On June 9th, Reem and Samia went to Edinburgh to attend the two day UCAS International Conference held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The conference was attended by 230 delegates from 70 countries. Most delegates were College Counsellors from international schools, but participants also included agents and independent counsellors such as ourselves, and also some teachers looking to switch to counselling.
We were welcomed to the opening reception by a Scotsman in a kilt playing the bagpipes and the conference schedule included several relaxed coffee and lunch breaks, evening receptions and general spaces which offered great networking opportunities. As most delegates were new college counsellors, we opted instead to explore the beautiful city in the evenings and visit the University of Edinburgh as well.
The reception spaces included exhibition stands from some great UK universities. We had opportunities to talk to representatives from Imperial, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Lancaster, QMUL, Oxford and Cambridge amongst others.
The Conference itself got off to a very upbeat start with a great double act by Des Cutchey, Head of International Strategy, and David Penney, UCAS head of Comms and Marketing. Their banter and the comedic delivery of Des was definitely one of the highlights of the conference.
Day 1
The Keynote Speech was delivered by Harish Lokhun, Head of Education at British Council- Scotland. He emphasised the degree to which Scottish universities had a great tradition of welcoming international students and also how the four year structure of a Scottish university degree offered an additional element of flexibility in course structure compared to the standard three year English university degree. He also stressed how the Scottish government uniquely had established a body dedicated to advising international students about career opportunities in Scotland following graduation.
After our first coffee break, talking to some of the university reps, the next plenary session took the form of a conversation between the Chief Executive of UCAS, Dr Jo Saxton and Lynsey Hopkins, UCAS Director of Admissions. Through that we learned a great deal about the evolving Higher Education landscape in the UK. They were keen to stress the degree to which international students were important and highly valued in the UK university sector. Questions from the audience were quite focussed on what the fallout from the current attacks on USA universities by the Trump administration, would be for the UK. In general the feeling was that UK universities stood to benefit from the USA trends, whether in increased interest in UK universities from students and academic staff or in the form of increased finance for research.
UK universities stood to benefit from the USA trends, whether in increased interest in UK universities from students and academic staff or in the form of increased finance for research
In the afternoon we chose to attend ‘The Future of University Applications in the Age of AI’, a subject of great interest to all college counsellors! The session was delivered by Jonny Franks from Harrow IS Hong Kong. As the impact of AI is still in its infancy, more questions were raised than answers. How many applications were read by AI? How many were written by AI? What was the permissible level of AI involvement in the process and how could it be policed? The speaker remained confident that the authenticity required in a Personal Statement could not be replicated by AI and that it would be limited to structuring and grammatically correcting student or referee work. It was also noted that universities will have their own individual policies on the acceptable use of AI not just in coursework, but in the personal statement as well!
It was also noted that universities will have their own individual policies on the acceptable use of AI not just in coursework, but in the personal statement as well!
We were surprised by the number of hands that went up when asked how many used AI to write references. Perhaps that is representative of the excessive workload of school college counsellors, resulting in generic statements about students who are not actually well-known to them. This is not something that RS-Ed counsellors would contemplate as it depersonalises the whole process and we feel that we know our students far better than any machine can ever do!
After lunch we attended ‘Navigating College Admissions with Neurodivergent Students’ by Hamit Ozur from Oporto International School, himself, neurodivergent. He provided valuable advice about additional considerations that students with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or other conditions might require during the university application process. These included adjusted sensory environments, executive functioning support, social integration and academic accommodations. He offered great practical strategies to ensure that these students would thrive in international education settings.
Reem then attended a presentation on ‘Data-Driven vs Teacher-Assessed: Exploring Predicated Grades Methodologies in the IB Diploma’ presented by Shahmir Akram from Royal Holloway College, London University, and Joumana Ordelheide, a University Counsellor from the American School of Paris. In that session, the practice of using data-driven grades, based on an algorithm over the last two years of high school was shared with us as a possible means to generate more accurately predicted grades. It was an interesting-and transparent- take on the often stressed-filled experience students and teachers face when determining a students’ predicted grades.
Samia went to a session on ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Confirmation and Clearing’ which was very much as billed, stressing the importance of quick action in finding the best possible course if achieved grades don’t allow entrance to a student’s Firm and Insurance choices.
Day 2
Day two kicked off with an inspirational session led by Calvin Eden from Speak Easy, about how to build meaningful connections with disengaged students in order to spark renewed interest in learning. Calvin was a ball of energy and optimism and left us all with smiles on our faces and belief in our abilities to positively impact our students, Other sessions on the second day included one on building trust and managing parent relationships in student transitions. Jessica Ho from King George V school in Hong Kong spoke of the importance of understanding the different cultural expectations of parents from widely different communities.
One very valuable session towards the end of day two was ‘Understanding Admissions: a clear and candid conversation. This was led by the Head of International Student Recruitment at Oxford, Director of Admissions and Data at Imperial College and their counterparts from St Andrews and University of Cambridge. The conversation was facilitated by Felicity Lloyd, UCAS International Data and the rather sobering conclusion and something of a tongue-twister gleaned from the end of a very interesting session was that; ‘Competition among competitive applicants to competitive universities are as competitive as they have ever been’!
The final session concentrated on student employability and how it should be embedded into the student journey and graduate attributes. The emphasis on developing skills such as critical thinking over memorised knowledge was palpable.
‘Competition among competitive applicants to competitive universities are as competitive as they have ever been’!
In summary, the conference was very well-organized and attended and offered thought-provoking and up to the minute advice to professionals attempting to steer young people towards secure and satisfying careers. The elephant in the room was very much the turmoil in the USA Higher Education sector, with the UK aiming to capitalise on the situation despite a severely restricted budget, political deterrents to recruiting of international students, uncertainties around the impact of AI on employment and applications, and a general poor global economic outlook. The upcoming Northern hemisphere application cycle promises to be very interesting.
