Choosing a university

Think I'll have a stab at this.

I'm currently at university, and I have Asperger's Syndrome, and ADHD.

The University I'm at is Queen's University Belfast, it's part of the Russell Group, and its been an amazing place to study, the support provisions they have put in place have been nothing short of outstanding, and there hasn't been a single problem with the university that they haven't worked promptly and quickly to remedy.

With regards to accomadation, my family lives a 25 minute train journey from the University, so I just live at home and travel in on the train, giving me the best of both worlds. But I have several friends who live in the accomadation provided by the university, and I've heard no complaints from any of them as to how it is, so I can only assume its pretty good. 

I'm studying Law and Politics, if that's any use. If there's anything I can help with, just let me know! :) 

When you consider the overall student population in a university 150 is quite feasible. If you divide it by 4 to cover three years of undergraduate plus other groupings, including postgrads.  In a first year intake 35 to 40 across say 5 faculties, each with half a dozen subject areas, its about one per subject intake.

And yet you would not be readily aware there were anything like that many.

But at least universities are building up an experience base, so support should be improving.

We were much reassured when we went to the open day at Stoke on Wednesday and had a long conversation with people from the 'enabling team'. They seemed very knowledgeable about autism (told us that there were over 150 students currently there with the same condition), have people available at all their sites and gave my son some useful guidance and information.

The campus looks like it is being/ has been done up a bit, though is smaller than other universities. The town looks much like any other English town really, so difficult to judge.

No, my son does not regard himself as disabled. He is not pro-active about seeking help, you are right about that. He would rather fit in with everyone else and be seen as just fine thank you. Sometimes he just needs his own quiet space. I can easily believe the 'going through the motions' of the official disabled help, it hasn't been that practical so far at school or college.

Aberystwyth (I think) don't call disabled students disabled anymore. I think they are now called 'differently abled', though I guess there is no real change. His other choice of uni is Manchester Metropolitan, a massive student population in a small very busy space. They have been the only uni to send(email) my son useful information about their student support and how to apply for allowances and so forth. They also offer a big fat grant in the first year. My son is choosing his future uni on the contents and delivery of the course and not these other things (I guess he pretends that they are not relevant to him).

I caught a headline in a local newspaper the other day that said Shrewsbury was going to get its own university. I don't know if this is linked with the other stuff going on with Staffordshire. There are even some courses going on at my son's current college in (rural) Shropshire that have Staffordshire university on their certificates. I cannot begin to understand this business.

Thanks for finding the links and giving us tips for questions to ask.

I realised after writing this that I've flagged up a bit of a mystery "disabled student engagement groups". I thought I ought to slip in an explanation.

Universities are supposed to gauge how disabled students are getting on, and one of the ways recommended is to set up a group for disabled students and lecturers/support staff. Unfortunately they seldom work out - often no-one turns up.

Stands to reason though doesn't it - who wants to be a member of a disabled students group? Students come to university to learn and to meet people. They don't come just to meet other disabled students. They don't want to be classified disabled or ghettoised.The whole idea is daft.

But the various bodies like Higher Education Academy are still pushing universities to set them up!

Most of the departments at Stafford have migrated to Stoke already, and I guess it was not going to be long before the rest moved. It is a shame because it was a nice campus in a nice town.  There is so much in Stafford, at least for a visitor (might not be so good living there long term) both in terms of culture and history and walks, that it must have been great to be a student there.

Stoke on the other hand, I can see why the merger, as there is a much greater prospect both for student numbers and investment, but it is a bit overwhelming and congested and very busy as a city without the advantages many other city campuses have - pretty surroundings, site security etc.

But then there is access to interesting countryside roundabout.

And I guess if the money has been invested there the facilities must be good on campus.

What are they going to do with the Lichfield and Shrewsbury Campuses? The thing you need to check for, on multi-site universities, is where the disability/accessibility team is based, and how many days is it at the Stoke campus?  Sometimes these arrangements mean if something goes wrong you cannot get help from someone in support on the day, because the office is open on the other campus miles away.

That would have been a problem at Stafford anyway. Also their disability support team is quite hard to find on their website, which is not a good sign. www.staffs.ac.uk/.../index.jsp

They do say though that they have a disabled students engagement group (scroll down), and this is supported by Higher Education Academy. Ask what this does - some of these don't amount to much, others are really good. The problem is that disabled students don't tend to be pro-active, they seem either to put up with a lot or are reluctant to get involved with groups for their own benefit - but that may be a university's excuse for just going through the motions.

