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PANELISTS INCLUDE:

University of Buckingham:

Home of the two-year degree, the University of Buckingham, based in the South East of England, is ranked 1st for Teaching Excellence in the UK. We are proudly independent and not-for-profit, and offer courses in Allied Health, Business, Computing, Education, Humanities, Law, Medicine, Psychology and Security and Intelligence. We are one of the few universities in the UK that offer September and January start dates for almost all of our courses.

Arione McQueenie arione.mcqueenie@buckingham.ac.uk is the UK Student Recruitment Manager at the University of Buckingham, where she is responsible for UK events and schools engagement. She has worked extensively in the higher education sector, managing recruitment at Cranfield University and London Business School.

Buckinghamshire New University

Lindsey Blake originally studied Business at university and worked in large corporate organisations before moving to the public sector and specialising in outreach activities in libraries, schools and, most recently, universities. She believes passionately in young people reaching their potential and taking advantage of opportunities offered to them to find their dream career.

Bucks New University is a new breed of university, focusing on degrees that are professional and practical, as well as academic.

Young in outlook, but well established in the fields we specialise in, we offer high quality, professionally-driven university courses, in everything from nursing, health and social care, to cyber fraud detection, textiles and aviation.

You can read more about what we offer at www.bucks.ac.uk.

Bucks College Group

No matter what your background, our mission is to transform lives through learning and help you achieve your full potential.

We operate from three main campuses in Aylesbury, Wycombe and Amersham, each of which has industry standard facilities in which you will learn and practice your skills, supported by technology that helps bring learning to life.

What makes us special? The Bucks College Factor is our way of highlighting the exceptional links we have to key employers and industries. We have partnerships with Pinewood Studios for creative students, and Chelsea Football Club for our sports students. Our Health and Social Care students have become Nurse Cadets with the NHS, supporting our key workers at this difficult time.

Full-time students will be encouraged to grow and flourish in an environment that is structured in a way you would not find at school. While part-time and 19+ students will find that we can open the door to higher education with more affordable and convenient alternative to University.

We are also Buckinghamshire’s biggest provider of Apprenticeships with work based learning opportunities in Business, Construction, Engineering, Healthcare and more.

Kath Dunn

Kath joined Buckinghamshire College Group as Executive Director, Student Support & Services in February 2020. As part of her role, she supports students and staff in achieving an excellent student experience with positive outcomes. She is committed in supporting students to be their very best, develop a love of learning and become engaged citizens.

Prior to this, Kath trained as a Careers Adviser following her BA(Hons) in Educational and Social Studies and Religious Studies. She worked initially for a local Education Authority before moving to a charity delivering careers support to young people and adults across Berkshire. Kath became one of the first community Careers Advisers for the organisation, supporting young people facing barriers in accessing learning and work to navigate support services. She subsequently coordinated adult careers provision across the county and managed centres and local authority information, advice and guidance contracts, including support for young people with special educational needs.

Kath worked on a range of initiatives for Adviza, the service providing Connexions support across the Thames Valley, including quality standards and the introduction of the National Citizen Service. She moved to Bucks New University in 2014 as Head of Careers, focusing particularly on support for students from “widening participation” backgrounds and employability in the context of “with Foundation Year” degree programmes.

ASK Claire Reeves

The Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge (ASK) Programme offers you full support on apprenticeships, this talk will help you to understand your apprenticeship options and the supportive resources available for youHeather Dean, Head of Business Support & Skills, Buckinghamshire Business First

Heather Dean, Head of Business Support & Skills, Buckinghamshire Business First

Heather oversees the Business Support Team and Skills Hub at Buckinghamshire Business First which includes the delivery of a range of specialist programmes designed to help Buckinghamshire’s businesses grow and thrive in today’s economy.

Heather has worked at senior management level in a range of businesses and helped countless others to grow. Heather joined Ngage Solutions (a subsidiary of Buckinghamshire Business First) in 2005 as Skills Development Manager, using her expertise and knowledge of training and qualifications to design innovative programmes and projects to support SMEs and workforce development at both regional and local levels. Heather has been successful in winning a wide range of bids and tenders such as training for retailers, upskilling construction companies to bid as consortia for some of the major contracts, coaching for growth for SMEs, as well as programmes providing grants and business advice.

Heather has represented the organisation in skills-related matters at a strategic level with a plethora of publicly funded organisations, including Sector Skills Councils, Women’s Enterprise, Lifelong Learning Networks, Local Authorities, Universities, Regional Resource Centres, Sector Consortia, Employment and Skills Boards, and Learning and Skills Partnerships.