quite uncomfortably for some, may be true. These rumours are about the ongoing review of higher education funding, led by Lord Browne with one of the suggestions being that from 2013 there will be a £1,000 increase in tuition fees annually. This...
By Jonathan Dunn About to start a Civil Engineering degree , Strathclyde University September 2010
The university admissions system is unfair. It helps those applicants who have the correct predicted grades (regardless of whether those grades are good or bad). And it ultimately lets down those students whose grade predictions are wrong, even if they achieve great grades in the end. This gamble is surely...
By Mike Hodges 1st Year Advertising & Journalism Student , University of Lincoln August 2010
Don't look now but you, and all the other students out there, are being watched. Your every tweet monitored, every social network entry sifted for meaning and your opinions and attitudes sought. Why? Because the Brand-Mongers, those organisations that seek to turn you into a good little consumer of premium...
By Claire McWethy 3rd Year Politics Student , The University of Sheffield July 2010
The adage that 'idealism is what precedes experience, cynicism is what follows' is something often preached by older generations and frequently ignored by younger ones. When it comes to politics however, the 2010 general election has shown a number of first time voters that this journey from optimism to pessimism...
By Chantelle Booth, Peter Shin and Emma Fegan , June 2010
We asked our panellists about their experience of graduating with STEM degrees. Chantelle Booth can't get the STEM job she so desires; Peter Shin won't be getting a STEM job now that he works in finance and Emma Fegan has finally got the STEM job she wanted after overcoming many...
By Ben Marks Managing Director , OpinionPanel May 2010
The impact of the Leader Debates on the student vote has been nothing short of remarkable. Between the start of the current general election campaign and the second Leader Debate, student support for the Liberal Democrats increased by 23 percentage points, making them as popular as the Labour and...
By Andrew Georgiou 2nd Year History Student , The University of Cambridge April 2010
On Thursday 4th February 2010, Professor Benny Morris was scheduled to give a talk to the Cambridge University Israel Society. He is a man who has described Palestinians as "barbarians" and argued that "something like a cage has to be built for them." In his defence, he claims that these...
By James Rothwell A Level student (English Lit, French & German) , The Gryphon School Sixth Form March 2010
My friends thought I was pretty twisted. Why the hell did I want to leave our cosy Dorset secondary school to spend a week living with disgruntled, barrel-chested Bavarian students? Their reactions were diverse and numerous, ranging from apathy, to a suspicion towards the merits of such excursions. In fact,...
By Sophie Shorland A Level student (English Lit & Lang, French, Politics) , St. Mary Redcliffe Sixth Form February 2010
The US has everything. Even, believe it or not, a society called the United Fools of America.
This group aims to eliminate “discrimination based on intelligence, merits and ability” and thinks that “affirmative actions for disadvantaged people due to low intelligence are badly needed”. They want to end...
By Chloe Georgiou Journalism graduate , Southampton Solent University January 2010
I awoke bubbling over with excitement; after two years of countless e-mails, numerous letters, and endless phone calls I had finally been chosen to begin work at the much sought after Better! Magazine (not its real title). Ok, not work but a week's work experience but hey it was one...
By Andrew Rushton Final year Philosophy Student , University College London December 2009
Huge and burdensome. No, not my landlady, nor my final year workload: my student debt. Well, that’s one reality of it anyway. Living in London with the maximum student loan over my three year course is going to leave me with over £24,000 to pay back after I graduate next...
By Alice Violett 3rd Year Modern History Student , University of East Anglia November 2009
Too many people assume that students’ parents are almost universally willing and/or able to financially support them at university. When you apply for your loan and grant, the SLC explicitly say that what you will receive is linked to how much it expects your parents to help you. Whenever newspapers...
By Hannah Paton and Sam Burton Opinionpanel's graduate employees , Opinionpanel Research August 2009
This month's Video Article of the Month is from Hannah Paton and Sam Burton, two graduate employees who started at Opinionpanel in October 2008. They show you a typical day at the Opinionpanel Research office.
