A recent report by the agency in charge of widening access to higher education suggests that young people from poorer backgrounds are still struggling to get into top universities. Such figures revealed wealthier young people are seven times more likely to obtain places at England’s top 20 universities than those who are disadvantaged. What is particularly worrying is that there has been no significant change in the percentages of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds accepted into universities since the mid-1990s.

In order to improve this situation, Sir Martin Harris, director of the Office for Fair Access, claims that potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds need to be identified and supported from an earlier age, before GCSE decisions are made, as such bright youngsters do not realise their own potential. He adds that the UK’s top universities need to provide better advice and guidance for prospective applicants so as to encourage disadvantaged youngsters to apply in full knowledge of what is on offer to them, including bursaries and scholarships.

CampusAli says: Bright prospective students from any background need to be identified so their skills and abilities can be developed to their true potential. It must be recognised that bright individuals can be found outside of privileged public schools and must be sought out by universities and potential employers.

The latest IAB/PWC figures show ad spend on mobile has doubled year on year. This has been fuelled by an increase in users accessing the internet on their mobiles and by the new possibilities presented by smartphone devises (phones offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality). One hotly discussed topic in this area is the development of applications (known universally as apps).

Over 1.5bn apps have been downloaded from Apple’s app store since July 2008 and many brands are keen to get in on the act. While branded apps can provide a novel platform for your target audience to interact with your organisation, it’s important for companies to first research the mobile behaviour of their audience before getting carried away with the hype.

For example, the iPhone currently only holds a 4% market share in the UK (around one million people have an iPhone). Of these people, how many are within the student population and how many regularly download apps? Also, smartphones from other manufacturers (such as Nokia and Google Android) are gaining in popularity and mean that it will soon be hard to build an iPhone app in isolation.

Ali says: For a mobile app to be successful it needs to be compatible with the most relevant smartphone devises, should be well marketed and easy to find, provide instant utility, have a high frequency of use and encourage word of mouth.

Hi, I’m Katie and I’m the new events co-ordinator here at Stafford Long. I’m really excited to join Stafford Long and am looking forward to the next few months! I’ll be looking after the Greenlight events and the first one is on the 9th June!

Students from the top Russell Group universities are up in arms after the chair refused to publish evidence it’s given to the official fees review. The most recent review has stirred so much interest because there’s a real possibility that fees and interest rates for student loans will increase. They are due to deliver a protest letter today.

Campus Ali says: Students deserve to know the outcome of this review because it’s probably one of the most significant changes to higher education funding in decades!

We’ve won yet another award this month! We won Most Effective Use of Technology / Online for the Barclays Capital graduate assessment day at the Recruiter Awards!

When Barcap said that they wanted to use their assessment day to test candidates on a range of competencies throughout the activity, whilst challenging them with real work-place issues, we knew our solution would have to be really interactive. Barcap also wanted to move away from purely paper-based assessment day exercises so as to better connect with Generation Y’ers.

Through video based content, a virtual desktop and mobile communications, we set the candidates a fictional, team based challenge, culminating in a final presentation to their ‘client’. To make it even more realistic, we threw in some twists that we knew would cause them to really think. Watch this space for further details on this ground breaking initiative…

Last night we hosted an event on behalf of Bloomberg which was aimed at encouraging black students to consider a career in their Analytics and Financial sales programme. The event was hosted at their very swanky London offices, where 30 of the best students were picked to attend! It was a great afternoon and hopefully very beneficial to all who attended!

Hi, I’m Katie and I’m doing work experience with Stafford Long. As a final year student I can reveal the ins and outs of Newcastle University.

Founded in 1834 as a School of Medicine and Surgery, Newcastle University has come a long way, today housing 19,700 students both from the UK and internationally and is a member of the Russell Group.

As a student I couldn’t have wanted any more from a University. Situated in the centre of Newcastle, the campus has a city feel yet is enclosed enough to contain the student vibe. Entering from the town centre, you are greeted by the Student’s Union, the only independent student’s union in the UK and hotspot for students night and day.

As a city, Newcastle is ideal for student life and was voted number one for student living. All areas of town from the high street, nightlife, cinemas, theatres and picturesque Quayside are within easy reach meaning little student budget is needed for public transport.

There’s a real student community feel in Newcastle particularly in the most popular student areas Jesmond and Heaton, both equipped with Tesco metros, student filled bars, shops and takeaways.

Newcastle’s nightlife is also a massive attraction for prospective students boasting a different student night every night of the week all over the city. Popular spots include Digital’s 80s night and 80s prices on a Monday and Bullet proof’s indie takeover on a Saturday. The main attraction is Newcastle’s ability to provide for a variety of music tastes always at low student friendly prices.

Newcastle University is definitely recommended, featuring in the times top 20 universities and offering a variety of courses sought after by employers. Now at the end of my English Language degree, I feel I have been lucky to experience a high standard of teaching and excellent facilities at one of the UK’s most vibrant and buzzing universities.

Well we are pleased to report that for the second year running, we have won the Target Diversity Recruitment Award! Hurrah!! This time for Barclays Capital, who are even more pleased than we are! Natasha from Stafford Long and Tamaryn from Barcap were on hand to pick up the award for the lovely Chris Evans…

To find out more, click here.

We’ve had a busy month here at SLAP towers and there seems to be no sign of slowing down! Over the next couple of months Greenlight will be organising three special careers events on behalf of Bloomberg. These informational events have been set up in order to provide students with a clear insight into the career paths of employees from diverse backgrounds.

Bloomberg Perspectives - 14th April
Bloomberg Realtime Technology event - 29th April

Campus Alice says: We’re really proud to be able to partner with Bloomberg for these events and we hope they will be a success!

Due to spending cuts to higher education, students from middle-class families may be denied their right to cheap loans, grants towards living costs and charged higher tuition fees. The government now has the task of producing more money for universities without any added cost to the taxpayer and as a result, they are planning to cut middle-class “subsidies” which could add on nearly £7,000 a year to the cost of university from a family with an income of £50,000 a year. Another possibility is that the government will draw more money back by ending subsidised interest rates which reduce the amount of money graduates have to pay back.

CampusAli says: Student debt is already a huge weight on graduates’ minds, taking years to pay back even with subsidised rates. If these rates are withdrawn, many students may doubt whether going to University will add anything to their future careers.