Also they don't seem to have anything specific about autism. It doesn't follow that, being quite big, they might have a good grasp of autism.

Thanks Longman

The link was really useful, and also a little bit different from the advice from the face to face information we had on the open day! We live near Bala and I know the statue. Unfortunately I don't know Michael Carson's book or hippies of the 70s. Hippies are still in Wales now, all rather grizzled and running businesses.

It is the Staffordshire uni that is merging its two campus sites, taking some faculties from Stafford to Stoke by 2016. We are going to check out Stoke's 'atmosphere' this week.

Hopefully Aberystwyth is not the one in your first post you said was to merge. I know they were talking about merging some of the Welsh Universities, and Aberystwyth has talks with Bangor periodically.

Aberystwyth would be a good choice. It is the oldest of the Welsh Universities despite which it is not the senior, and was founded from Bala to provide nonconformist education, by Lewis Edwards, with his son Thomas Charles Edwards as first principal, statue by the old hotel where it was first located. I would regard it as a privilege to go to if you are Welsh.

It had a bit of a reputation in the 70s for being not far from Pontrhydygroes and associated hippies etc., and for "that book" by Michael Carson (when you write a bit of controversial fiction set in a university you surely make up a fictional university, not set it in a real one).

Hope all goes well. I would say, if my opinion counts, Aberystwyth is a good choice, though I don't know its disability support record www.aber.ac.uk/.../  It looks OK on the web pages but you have to see the support staff face-to-face to be sure.

He has applied to Aberystwyth as it is not too far away and quite a cosy sort of uni really with low crime rates and has the highest student satisfaction. He has also just taken a scholarship exam for this one. I don't know of its reputation. If anything, it is seen as a bit of a joke uni because it is so far away from everything and of course, very Welsh. The others he has applied to are in England and a bit more 'new'. He doesn't feel particularly stuck to Wales, either for a university or his future afterwards. It's a very pretty place but there's not a lot going on (unless you are in the very south of Wales -might as well be London as there are no decent transport links to country Wales).

Agree about the nonsense of league tables, we have unpleasant history with this kind of political trickery, awkward with someone who does not fit the standard 'sausage factory' education system. A Russell group uni is not in the running as he hasn't got enough of the right qualifications (that Diploma you mentioned is not always accepted). I hope for the liberating, blossoming thing you mentioned, and independence and confidence, even if it is for 3/4 years. He would not be happy pushing a broom around a warehouse all day. It would be a waste of a bright mind.

I think attitudes for people on the spectrum are already changing, though its slow. Currently it seems to be rather cool to be geeky. Hopefully the workplace will catch on. The universities seem on top of it, from what I read and hear. The best one for this is not his favourite though!

My middle son is bound for a Russell Group, he has all the right tickets and has had a couple of years travel to boost his confidence and learn other skills. My daughter went to uni because she didn't want to work in a shop (what a reason!) but was very shy. It was the making of her and she is now a teacher. My eldest son (head boy of his school) decided not to waste his time at uni and got a very good job after A levels and is very happy and well paid. They have all had hoops to jump through to progress, but my youngest seems to get caught up in the hoops because of his aspergers, a shame.

The logic behind choosing to charge high fees is that, for the new universities to grow in status, they have to compete for the better students. So charging lower fees would bring in poorer quality students (forgetting that the better ones are trying ever so hard to avoid the newer universities) - its like league tables in schools - nowadays the notion of providing good education opportunities has been superceded by various performance criteria.

What is happening to the new universities is they pick up a lot of wayward students - parents with the money who just want to park playboy son in three extra years of education before dealing with finding work. That's tough on disabled students who may get better pastoral care in the newer or smaller institutions. Which instead are blighted by too many indolent and rowdy rich kids. It is tough at the moment in newer universities ensuring the bright ones get a chance up against a majority of time wasters.

You don't say whether you are sticking to just Wales or buying into English universities with the favourable no fee position, as also happens in Scotland. The Welsh Universities are generally a bit better pastorally, barring something of a reputation acquired by Aberystwyth in the 60s and 70s (or is that now unfair?).

I tend to be more reserved nowadays about whether university is necessarily the answer, but the present government has reduced the options, scrapping 14-19 diploma as an alternative to GCSE/A Level, not that it had really progressed much, and pulling the rug out from under Foundation Degrees, both things I worked hard to see bear fruit.

