RBS recently ran a successful and insightful event to encourage female students to enter the world of banking. 150 female students from all over the UK gathered at a central London location to find out about a career in Global Banking and Markets.

The eager ladies were whisked around an action packed day including a ‘My life as an investment banker’ seminar, an ‘Ask the expert’, a no-nonsense advice for application session and a very glamorous ‘Lunch with the Ladies’. The event was drawn to a close by a very exciting fashion show displaying this season’s fashion in the City including an exclusive makeup master class.

RBS’s aim of the event was to encourage more female students to apply for their graduate and internship schemes to broaden their graduate talent pool which, like the rest of investment banking, still remains heavily male dominated.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you have a great 2011!

So after weeks of student protests, it seems to have all been in vain. Government voted by a majority of 21 that they would raise tuition fees up to three times the current amount from September 2012. Chaos followed shortly after the announcement once again distracting from the matter at hand. The scary realisation for students and nation as a whole is the effect this will have on education once headlines about hooliganism and rioting has died down. Even before the decision was made there was an immense uncertainty as to what the proposal would actually do to the current system. The main points covered were the massive increase in fees and an increase in maintenance loans, with this students do not have to start paying back until they earn over £21,000.

But, the big question is, would this actually work?

The Universities MP David Willetts has stated that it will help the poorest of the poor, generally for those students from family who have an income below £10,000. This is a very small percentage of the population, what happens to the students who come from families earning under £30,000? I highly doubt they too would be able to afford the rise in tuition fees. It looks more like damage limitation from MPs trying to assure students, the situation is not as grim as first thought. Does it do enough though? The incentive would mean that for a 3 year course a student could still pay up to £18,000 which is almost double what it costs today.

Now that the future of education has been changed, it is time for some much needed clarity.

What a week it has been in London! A 24-hour tube strike was followed by more student protests and capped off with a surprisingly early flurry of SNOW. We at Greenlight are not particularly fond of snow due to how inconsiderate and badly timed it is!!! Such adverse weather conditions forced us to postpone our ‘Open’ event. Everyone on the team was disappointed to postpone what promised to be a groundbreaking and inspirational day.

On the bright side, it means that we will have this event to look forward to in the New Year!!! ‘Open’ is for students who are interested in a career in law but feel that due to a disability or other perceived barrier that law may not be the career for them. Being hosted by five leading law firms (Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells, Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) it will be an excellent opportunity for these students to gain insight into a law career and the different types of work environments.

Happy Winter!

Another very busy week for Greenlight, we held our ‘Inside and Out’ event. This is a diversity project to give LGBT students an insight into the world of investment banking. Unhampered by tube strikes the event was a huge success with both students and bank representatives enjoying this opportunity to network. On the night we had guest-speaker Ruth Hunt from charity Stonewall and International rugby player Gareth Thomas. Both shared their life experiences and how it was affected by their sexuality. The event also had a panel of various senior figures from some of the largest investment banks in the world. This gave students an idea into the life of a LGBT person working within the investment banking industry. There was also plenty of time for students to network with bank representatives and learn about the life and culture within these banks. All in all, the event proved to be an enjoyable and informative evening for all involved!!

The Greenlight team now has two weeks to focus on our last event of 2010. It is the launch of the ‘Open’ event which gives disabled students an insight into the world of law.

Students took to the streets of London last Wednesday in what has been one of the biggest and most controversial protests in years. 50,000 students marched in anguish at plans to raise tuition fees to as high as £9000 by 2012. Whilst most were peaceful protesters, it was the minority that have overshadowed and tarnished the main purpose of the march. Those who strayed from the planned march path occupied the lobby of 30 Millbank and clashed with police in violent riots. Many of the headlines condemned the actions of the minority that started fires and flung bottles and eggs at police. Sadly this has undermined the original intention of the protests which was to oppose the ridiculously high cost of tuition fees proposed by the coalition government.

Needless to say, exercising violence to demonstrate a point of view is neither fair nor effective and only serves to highlight irrational and yob-like behaviour. It has also detracted from the issue at hand and hampered the voice of those students genuinely concerned with their future in education. It may have demonstrated the anger they feel towards such proposed reforms though they have failed to manage this anger in the productive manner as the march was meant to. The fear is that this has given greater reason to make universities more exclusive and elitist by raising tuition fees.

