Falling in love... with learning

Choosing a courseWhy university?Learning

Nov 13

Woman making the shape of a heart with her hands

It’s November, and those of you in your final year at school will be right in the thick of it with your university application process. You might be super-organised, and have applied already. You might be finalising your Personal Statement and refining your final choices. Or you might just be taking the first baby steps towards working out what on earth you are going to apply for!

Whichever stage you are at, you are not alone; there are thousands of others in the same position.

All of you (except a few super-human students), will be going through the same doubts: Am I doing the right thing? Is university for me? Will I enjoy the course? Will it be worth it?

And so now is actually a really good time to ask the essential question of yourself: Why go to university? And in particular, why are you looking to apply to university?

Nearly a million people apply each year to do an undergraduate degree in the UK, and their reasons for doing so vary massively. In this article, I’ll discuss some of the good reasons, some of the bad reasons, and let you know what I think might just be the best reason of all!

So… why university?

Some of you will want to learn stuff, to become experts in a subject that you are really interested in. Others will want to learn stuff about themselves and their place in the world. Some of you might see university as a route to getting a good career. Others will just see it as a way to get a bit of paper; the bit of accreditation that gives you entry to the profession you want to enter.

Some young people just want to get away from home, find independence and start their adult life. Others will want to continue their education, but stay exactly where they are, close to family and friends.

Some of you will be reading this because you want to come to the UK; to study in a new country, learn a new language, experience a new culture, and take the benefits of your learning home at the end. Others will want to come to the UK and stay.

I expect some of you want to break the mould and do what your parents and peers have never done by getting into university. Others, if you are honest, are just following exactly what is expected of you, by your parents, your peers and your teachers.

Some of you will be out for a good time, to meet new friends, maybe even your life partner. Others will want to bury their heads in books and get the very best marks possible.

Are these reasons good enough?

Going to university purely because your parents think you should is clearly a bad idea. But your parents probably have a fairly sensible reason to want you to go (they will think it's good for your career), and this, combined with your motivation to study, learn more about yourself, and build your independence, is probably a pretty good reason to go!

Likewise, wanting to break the mould, and escape your upbringing, probably alone isn’t enough. But breaking the mould, alongside a desire to become an expert in your discipline? That sounds to me like a very good reason to go to university.

And of course, going to university just for a good time is also clearly a bad idea. But having a good time while working hard to build the groundwork for a successful career? That sounds like the definition of a youth well spent!

For your sake, I hope you do have multiple reasons. University, you see, is far too broad an experience to be contained by just one purpose. If you are going to university with one, single-minded purpose, I fear there is a good chance you’ll be disappointed. If you have only one single purpose, and that purpose isn’t fully fulfilled, then you may end up blaming yourself for making a bad choice, or you may blame the university for under-delivering.

So, have a think about what is motivating you, and why you are thinking about applying to university. Understanding your own motivation is a key part of good decision-making, and aligning your motivation with what is on offer through different courses at different universities will be critical for you if you want to fulfill your reasons for going.

The best reason of all…

One thing, however, I would hope that all of you will have at the heart of your thinking is something that is fundamental to every student's journey through university. Everyone knows that university is a place to learn, but more than that, university is a place where you can learn how to learn.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how the future of jobs is changing, and how the knowledge and skills needed to perform these jobs is changing. Far beyond your time at university you will need to continue to build your knowledge and learn new skills.

In fact, to be successful in any career, you will need to carry on learning all of your working life.

You’ll learn from formal training courses, from YouTube videos, from wikis, blogs, podcasts, perhaps even from books! Technology is developing so fast that in your lifetime, you’ll probably learn more through technology that hasn’t been invented yet, than you will in the classroom through your whole degree. And it is that learning that will keep you progressing through your life and your career.

So, while you are working out where to go to university and what to study, and while you are at university becoming an expert, or preparing for a specific career, my advice is to make learning how to learn your priority. Take time to learn how to find information, how to be critical of sources, how to understand your own strengths and weaknesses. Learn how to build robust techniques that work for you, and most importantly learn how to put your learning into practice.

Some of you might even fall in love with the very process of learning! But for all of you it should at least become a habit; something that you just do, naturally, all the time as a human being.

The most impressive people I’ve met throughout my career have been those with a growth mindset; they are hungry to learn, they know how to learn, and they know how to put the things they learn into practice straight away.