Access
to HE courses are designed for people who would like to study at university but
who left school without the usual qualifications, such as A levels.
Successful careers
Yvonne Brissett
Dr Stuart Prior
Linda White
Albert Phipps
Ian Webber
Gabrielle
Holmes
Dr Erik Johansson Cox
Nneka Akudolu
Susan Nelson
Scott Ellis
Sue Long
Current degree students
Current Access to HE students
Susan Nelson
Susan worked as a sales coordinator for a construction company before she enrolled on the Access to HE course. She is now a course coordinator at a college.
1992: Access to Humanities, Coleg Glan Hafren
1995: BSc (Econ) Hons Sociology, University of Wales, Cardiff*
1997: MSc Sociology, University of Bristol
2006: PGCE, Cardiff University
2007: Access to HE course coordinator at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru
My father was in the Army while I was growing up and this meant we moved around a lot. I'd been to 11 schools by the time I was 12 and I guess this messed up my education. I left school at 15 with no qualifications and went to work as a goods inward clerk.
As time went by, I started to feel intellectually frustrated. I worked in a series of unskilled jobs because I could never prove to anyone that I could do anything more challenging. But all the time I felt sure I was capable of a lot more.
I was 43 years old and a mother of two school-aged children when a friend told me about the Access to HE course. We decided as a family that we could manage without my earnings for a year while I did the course.
The Access to HE course gave me a level of fulfilment that I hadn't experienced before. The tutors introduced us to subjects and ideas that we'd never come across before - it opened our eyes to a new way of seeing things. The course was really well planned.
The tutors were so enthusiastic and understood our learning needs really well. When your confidence was beginning to wobble they'd step in with the right advice. As the course progressed, I learnt how to get the best out of myself and I continued to apply those skills throughout my time at university.
* now Cardiff University