Departmental Content on Open and UCAS Visit Days

Departmental content on Open and UCAS Visit Days

Following feedback from visitors attending either Open Days or UCAS Visit Days, this document is intended to provide guidance to Departments and share details of activities and items already included on such events across the University.

The recommendations below are a result of discussions with Departments as part of the Open Day Celebration on Wednesday 27th October 2010.

Open Days and UCAS Visit Days

One of the concerns held by some members of staff was that information and activities provided on each of these events overlapped, and that repetition would have a negative effect on visitors’ experience of the day.

It was generally agreed that the main differences between the two types of events were as follows:

Open Days – generally aimed at students who have not yet applied and are narrowing down their choices for the UCAS form. These students are normally looking to get a ‘feel’ for the University and may not know a great deal about the courses on offer or our entry requirements.
UCAS Visit Days – by invitation only to those students already holding an offer (with the exception of Interdisciplinary Science). These attendees should already know entry requirements and are looking to narrow down their original five choices to two. They are on the whole, looking to learn more about their Department and gain an understanding of what day-to-day life would be like for them if they accepted a place.

Activities on Open Days

One of the recurring comments received in feedback for the second year running was that visitors would have liked to meet academic staff on a one-to-one basis, outside of the talk.

Where a Department does have a building, it is strongly recommended that visitors are given the opportunity meet with tutors there at some point in the day. As an example, Dr. Corey Evans and Debbie Cattermoul from Chemistry explained that visitors are offered the chance to mingle with tutors over tea and coffee, as well as take part in activities such as ice-cream making and a quiz.

For those without a building i.e. Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Student Recruitment will be happy to arrange a venue (most likely Queen’s Hall) where a number of departments can set up a display area and have an academic tutor available to answer questions on a one-to-one basis. This would not need to be for the whole Open Day but could take place for a set period, clearly advertised in the event timetable.

A similar set-up (on a much smaller scale) was trialled by Sociology this year. A display area with research published by other members of the Department and related texts was set up, and light refreshments offered for visitors after the talk. Students were also present to mingle with visitors, all resulting in strong feedback. Economics had also offered a chance to meet tutors in an informal setting (in the Charles Wilson Building) which had also been well received by visitors.

Key elements to include in Departmental talks

As a result of varying feedback regarding Departmental talks, those present at the Celebration were asked to consider what they believed to be the key areas to include in such sessions on both Open and Visit Days. Most content was applicable to both types of event, although there were exceptions, bearing in mind the nature of the Days (mentioned earlier). Items to cover were as follows:

Entry requirements (generally, Open Days only)
Why study this particular subject at Leicester? Students will generally already have an interest in the course – this is the ideal opportunity to distinguish Leicester.
Course content – how this is linked to research carried out in the Department, as well as covering joint honours programmes (this is delivered with more detail on UCAS Visit days)
How work is assessed
Teaching modes in the Department
Contact hours, including pastoral care and support offered.Some Departments on Visit Days have a slide detailing a ‘Day in the Life of a Student’ and others ask current students to give a short talk on what their timetable is like.
Student input – this is a key area very much appreciated by visitors and can be offered as mentioned above, where students give a short talk on their timetable; other Departments use students to guide visitors; current undergraduates are also asked to mingle with visitors during informal refreshments.
Opportunities for personal development – field trips, study abroad / Erasmus, placements.
Employability – examples of the different careers our graduates go into and / or case studies. Some Departments are able to incorporate a short talk from alumni on Visit Days.

Some topics are already covered elsewhere on the day by Student Recruitment and other central divisions. These can be omitted from Departmental sessions, giving more time to focus on the subject related information.

Welcome talk covers (please also see presentation attached):
Profile of the University
Social life in Leicester
Accommodation
Student Life talk covers:
Central support and welfare
Societies and Students’ Union
Student Finance talk

Please see below for a visual summary of what is ideal to include and when.

If you would like to discuss this further and incorporate any of these elements into your events, please contact Monica Kulkarni on regarding Open Days or Lucy Wade on .

Items to include in Departmental talks