Students
Niall Harrison
- > SWAP Access to STEM, Stow College (Glasgow Kelvin College) 2014-15
- > University of Strathclyde Engineering Academy, Glasgow Kelvin College 2015-16
- > Civil Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 2nd year entry, 2016
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stay hungry and always chase the goals you think are out of reach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After an arduous year, I left SWAP Access to STEM at Stow College (with a triple AAA profile) and moved into Strathclyde University, via the Engineering Academy, to study for a degree in civil engineering. I came into the course as a BEng student and expect to move to MEng by the end of third year.
As a mature student, SWAP not only gave me the foundations to succeed academically, it was the vehicle I needed to move back to education without any fears of failure. The support of the staff gave me my confidence back. It has definitely made the transition to university easier.
The college staff were absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. It was my relationships with the lecturers that pushed me to succeed.
Please introduce yourself:
I’m Niall, I came back to education after what felt like a lifetime of working primarily in office based jobs. Over the past few years I had become quite disillusioned about what I was doing every day, seldom feeling that I was satisfied with the contributions I was making to either my place of work or my own life. After plateauing out within the company I worked for, I felt claustrophobic; and it was with that sobering thought I started to think about making a change, pursuing the tools to afford me the educational foundations to achieve my goals.
Thinking back to your school days, how was education for you first time around?
In all honesty, I was the very epitome of the type of students I despise; one of the capable ones that doesn’t apply themselves. While I had the ability to achieve good grades, I was quite disinterested in school at the time. I never studied, made plans, or applied myself. I'd had aspirations of being an architect, but pessimistically assumed it would not be an achievable goal.
What did you do after school?
After school I actually pursued my interest in music, joining a well-established band and touring throughout the UK and Europe, eventually signing to an international label. As much as I enjoyed it, I got tired of the lifestyle after a few years. After settling down, I joined the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) as their Quality Systems Manager, which was a challenging and rewarding position. During this time, I established several new business practices and integrated a quality control metric that turned out to be extremely successful.
What led you to return to education?
As an extremely driven person, I came back to education understanding that a quality education is one of the most beneficial things one can attain. Starting to realise that I had reached a glass ceiling in my workplace, my desire for ‘more’ and the lack of opportunities coalesced into a reason to find something else and I naturally gravitated towards civil engineering. I knew returning to education would be the only way to open any doors.
What was your SWAP programme like?
SWAP Access to STEM was extremely intense as it spans a broad spectrum of disciplines and requires a lot of hard graft to complete. However, the pacing and difficulty really drove home my need to work on my self-study discipline, preparing me for the progression to university level studies. The staff were absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. It was my relationships with the lecturers that pushed me to succeed. Different from the university schedule, three trimesters gave us ample time to study each subject, and yet short enough that the course continued at a comfortable and interesting pace. The continuous assessment structure was ideal for getting to grips with the specific subjects we were studying. However, in hindsight, so different from the end-of-year exams at university.
How was the engineering academy? Did SWAP prepare you well enough?
The first year of the engineering academy was very interesting. I was quite surprised that whilst I felt that the syllabus became more focussed on engineering, I was almost over-prepared academically. My mathematics capability was far beyond the level touched upon in first year. I also found that the communication and writing skills I gained throughout the STEM course prepared me for university level report writing. The physics and chemistry units I completed during SWAP were also useful. As much as the specific concepts were of a cursory relevance, the study of those subjects in general got me into the right mind-set to further elaborate and expand my understandings of them. Overall, the STEM course itself was ideal preparation for moving into an engineering based specialism.
How are you finding your university studies and did you feel prepared for university?
I felt competently prepared for university, however, I was not prepared for the volume of work. This is something that you cannot appreciate until you are a university student. SWAP did not quite prepare me for the intensity of workload, but how could it! I’m so busy I wear odd shoes to uni! I would say the report writing skills have been completely invaluable as Communication or English (writing/reading) is not a subject you study at university, although the Study Skills Centre can help you develop your abilities.
As a mature student, SWAP not only gave me the foundations to succeed academically, it was the vehicle I needed to move back to education without any fears of failure. The support of the staff gave me my confidence back. It has definitely made the transition to university easier.
Do you have any tips for current SWAP students?
Once that application goes into UCAS, stop thinking about it. When everything comes back, think carefully about what decisions you make. It’s going to be another 4 or 5 years of your life. When your conditional offers come back, still try and get the best grades you can. It may not benefit you in terms of academic scoring, but the discipline and additional self-study will benefit you in terms of your own performance and ability to keep up with the work. Stay hungry and always chase the goals you think are out of reach.
