Take your life in a new direction this January

FEELING trapped in the wrong career? Or are you looking for a way to progress p ro fe s s i o n a l ly ? I f s o, yo u a re n o t alone.

Benjamin Evans was fed up “spending so many years in the same role and within the same i n d u s t r y ”, s o h e decided to change his future.

He enrolled on an MA in Human Resource Management course at London Met, saying: “I knew the next move I made needed to be for the betterment of my long-term future.”

Evans’ 15-month programme also leads to a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Level 7 accreditation, a respectable qualification for those who want to further their careers in HR.

London Met offers a wide range of postgraduate programmes, many of which have professional accreditation so, like Evans, you too could transform your career prospects.

Perhaps you regret not going to uni when you first left education?

Once again, London Met could be the solution. Degrees starting in January are ideal for career-changers as well as those returning to learning, who are not tied into academic years.

The new year is often a time for change and looking ahead to the future. If you want to change careers or progress professionally, then London Met could open doors, writes Niki Chesworth

SAVE TIME ON YOUR DEGREE

Students can complete a three-year degree in just two-and-a-half years. The first year is condensed into two terms, so it is hard work, but London Met offers plenty of support.

If you have not set foot in a classroom in years, or do not have A-levels but instead have experience and qualifications gained during your career, then a foundation year could be for you. This prepares you for the challenges of a degree, teaching you essential study skills while building your confidence.

Starting in January means you can condense this first foundation year into two terms and will complete what is normally a four-year course in just three-and-a-half years.

RETURNING TO LEARNING

For Hind Sara Bechari Martin, a foundation year made all the difference to her degree course.

“I wasn’t sure if London Met would accept me because I hadn’t done as well as I could have at school, but I think they c o u l d s e e my p o te n t i a l a n d I was accepted on to London Met’s Psychology extended degree course,” she says.

Focusing on people’s strengths is what London Met is very good at, and she even went on to win an award for her final project, saying: “I developed a cognitive rehabilitation treatment for sufferers of Alzheimer’s and we’ve had significant results in trials and I hope to develop and test further.”

Steven Curtis, head of student out- comes at London Met’s School of Social Sciences, says: “We’ve had some fantastic students who have taken extended degrees. If you’ve been considering it, but aren’t sure if you can make the grade, it’s worth phoning London Met.”

GEARED TO JOB SUCCESS

A key point of a degree is to get a good job and here, London Met’s statistics are i mpre s s ive . Ac c o rd i n g to the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey out in the summer, 96.7 per cent of London Met graduates are in work or further study within six months of graduating.

All of London Met’s courses include workrelated learning and the university has strong links with employers. Many courses are channelled into specific career pathways — giving graduates a degree that aligns with what employers need.

Khalid Mohammed, above, who studied Computer Science at undergraduate level then progressed on to an MSc in Computing and Information Systems (renamed Internet of Things and Digital Media), says: “My master’s helped build on the foundation of knowledge that I gained from my bachelor’s degree and enabled me to pinpoint what I wanted to specialise in.”

Mohammed is now a software engineer for London Met’s first ever tech start-up, also partnered with Lloyds Group in London.

STILL TIME TO APPLY

Ranked fourth in the UK for art in the Guardian’s university league tables 2019, London Met’s Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design is rising up the university rankings.

The Cass is holding a postgraduate open evening tomorrow, November 21, where you can learn about the Cass’s unique studio culture and meet staff and professional practitioners.

Find out more at londonmet.ac.uk/ january or call 0800 085 2629 and speak to the university’s dedicated admissions advisers, who will tell you about the qualifications and experience they will take into account. You can still enrol in time to start this January.

Benjamin Evans enrolled on an MA course in a bid to improve his professional prospects Hind Sara Bechari Martin did a foundation year in preparation for her degree in Psychology at London Met and won an award for her final project