Category Archives: Student Stories
Doing Go Higher ‘Educating Rita’ Style by Paula Murphy, Class of 2012
There are probably a million and one different reasons why people become mature students. Many delay study because of family or work commitments, some are keen to study in retirement, and some people enrol to improve their promotion prospects at work. These are just a handful of the driving forces which bring people to university outside of the 18-21 age bracket, and the diversity of the mature student community is reflected in the diversity of our reasons for study. Personally, after dropping out of university at eighteen, I never saw a degree as being particularly important. I got a job instead, and though I secretly harboured ambitions to become a journalist, or to work in publishing, I didn’t allow myself to believe that these ambitions would ever become a reality. Then, when I hit the big 3-0, and in true Educating Rita style, I decided that I wanted to be able to have intelligent conversation, and I wanted to just know things.
A Go Higher Awakening by Andrew Corkhill, Class of 2010
Go Higher for me was a re-awakening. It was my first foray back into academia after 4 years off due to illness. I began in September 2009 and took modules in English Language, Philosophy and History. I had originally – as an 18 year old – completed A-levels, but my grades were sub-standard and I had little options. At 23 I realised I had not finished with education and my intention was to use Go Higher to earn myself a place on an undergraduate History course at a prestigious university. Fortunately I achieved my aim and studied History at the University of Liverpool, graduating in Summer 2013 during a lavish ceremony at the Liverpool Philharmonic.