It is imperative that once the negativity towards students has died down in the media that attention is once again placed on the contentious issue of tuition fees. There is a real worry that those students from a lesser economic background cannot afford to study as the extensive costs would be unsustainable. I am in agreement that the institution of university needs to become relevant again but making universities more elitist will not solve this problem rather create a larger divide between rich and poor. Instead the government needs to consider making universities more selective through an individual’s own achievements.

This week has been an extremely busy one for the Greenlight team, with everyone making sure things went smoothly for our ‘City View’ event. ‘City View’ is one of our main diversity projects and gives female undergraduates and insight into IT jobs at the top investment banks. In attendance on the night were Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, J.P.Morgan, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, RBS and UBS.

Despite unfortunate tube strikes, the event was a big success, with promising students having the opportunity to network with the bank representatives as well as gaining an insight into the work environment at these banks. The evening proved a great experience for all of the women who attended the event.

This means Greenlight now have to get ready to do it all over again for ‘Inside and Out’ on the 17th of November!

With each year of university admissions, comes a greater number of applicants and furthermore a greater number of students left disappointed. There is a growing emphasis on the importance of going to university and getting a degree. It has inevitably resulted in graduate recruiters finding it more and more difficult to separate suitable candidates. Some firms even assess your ability at GCSE results when trying to choose a candidate.

In response to this current situation some firms have considered direct entry jobs for A-Level leavers. Whilst this would save thousands of students from the heavy debt incurred after university it would also be undermining the importance of university today.

I do not believe that this would remedy the problem of too many graduates because it would simply replace them with too many people looking for jobs straight out of college/sixth form.

I also think university is an important time for an individual both academically and socially. It is an opportunity to specialise in a particular subject and gain numerous transferable skills which are not exercised for A-Levels. It is also a time for students to grow up and prepare themselves for a career of their choice whilst gathering life experiences along the way.

The problem still remaining though is how recruiters are supposed to separate potential candidates from the rest. Academia is obviously crucial to this decision but so is the character of the individual and their vital inter personal and social skills.

It would be naïve of me to suggest that recruiters undermine the importance of academic results but to eliminate a potential candidate because they did not achieve an ‘A’ in mathematics at GCSE level seems irrational and counter productive. An individual’s personality and social skills are just as important in graduate jobs today.

Hi I’m Sean and I am currently doing a couple of weeks work experience at Stafford Long. I graduated this year from UCL with a degree in Anthropology and have now found myself in a gap year which has effectively been thrust upon me!

A large part of my problem thus far has been not knowing what I would like to do for a career and whether I could be successful in that industry. Along with a degree which did not provide me with a clear vocation resulted in me spending my summer recovering from studying and also delving through numerous career websites in a frenzy.

I have since calmed down somewhat and accepted that finding a job is going to be difficult therefore I need to spend the year realising my goals. I think the most important thing to remember during this time is to be proactive.

Whilst this has been a worrying time, I feel my time is better spent investing in myself to make myself more employable whilst also searching for a career I would like to pursue.

In this economic climate I think work experience and extracurricular activities are vital in making you stand out from competition.

I have applied for internships and work experiences, have enrolled in an evening Spanish language course for the year and have been planning a trip to South America to finally experience Machu Picchu (and practise my Spanish!).

Whilst there is obviously the feeling of uncertainty to overcome I have decided I am going to enjoy my year and seize any opportunities that come my way. Funnily enough I am very excited to tackle the challenges ahead.

The results are in. Despite the record numbers of As achieved and the introduction of the A*, A-level students battled clearing for a university place. This year, 674,339 students applied for university, a massive 63,000 more than last year. Unfortunately for many though university life has had to be put on hold as places dried up.

Clearing opened on results day and placed 190,000 students at universities to join the other 200,000 who had already secured a place. The remaining however are either advised to take a gap year and reapply or look into apprenticeships.

Despite advice, record numbers have decided to apply to universities abroad. Many top universities in the UK now have campuses in other countries. Nottingham has two, in China and Malaysia, which don’t have the same government restrictions on places. Others are turning to universities in Australia and New Zealand where university culture is similar to here in the UK. Such colleges have reported a 50% rise in UK enquiries for the coming semester. Students are able to complete a three year undergraduate degree with a core major but tuition fees are much more (£10,000/year). The cost of living down under however is slightly lower than in the UK and students could expect to earn £10/hour in their part time job.

Campus Ali says: It’s a difficult time for A-level students particularly in the current job market as a degree is essential. Studying abroad seems like a great alternative to UK university life as not only will students come away with a degree but they’ll also leave with valuable life experience from adapting to a new culture