Write for the Students' Guide to University 2025

Do you work in school liaison, student recruitment, or widening participation?

We would love you to share your experience, expertise, and enthusiasm by writing an article for our next Students’ Guide to University.

As with our previous Students’ Guide, this will be published as a free online resource for prospective students. It will be filled with advice about researching university options, attending university events, applying to university, and getting ready to go.

Do you have insights to offer about the university application journey that would interest prospective students? Maybe advice on whether university is right for them? Perhaps a look at alternatives to a traditional degree? Or even guidance on how to best research the many options available to them?

If so, we’d love you to write for us!

You will discover lots of benefits to writing for the Students’ Guide 2025.

If you choose to submit an article, you will:

• Help prospective students make an informed choice about their future
• Provide valuable guidance to students who might not have access to support elsewhere
• Receive visibility and credibility across the sector – great for your employability
• Raise the profile of your university amongst prospective students
• Develop your writing, editing, and proof-reading skills
• Get discounted rates on an optional advert alongside your content. Details below!

In addition to contributing, this is a great opportunity to promote your university to prospective students with an optional advert alongside your impartial editorial. You may choose to promote upcoming events or any other services that benefit prospective students, including student competititons. If you provide editorial content, you can secure a full-page advert for just £500 + VAT.

This brochure is our lead resource for prospective students, and will be read widely over the next 12 months. We reach out to over 100,000 practitioners to inform them about the brochure and provide details on how they can obtain and share their copy. Additionally, universities and networks of universities can also feature this on their own websites. This provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase your brand!

To write an article, you need to work in a school liaison role - such as student recruitment, widening participation, or outreach - at one of our member universities or Uni Connect networks. We occasionally accept articles from other sources, such as partner organisations and the guest speakers who attend our university training days.

Rest assured, you don’t need any prior writing experience to submit an article. Our editorial team is happy to support you. Equally, you don't need to be in a senior role. Advice and insights from entry-level practitioners are just as valuable as those written by directors.

Interested in writing an article?

We are looking for articles on the topics listed below. Each bullet-point is intended to be a 500-word article, whilst the numbered headings in bold indicate the section in which the article will be placed. We remove articles from this list when they are assigned to an author.

Please contact Simon before Friday 13 December 2024 once you have decided which article you'd like to write. He will reply to confirm whether the topic is still available. Articles are typically allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. They will be removed from this list once allocated.

We are also open to suggestions. If you can think of another topic that would benefit teachers and careers advisors, then we'd love to hear from you!

1. University for everyone

• Reasons to consider university
• Understanding fair access and widening participation
• Support for first-in-family students
• Support for mature students, parents, and carers
• Support for international students
• Support for care experienced and estranged students
• Support for students with special educational needs and disabilities

2. Researching university options

• How to reseach universities and courses
• The different types of university
• The different types of university courses
• Understanding university league tables
• Engaging with universities online, on campus, and on demand
• Studying a part-time university course
• Studying an online university course
• Studying medicine at university
• Studying a creative subject at university
• Studying a degree apprenticeship
• The benefits of studying in Scotland
• The benefits of studying in Wales
• The benefits of studying in Northern Ireland

3. University events

• The different types of university events
• The benefits of attending a university event
• How to prepare for a university fair
• What to expect at a university open day
• Making the most of your university open day
• Advice for attending an online university event
• Accessing university events on a budget
• How you can help universities evaluate their events

4. Financing your studies

• The Disabled Students’ Allowance
• The NHS Learning Support Fund
• University bursaries and scholarships
• Managing your money at university
• Saving money with student discount cards
• Part-time work opportunities at university

5. Applying to university

• How pre-16 and post-16 choices can affect your university application
• Qualifications accepted by universities
• Accessing admissions support through fair access programmes
• Contextual university admissions
• Understanding the university admissions process and offer-making
• The 2026 changes to personal statements
• Writing an outstanding personal statement
• Preparing a portfolio for a creative course
• What happens after you receive your offer
• How to choose your university accommodation
• Understanding and preparing for Clearing

6. Getting ready for university

• What happens after results day
• An introduction to student life
• How to shape the university experience that's right for you
• Exploring unexpected opportunities at university
• The benefits of joining a student society
• Accessing careers support at university
• How your degree opens up your employability

Have you been assigned an article? Ready to start writing?

Please follow our editorial guidelines. Your article should be:

1. Under 500 words in length, independent, and impartial in tone.

2. Written for prospective students considering their university options.

3. Your own unique content in your own style. We cannot accept content used anywhere else or text generated through ChatGPT or equivalent.

4. Without acronyms and jargon, unless these are explained within the article when they appear for the first time. Please be mindful of skills and knowledge gaps.

5. Without links to other websites. We like to keep our readers focused on our guide, rather than directing them elsewhere. However, if you feel a link would offer genuine value, such as signposting to a funding application or interactive tool, then this can be included.

6. Concise and well structured. Readability is critical when preparing any written communication. Please use simple language, short sentences, short paragraphs, sub-headings, and bullet-points. We even offer a university training day on this topic!

Please submit your article to Simon before Friday 10 January 2025. Your email should include:

• Your article attached in a Word document
• Your name
• Your job title
• Your institution.

You will receive an acknowledgment for your content.

Once submitted, your article will be reviewed and revised by our editorial team.

We rarely make significant changes, especially regarding the content of your article.

Typically, our team uses copywriting best practice to enhance the readability of your article, such as occasional language and structural edits. This makes the article more audience-friendly, accessible, and suitable for being read online.

We will ask you to review and approve the final version before Friday 7 February 2025.

We plan to launch the guide by Monday 3 March 2025 - the day before the first UCAS fair in Manchester!

Do you have an open day, taster day, or residential event that would benefit prospective students? Or even a competititon?

If so, we offer a number of advertising opportunities to support the staff time required to produce this online resource. Colleagues submitting editorial can book a full page advert at a discounted rate of just £500 + VAT. The advert will appear alongside the editorial. Please contact Simon to book your advert. Your advert must be 148mm (width) x 210mm (height) in a PDF format without the bleed.

And remember...

We have a series of other free online guides packed with advice written by school liaison practitioners, including our upcoming inaugural Practitioners’ Guide.

• Parents' Guide
• Teachers' Guide
• Practitioners’ Guide – coming very soon!

Please do share these with your audiences and contacts to support your school liaison activity.

Looking for further development opportunities?

At UniTasterDays, we are committed to offering learning and development opportunities to those working in school liaison roles. Writing for our annual guides is just one example.

You might also be interested in our popular training days. We pride ourselves in delivering inspiring, insightful, and interactive events, with sessions that cover essential skills for student recruitment, widening participation, and outreach.

You have two training options:

• Attend our University Training Days in the West Midlands
• Book an in-house training day at your very own campus

As ever, if you have any questions about our annual guides, our learning resources, or anything else, please do let us know. We’d be happy to help.