If you would like to be the next author of our Video Article of...
By Anna Holdsworth Penultimate Year Spanish Student , University of Leeds July 2009
Meeting new people, or should I say, students, we know the scenario, the standard questions, where are you from, what are you studying, and oh, a gap year? Did you really? How interesting, where did you go?
Thailand
Thailand
Thailand
YAWN. No offense meant to those of you who’ve been...
By Tom Gilchrist Final year Physical Geography student , University of Reading June 2009
'Students! Bloody students again!' If you’re like me then this is one of those refrains you’ll have seen and heard countless times, whether from that family next-door who hate our noise or in the papers where we’re to blame for all the woes of the country. We, along with the...
By Laura Cobb 2nd Year Law student , University of Reading May 2009
Generation Y. Us! A generation of technological information absorbing, time wasting zombies infatuated with texting, instant messaging, blogging, social networking, and oh yes, the latest craze…facebooking! With 100 million users worldwide, according to the devil itself, it is undeniable that Facebook has begun a new era of social networking. But...
By Amy Smith 3rd Year English student , The University of Exeter April 2009
Our debut Video Article of the Month is from Amy Smith who has produced a video on why she loves Facebook. She talks about how she uses Facebook to organise events, why it's a good way for keeping in touch with friends and how it helps you to maintain a...
By Samantha Williams Panel Manager , Opinionpanel Research March 2009
We asked members of The Student Panel to share their best money saving tips with us. We received contributions from the cities of London, Belfast, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow and would like to thank: *John Angliss from School of African and Oriental Studies who is a Final year in Social...
By Rebecca Spencer Pharmacology graduate , Newcastle University February 2009
I'm 22, have spent over £3000 on getting a degree, lost 3 years work experience and wages and at present I'm being paid £6.00 an hour to answer telephones. Not exactly what I imagined as life after graduating!
I have so far applied for 5 graduate schemes in the...
By Aiora Iriarte Graduate of Development Studies , University of East Anglia January 2009
"Dear Aristotle,
What fascinating places these modern Universities are! They're something I have never seen before! Not only do the sons of non-aristocratic families have access to them, but also their daughters! However, the way of learning is so rigid, that each student can only focus on one area....
By Hannah Fletcher 1st Year English Literature Student , University of Essex December 2008
Lovers of house music will remember Pete Waterman's outrage at revolutionary eighties track 'Pump Up The Volume' (a track composed of music sampled from existing records without permission). Waterman started a legal dispute calling the act "wholesale theft", and won his case due to the laws on plagiarism. Read More »
By Sorrel Meechan Law graduate , University of Birmingham November 2008
It was 2006. I'd heard of Facebook but I had never realised that I was the only person in the world who didn't have an account. I had just moved to France as part of my course and a whole new social network opened up to me, but I had...
By Marta Szczerba 1st year Politics , Philosophy and Economics student,The University of Oxford October 2008
"It's over" - announced Christian Meissner to the employees of Lehman Brothers. Wow, I couldn't have imagined a quicker way to fire 25,000 employees, push down FTSE World by 3.59% and end up somewhere on every newspaper's cover in the world. Pretty impressive, I'd say. That ominous line, uttered on...
By Robert Leedham 2nd year Politics and International Studies student , The University of Warwick September 2008
If you're old enough to go to university then you will be more than old enough to understand that we live in a world defined by its flaws and the 2008 Beijing Olympics have provided plenty of examples of humankind's paradoxes. All of China's efforts in the run up to...
By Ciaran Kennedy Final year Music Student , The Queen's University Belfast August 2008
I have chosen not to have a festival adventure this summer. Now, when I say that I have "chosen" not to go to a festival, I'm mostly telling lies, as overdraft facilities only stretch so far, and so spending an absurd amount of money on a weekend in a field...