P.S. Don’t bin ANY books or notes. You’ll use them again, and again, and again!
After an arduous year, I left SWAP Access to STEM at Stow College (with a triple AAA profile) and moved into Strathclyde University, via the Engineering Academy, to study for a degree in civil engineering. I came into the course as a BEng student and expect to move to MEng by the end of third year.
As a mature student, SWAP not only gave me the foundations to succeed academically, it was the vehicle I needed to move back to education without any fears of failure. The support of the staff gave me my confidence back. It has definitely made the transition to university easier.
The college staff were absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. It was my relationships with the lecturers that pushed me to succeed.
Please introduce yourself:
I’m Niall, I came back to education after what felt like a lifetime of working primarily in office based jobs. Over the past few years I had become quite disillusioned about what I was doing every day, seldom feeling that I was satisfied with the contributions I was making to either my place of work or my own life. After plateauing out within the company I worked for, I felt claustrophobic; and it was with that sobering thought I started to think about making a change, pursuing the tools to afford me the educational foundations to achieve my goals.
Thinking back to your school days, how was education for you first time around?
In all honesty, I was the very epitome of the type of students I despise; one of the capable ones that doesn’t apply themselves. While I had the ability to achieve good grades, I was quite disinterested in school at the time. I never studied, made plans, or applied myself. I'd had aspirations of being an architect, but pessimistically assumed it would not be an achievable goal.
What did you do after school?
After school I actually pursued my interest in music, joining a well-established band and touring throughout the UK and Europe, eventually signing to an international label. As much as I enjoyed it, I got tired of the lifestyle after a few years. After settling down, I joined the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) as their Quality Systems Manager, which was a challenging and rewarding position. During this time, I established several new business practices and integrated a quality control metric that turned out to be extremely successful.
What led you to return to education?
As an extremely driven person, I came back to education understanding that a quality education is one of the most beneficial things one can attain. Starting to realise that I had reached a glass ceiling in my workplace, my desire for ‘more’ and the lack of opportunities coalesced into a reason to find something else and I naturally gravitated towards civil engineering. I knew returning to education would be the only way to open any doors.
What was your SWAP programme like?
SWAP Access to STEM was extremely intense as it spans a broad spectrum of disciplines and requires a lot of hard graft to complete. However, the pacing and difficulty really drove home my need to work on my self-study discipline, preparing me for the progression to university level studies. The staff were absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. It was my relationships with the lecturers that pushed me to succeed. Different from the university schedule, three trimesters gave us ample time to study each subject, and yet short enough that the course continued at a comfortable and interesting pace. The continuous assessment structure was ideal for getting to grips with the specific subjects we were studying. However, in hindsight, so different from the end-of-year exams at university.
How was the engineering academy? Did SWAP prepare you well enough?
The first year of the engineering academy was very interesting. I was quite surprised that whilst I felt that the syllabus became more focussed on engineering, I was almost over-prepared academically. My mathematics capability was far beyond the level touched upon in first year. I also found that the communication and writing skills I gained throughout the STEM course prepared me for university level report writing. The physics and chemistry units I completed during SWAP were also useful. As much as the specific concepts were of a cursory relevance, the study of those subjects in general got me into the right mind-set to further elaborate and expand my understandings of them. Overall, the STEM course itself was ideal preparation for moving into an engineering based specialism.
How are you finding your university studies and did you feel prepared for university?
I felt competently prepared for university, however, I was not prepared for the volume of work. This is something that you cannot appreciate until you are a university student. SWAP did not quite prepare me for the intensity of workload, but how could it! I’m so busy I wear odd shoes to uni! I would say the report writing skills have been completely invaluable as Communication or English (writing/reading) is not a subject you study at university, although the Study Skills Centre can help you develop your abilities.
As a mature student, SWAP not only gave me the foundations to succeed academically, it was the vehicle I needed to move back to education without any fears of failure. The support of the staff gave me my confidence back. It has definitely made the transition to university easier.
Do you have any tips for current SWAP students?
Once that application goes into UCAS, stop thinking about it. When everything comes back, think carefully about what decisions you make. It’s going to be another 4 or 5 years of your life. When your conditional offers come back, still try and get the best grades you can. It may not benefit you in terms of academic scoring, but the discipline and additional self-study will benefit you in terms of your own performance and ability to keep up with the work. Stay hungry and always chase the goals you think are out of reach.
P.S. Don’t bin ANY books or notes. You’ll use them again, and again, and again!
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