HELOA

Supporting your choice

Ms Sandy Hutcheson,
National Chair, HELOA

Let me introduce HELOA and tell you something about how it can support you in choosing the right course in the right place for you.

HELOA stands for the Higher Education Liaison Officers Association: it's the professional association for staff in Higher Education institutions whose role is to provide guidance and information about Higher education opportunities to prospective students, their families and advisers. Its aims include:

- To promote the potential benefits of higher education to prospective students of all ages and backgrounds

• To ensure that access to information and guidance is freely available to as wide a range as possible of potential students, their families and advisers
• To enable prospective HE students to make well-informed personal choices of HE courses and institutions on the basis of quality information and guidance provided by HELOA members with honesty and impartiality

So how can HELOA help you?

Firstly, all HEIs have members of staff (e.g. schools and colleges liaison officers/ admissions officers), many of whom will be members of HELOA, who are able to provide detailed information and guidance on their own institutions as well as more general advice on the range of opportunities in Higher Education, entry qualifications, what to consider in choosing an appropriate course for you, how to go about applying, how to find out more - and so on. All liaison officers will be able to offer advice about sponsorship opportunities at their own institutions or can direct you to appropriate sources of information. All HEIs also provide opportunities for you to visit: to get a feel for the place, to meet staff and current students, and to find out more about their courses and facilities. Do try to visit at least two or three HE campuses before finally deciding on the right course and the right institution for you.

Second, many HELOA members are also willing to come to your school or college to speak with groups of students or parents not only about opportunities at their own institutions, but about a range of general HE topics including: Why choose HE?; choosing and applying; student finance; preparing your application; and more.

The rest of this article appears in the hard copy of the Everything You Wanted to Know guide. For information on how to obtain your copy click here.