By Amanda Heringtons 2nd year English Literature and Psychology student , Keele University July 2008
Do you think it would really matter if you stated on your CV that you had achieved a Grade A instead of a Grade B in a subject at GCSE? Do employers really take note of such interests as being a 'keen fell walker'? I suspect not, which is lucky...
‘You must be so excited to be finishing? What have you got planned over the summer? Have you got a job yet?’ The questions an undergraduate in their last week of term struggles to muster a response to amongst a cocktail of emotions: 5g of anxiety; 5g of sheer excitement;...
By Kayle Brown 'A' Level student (Early Years, Biology, Chemistry) , Carmel College May 2008
So everyone is making such a big deal about going to university. But does anyone else understand the fear welling up inside of me the more I think about it? I mean, my parents are all for it, but I'm only 17. What if all these plans I have made...
By Ashley Hall 'A' Level student (ICT, Economics, Geography and Business Studies) , The Rochester Grammar School April 2008
The popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space has exploded over recent years, especially among students. This popularity is probably down to the host of features these sites offer all in one place: blogging, instant messaging, personal profiles, photo albums and games to name but a...
By Lara Khoury 4th Year Medical Student , Newcastle University March 2008
For centuries being a doctor has been a revered profession. This can be seen even today in the way most people respect doctors, and in some instances literally put their lives in doctors’ hands. As a medical student I have heard many patients utter the words “Whatever you think is...
By Betsy Li 4th Year German with Management Student , University College London February 2008
Whenever I used to go home from university to visit my parents, they would accuse me of looking frail and starving myself. It has taken three years outside of the parental radar zone, including one year in Germany, to convince them that I am...
By Nicolas Barr and Iain Crawford Nicholas Barr is professor of public economics and Iain Crawford research fellow at the London School of Economics. This article was first published in 2006 - reprinted with kind permission of Professor Barr , London School of Economics January 2008
Many more people go to university following an enormous expansion of higher education. It has moved from an elite system in the 1960s, when 5-6% of young people went to university, to a mass system, with a 43% participation rate, and rising.
By Emily Spaven Final year Journalism Studies Student , The University of Sheffield December 2007
I've had enough. I really can't stand it anymore. Tomorrow morning I'm going to ring my parents and tell them to come and get me from Uni and I'm never going to return.
Ok...so that might be a little over dramatic, but I'm almost certain that this thought...
By Kate Webber Final year English student , University of Leicester November 2007
Did you know just how useless your degree was going to be? Undergraduates are always told to carefully pick their degree course because of its employment prospects, but maybe the advice should be more along the lines of ‘make sure you choose something you like, it’s the last thing you’ll...
By Paul Gillings Final year student , Southampton Solent University October 2007
Boris Johnson commented recently “There are hundreds of thousands of dur-brained kids sitting for three years in an alcoholic or cannabis-fuelled stupor while theoretically attending a former technical college that is so pretentious as to call itself a university. After three years of taxpayer-funded debauch, these young people will graduate;...
By Patrick Ainley Professor of Training and Education , School of Education and Training, University of Greenwich March 2007
Professor Nicholas Barr’s assertion that “university is largely free” is largely false. As he explains it, HE is only “free at the point of delivery”. This is like New Labour’s mantra for the National Health Service – which doesn’t mean you don’t pay for your treatment/...
By Esmee Hanna PhD student, studying the changing nature of the student experience , The University of Leeds December 2006
In July 2008 the LSC published the National Learner Satisfaction Survey (NLSS), which is the largest survey of learners in colleges and other training organisations in England. The NLSS provides the LSC with valuable feedback from learners on the quality of the learning and training provision it funds and reveals...
By Professor Nicholas Barr Professor of Public Economics , London School of Economics December 2006
When I was a lad, students were leftwing and campaigned for progressive causes. So it's good news that, last weekend, students campaigned to widen access.
The bad news is that they went about it the wrong way. Contrary to their intentions, the anti-fees demo was effectively campaigning to...
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