Launching UCAS' annual Love Learning competition, the head of the admissions service said university was a 'life-defining' experience in its own right and that all courses, from arts to sciences, equipped students with the skills to succeed.
The competition offers two £3,000 prizes to students who can best inspire the next generation to study their subject, with a piece of writing or a short video. Previous winners have shown how higher education expands the mind, as well as being a good career move.
Mary Curnock Cook said: “Success in higher education needs motivation and deep engagement with the material you are studying. This competition passes the microphone to current students to articulate the profound and life-defining experience of higher education. Earlier entries have helped thousands of students better understand the essence of higher education and make the right choices when applying.
“Each year, reading the entries reminds me anew of the richness of the higher education experience which has value for students far beyond the course content.
“The learning that comes from living independently, the shared energy that is generated amongst students from diverse backgrounds, and the self-confidence gained from independent learning are the benefits that this competition reveals in full techni-colour.”
As well as the main prizes, six runners up also win £1,000 each. One of last year’s entrants, Maisie Prior, told us she was ‘crazy in love’ with her Spanish degree because it taught her ‘what it means to be fearless, to be lost in a new place, and to be the only one in the room who is foreign'.
You can see the work of the last year’s winners and runners here.
The competition opens today and will run for the next three weeks.
Full entry details can be found here.
Follow the conversation at #lovelearning
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