Examination of Witnesses (Questions 289
- 299)
MONDAY 30 MARCH 2009
MR GREGORY
ANDREWS, MR
DAVID CHILD,
MS VICTORIA
EDWARDS, MS
MEAGAN PITT,
MR JUN
RENTSCHLER AND
MS SALLY
TYE
Q289 Chairman: Can we come to our
final session today in Oxford on this Innovation, Universities,
Science & Skills Select Committee's inquiry into students
and universities. We have with us a panel of students who will
introduce themselves because I am going to give you a couple of
minutes each to basically say what you are studying, why you decided
to come to the university you have come to and why you chose the
course, and in particular whether it was the course you chose
first or the university you chose first and then the course. Can
I just thank you all very much indeed and I hope you have enjoyed
the rest of the session today. Could I start with you, Jun, if
you tell us who you are and why you are here?
Mr Rentschler: My name is Jun
Rentschler, I am half German, half Japanese and I am in my second
year at Oxford Brookes studying major in economics, minor in business.
Besides my uni work I am also vice-president of the Brookes Business
Entrepreneurship Club. I did choose my course before I came to
the university; I was looking at economics especially in Germany
and I decided to come to an English-speaking country so I was
looking at universities in England and I had a couple of choices.
In England there is obviously a huge list of universities and
it was quite hard to just choose a university because all you
get to know is just information on the website.
Q290 Dr Harris: Why did you choose
Oxford Brookes in the end?
Mr Rentschler: I did come to the
UK and I had the chance to visit about three universities. Brookes
was one of them because I knew somebody who was studying here
already so it was probably some accident and some random.
Q291 Chairman: A bit of accident
and a bit of design. Meagan.
Ms Pitt: My name is Meagan and
I am originally from South Africa and I moved to England when
I was 15, so I did my GCSEs and my A-levels. I decided to do law
because I did law as an A-level and I really, really enjoyed it,
it was something I thought was a respectable job. Basically where
I come from there are not many people who do law, I would be the
first lawyer in my family basically. I chose to come to Oxford
Brookes because it had one of the best reputations for law, even
though it was not my first choice.
Q292 Chairman: What was your first
choice just out of interest?
Ms Pitt: UCL.
Q293 Mr Boswell: And it is a vocational
course, you are not doing it just because you have an interest
in law, it is because you would like to be a qualified lawyer.
Ms Pitt: Yes, I would.
Q294 Chairman: Sally.
Ms Tye: My name is Sally Tye,
I am a third year history student. I am also student representative
for history and have been for the last three years, and I also
sit on the recruitment sub-committee for history. I chose history
before the university; my first choice was actually Cardiff but
I did not quite get my grades, but I am really glad I am here
and the course suits me down to a T. It is very, very varied,
I can do the most diverse history course that I have found and
I absolutely love it.
Q295 Chairman: That is a great recommendation.
Victoria.
Ms Edwards: My background is slightly
strange. I had my first baby when I was 16, I met my husband at
15 and left school with only a handful of GCSEs. We then went
on to have a second baby and then somebody said to me while I
was working in a bar "Why don't you do a degree?" I
thought okay, what can I do, and I came to Brookes and did a teaching
degree. I taught for eight years in primary school, had another
four babies, but all the while from my first baby I really wanted
to be a midwife but ended up teaching because it seemed very sensible.
After my sixth baby, having gone down to two days teaching a week,
I decided that it was now or never in terms of making the change.
I would love to say that I chose Brookes because it is the best
university, I think it is wonderful, but actually my family would
not let me go away and be a student anywhere else so I had to
stay here.
Q296 Mr Boswell: You live literally
up the road.
Ms Edwards: I live in Witney.
Q297 Mr Boswell: That is still some
distance actually.
Ms Edwards: Yes, but Brookes is
the nearest.
Q298 Chairman: Okay. David.
Mr Child: My name is David Child,
I am in my fourth and final year doing MEng motor sport engineering.
I considered several universities—Bath, here and Coventry
as my three main choices—and I picked this university on
the grounds of the industrial relevance and the relationships
and links to the industry. The course at Bath to me appeared to
be more academically-focused, and although I am not saying the
course is not academically focused here there are better industrial
links and at Coventry basically I was offered £3,000 a year
bursary if I took the course. Any student obviously would love
that kind of money but I am very glad I turned that down and came
here.
Q299 Chairman: It has lived up to
expectations.
Mr Child: Definitely, yes.
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