The first Get Ready to Study at Birkbeck programme, a two-week programme of talks, tours and workshops, took place between 14 and 25 June 2010. The programme was designed to help undergraduate applicants and enrolled students prepare for their degree course in October.
The sessions ran every evening over the two week period and all day Saturday. Participants were able to pick and choose the talks, tours and workshops that were most relevant to their needs. Subjects included:
How to fit studying into your busy life
Discuss your expectations and concerns
Find out what support will be available to you
Find out what study skills you will need
Meet other applicants and get to know Birkbeck
Discuss your professional and personal aims
Approximately, 2000 students were invited to attend. 370 students registered for the programme and over the course of the two weeks, there were over 350 participants during the two weeks. We took a quick five-minute survey at the end of each day (a more extensive evaluation survey will be emailed to students at a later date). Here are some of the comments that were made:
“This is a vital workshop for any student, so productive and effective.”
“This has really helped calm me down after the shock at first viewing of my reading list.”
“Very informative and reassuring.”
We also captured a few students' feedback on camera:
The feedback has been very positive. There is clearly a demand for this kind of support service. Our next task will be to track the students that attended the programme to see if this kind of intervention made a difference to retention. We'll also be following those students who didn't attend or register in order to make a comparison.
