College Students Graduate in Style with First Class Degrees

Four of the first cohort of students on Walsall College’s Level 6 BSc Computing course are celebrating after graduating with first class honours degrees!

The college, which has offered a range of Access to HE, HNC and HND courses for a number of years, started offering full degree level courses, in Fashion, Photography and Graphic Design for the first time in its history in 2014, after forming a partnership with Birmingham City University (BCU). Business and Computing programmes were introduced last year.

Helen Stone (28), Richard Mills (23), Tim Walker (22) and Joseph Millership (21) completed the course with outstanding results, as they all received firsts.

Graduate Tim Walker said: “It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s all been worth it. I’m now working in a website and app development role for a logistics company and really enjoying it.”

For fellow graduate Helen Stone, completing this course has opened up more opportunities for her. She originally trained as a dancer after school, however an injury forced her to reconsider her options. While working in a mobile phone store she developed an interest in the technical support side of the business and enjoyed being able to help customers to resolve simple issues with their devices.

Helen said: “A job came up within the technical team, but I couldn’t apply as I didn’t have the right qualifications. So while I was on maternity leave I decided to take a leap and enrol at college. The course at Walsall College was more affordable than going to university but it offered modules in mobile applications and android development which was what I wanted.

“It was difficult at first going back to studying, but I received a lot of support from my tutors. I’m now really excited about landing my first job in computing. Getting a degree has put me in a much better position and I can now pursue a rewarding career rather than just a job.”

Curriculum Manager for Computing, Mina Katti, commented: “We are extremely proud of the outstanding achievements of our first graduate cohort on the Level 6 programme. Their success is well-deserved and it will lead them on to further success in the industry.”

Boasting a HE success rate of 97% and a commendation from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education, the equivalent of Ofsted, Walsall College became one of the first colleges in the region to offer degree level courses, enabling students to achieve a full degree at a fraction of the cost of going to university.

With lower costs than university, high success rates, one-to-one support and more course options, there has never been a better time to enrol on a university level course at Walsall College and pursue a career.