QA Hosts its First Pathway Conference

This February marked a very special occasion for the QA Higher Education team, our very first International Pathway Conference!

We hand-picked some of our top performing pathway representatives from across the globe. Invited our university partners. Selected members of our International Recruitment Team and Pathway Teams. Then headed out for 3 days in Dubai to talk all things pathway.

So what did we talk about?

With the teams arriving throughout the day on the 12th, we kicked the conference off with an evening of informal networking, giving everyone a chance to meet the teams in a relaxed environment.

The conference formally started on Thursday, with an introduction from Nick Miller, Marketing and Recruitment Director at QA. Thanking our partners and representatives for their continued support and for taking the time out of their busy schedules to attend our first conference of this kind. Nick introduced the wider QA group and our current and future plans.

Next up, Joy Musa, Director of International Recruitment and Mislu Miah, Regional Director presented our Recruitment structures and our student cohorts, where we have seen successes, and how we have worked closely with our representatives and partners to make improvements.

Guy Robson, our very own Head of Pathway, and event organiser, delved deeper in to our new pathway provision, with new courses and new entry requirements, all designed with the student and their learning experience at the heart.

After that, we introduced Rob Carthy, Director of International Development at Northumbria University, who, alongside Rejjie Ahmed, Pathway International Officer at QA, presented everything Northumbria. From the university’s Top 50 ranking (Complete University Guide, 2020) and why students continue to vote for Newcastle as one of the top student cities in the UK.

Anna Rybak, International Pathway Officer at QA, and Professor Peter Lloyd, Dean of the School of Art, Design and Fashion at Solent University, presented on Solent’s focus on high employability rates and specialised degree programmes that the pathway programmes offer progression on to. We heard about the significant investment that Solent is making in specialist facilities to support high employability outcomes including in Maritime and Yacht Design facilities as well as a dedicated student-run retail initiative, Re:So.

Katharine Trewern, Director of Marketing and Communications at QA, followed up with the final presentation of the day, taking the teams through the range of marketing resources and platforms available for our attendees to use when counselling their students.

Closing the day with a fun filled quiz (including an extraordinarily tense tiebreaker) and an evening reception. We were delighted to be able to spend such quality time with our partners and rounded off the event the following day with one to one meetings, and a desert safari for a final taste of Dubai!

“We are very thankful for the chance to be here and to meet all key persons and to learn new things that are going to potentially be beneficial for our students.”
Sukhrob Tairov
Tagus

“We’re delighted to be able to welcome so many of our representatives from across the globe to our first ever pathway conference. It’s not only been a great opportunity for us to showcase our partners and new courses, but to also hear feedback from the market and understand how and where we can continue to support our representatives and applicants as we continue to develop our pathway provision.”
Guy Robson
Head of Pathway Recruitment