Make your choice at Suffolk College - East Anglian Daily Times, 24 October 2004 & Ipswich Angle, September 2004

Is there such a thing as too much choice? If you look along the supermarket shelves in the aisle for something as mundane as, say, detergent you could be forgiven for answering that question with a resounding “Yes”. Where once it was simply a question of brand loyalty or price, there is now a bewildering array of powders, tablets and liquids. There are those that are non-biological, those especially for white fabrics, those especially for colours, those especially for delicates, those that are eco-friendly – and on and on. Consumer choice has come a very long way since Henry Ford offered his cars in any colour as long as it was black.

The difficulty, of course, with all the options presented to us in so many aspects of our lives is knowing which is the right one for you. You can read the labels, or the sides of the boxes, or any of the other consumer information available – but nobody is an expert in everything and sometimes at the end of the research it’s still difficult to choose.

This is particularly true at this time when the new academic year is about to start and you are trying to decide which course to enrol on. Which is why Suffolk College have arranged 7 advice and guidance days to help you select exactly the right programme for you.

Between them, the College’s 9 further education curriculum centres and 2 higher education faculties offer more than 200 courses. The breadth of the learning opportunities available offers not only a wide range of vocational courses but also a seamless progression from AS level through A2 to Foundation Degrees, Honours Degrees and all the way to a Masters Degree.

The programmes are regularly reviewed and updated. For example, two new courses – Critical Thinking and Use of Maths – join the AS portfolio this September, and higher education has been enhanced with the addition of a BA Honours in Social Work, a BSc Honours in Nutrition & Health, Single Honours Degrees in English and History, and Independent Study, the work-based Foundation Degree.

Starting at the end of this week, subject experts in further and higher education will be on hand to explain the details of their courses. From 10 am each day they will be ready to welcome you in the main hall at the front of the Rope Walk building with course data sheets you can study and their wealth of experience you can draw on. On Tuesday 31st August, Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd September this service will be available until 8pm, and until 4pm on Friday 28th August, Friday 3rd , Saturday 4th and Saturday 11th September.

So what’s the best approach to a wide range of choices? Make informed decisions based on expert advice.