What is your ideal course? - East Anglian Daily Times Education Page, 27 July 2004

If you were to put together your ideal course, what would it look like?

It may be that the ones you’ve looked at are too broad and don’t focus enough on the specifics of what interests you. Or maybe they are too narrow and you don’t feel they will provide the range of skills you would like to learn. Perhaps they seem a little on the academic side and you would like a stronger work-related emphasis.

Flexibility can be an issue, as well. With demands on time seeming to come from all sides it can be difficult to be sure you can make a commitment to be at every class or lecture for the full duration of the programme. Maybe it isn’t convenient for you to conform to the usual semester start dates. It would be so much easier to manage the learning at your own speed and fit it around the other things in your life, with the support of a dedicated tutor.

Anything else on the wish list? Something that recognises the skills you already have, builds on them and then puts them to good use in a practical project-based way? Oh and not forgetting, a recognised Degree qualification at the end.

Well now you can stop dreaming and wake up to the new Employment Based Foundation Degree by Individual Studies that has been developed by Suffolk College, accredited through the University of East Anglia and will be delivered through the Suffolk Institute of Technology (SIT) as from September this year.

Everything about this new qualification is different. The content is designed with you, for you and relates to your individual needs and aspirations. This means that relevance to your work is built in right from the start.

The core modules enable you to draw up a career development plan that takes into account your strengths and the aspects you need to improve. You learn the skills that will help your personal development and improve your ability to respond to change through critical thinking and problem-solving. The second part of the course puts those skills to use through the research and presentation of a work-based project. The exact form this takes again plays to your strengths. You may prefer to produce written work, but equally you may be more comfortable with the idea of producing an exhibition, or a video, or a portfolio – the format is down to you and your tutor to agree.

The delivery is different as well. The mix can include on-line learning, evening and weekend workshops, individual tutorial or seminars either at the main Rope Walk campus in central Ipswich or one of the outreach centres being developed across the county.

If you think achieving a Degree would be great but higher education isn’t for you, think again. This time it’s personal.

For more information contact Clare Avery on (01473) 296679.