University still teaches how to write a good essay - rather less effective at how to write a practical report, or address real world situations rather than theory. They try, but the outcome isn't very career relevant in a lot of instances.

The value of university for students on the autistic spectrum is that it is more liberating, less peer pressure, and more chance to focus interests. But you've still got the problem of finding work afterwards. So often students on the spectrum blossom in three years at university, then hit the work wall at high velocity, and losing all the acquired confidence.

Maybe by the time your son graduates we will have been able to change the way people on the spectrum are treated in the workplace. Maybe things will get better.

The other issue is whether you see your son back in Wales after graduating. A similar perspective affects rural Scotland. If a tough farming life is the usual prospect, it can be ever so hard coming back with a degree and widened expectations. OK so there are Welsh cities with industries and wider opportunities.

Would agricultural college with a specialisation in tourism or conservation lead to an outcome where he could stay in Wales, enjoy the countryside, and find an employment opportunity that makes that feasible?

But I would suggest trying for a Russell Group if it has the right subject content and good disability support, as the value added by their expertise might enhance the job options after. If the Welsh parliament is paying the fees go for the best.

Having 'done the rounds' of open days with my 3 older children I have noticed a change over time in the way they recruit propspective students. 13 (or so) years ago the prospective student had to really prove his worth in order to get into university. Now, they have 'marketing departments' and seem desperate to get applicants. They bombard them with leaflets and emails, offer all sorts of incentives, including lots of student support now, but you are right, all unis charge the same high fees. It is obvious that students are a business opportunity for these institutions. My son can see this. We were even told in a hushed unofficial aside 'not to worry too much about getting the required amount of UCAS points'.

Yes this is the way it is now, the unis competing for students. It seems odd that nobody has thought of reducing the fees to intice them in. Anyway,the thing is, my kids see that if they don't get a degree that could steer them into a career, their only prospects are dead end jobs and poverty. This counts for both the brighter ones and the ones that struggle a bit more. And this means places for the elite who end up in the Russell Group unis, and the rest who populate what you call the 'new universities'.

Because of our location in rural Wales, well paid jobs are rare if you are not into farming. There are a few supermarket jobs and small factory work, very hard work for very poor pay, no prospects and rather soul destroying. A lot of boys end up joining the army simply because there is nothing else. The good thing about being Welsh is the low fees for university, much less than the English have to pay and it would seem almost wasteful not to take advantage of it before the Welsh Assemby realise they can't afford to keep topping up all these fees for their young citizens to clear off to England with. Given that in general factory workers and bosses have no idea about and no provision for autism, my son would be bullied from the start and his life would be miserable. So yes I would rather he went to a 'new university' and learn more of the subject that interests him and perhaps find a niche that suits him. It is also what he wants to do, so I will help him. And I promise to dig deeper into the provision for his needs, though I have already been quite impressed with the chat (and stump up the £200 fee to get the required post 16 assessment!).

His education has been a bit chaotic so far, so I guess the pattern will continue on into Higher Education, and much of his life, such are the joys of people with his condition.

Unfortunately more and more of this is set to happen. The number of universities has greatly increased over the last decade or so, and the number of university places.

But this shoddy government, with its big ideological experiments and no real idea of how it affects real people, introduced a massive fees hike and other constraints on universities, when they came into power four years ago.

In theory this was supposed to create market forces and selection - something these cretins are obsessed about - choice for those with money, rubbish for those with less.

What has happened is that even the newest universities have opted for high fees. And it just ain't gonna work! We know that mergers are going to get more frequent and a fair number of universities are going to go bust. 

It is anticipated that in the next five years some students will find themselves having to change universities mid-course.

I appreciate your son's choice is based on sound reasoning. Some smaller universities are likely to offer better environments. But unfortunately, due to the insane way things are being done, they are now the vulnerable universities, because most students will be chasing the better placed universities for the fees.

What you should look for, in any more open days, and go back to some to look deeper, is whether they really understand autism and its implications. The bigger the university the more students on the spectrum they will have had, assuming their support staff don't keep changing.

The danger with the small cosy university is they tell you that someone with autism will fit in, but they really haven't enough experience of support, and saying he'll fit in is really silly - any sensible support team knows it wont be that easy. If they've had to merge it is because they are one of the ones no longer economically sound.

It will be hard to measure, but you really have to look hard at the level of experience of autism and the service they provide. 

But frankly another year of this blinkered ideological reform of education and we'll all be in a mess. Something has to break soon.