Over 200 Year 12 students from the Gibraltar College, Westside and Bayside Schools attended the first of the bi-annual University Talks of 2020 on 25th and 26th February in Gibraltar. The event organised in partnership with the Department of Education coincides with the Gibraltar Universities Fair.
Guest speakers Derek Browne from Entrepreneurs in Action and Jane Marshall from Optimising Futures gave inspiring and insightful talks based on their own life experiences, with advice on choosing the right university and course, coping with life away from home, tips for success and dealing with setbacks and failures. During the afternoon, interactive sessions focused on entrepreneurial, networking and interview skills. For the first time this year, the event was held over two days with students participating in workshops on how to write an excellent personal statement for subject areas including: languages and literature, STEM subjects, humanities, education, healthcare and Oxbridge applications.
Talking about the event, Jane Marshall said: “It was a pleasure working with bright and motivated students from Bayside and Westside in the personal statement workshops. The aim of the workshops was to ensure that each student gains a better understanding of how to structure their personal statement and build on them over the next few months. We looked at the transferable skills relevant to their chosen courses, such as research, project work, teamwork, presentation and communication skills and how their academic and vocational experiences can be included in their applications. It was hard work, but all the students got involved and made an effort with the highly enjoyable group presentations. They should now have a clear idea of how to get started on their personal statements with the aim of finishing them as early as possible in the autumn term.”