Fife College opens virtual doors to prospective students

Over 1,200 potential Fife College students logged on to find out more about college life during a number of Virtual Open Day events this week.

The online sessions, organised by the College as an alternative to the traditional face to face open days which usually take place on campus, offered prospective students an opportunity to connect and interact with lecturers and other college staff ahead of the 20/21 academic year.

Each session featured welcomes from the principal and faculty director followed by live presentations from a member of faculty staff as well as someone from the College’s Student Experience and Engagement team.

The sessions concluded with virtual attendees getting the chance to ask questions to the panel and online, with an astonishing 800 plus questions logged over the four sessions.

Hosted on Microsoft Teams, the sessions focussed on the faculty areas of Creative Industries; Business, Enterprise and Tourism; Care, Social Science and Education; and Engineering, Science, Technology and Built Environment.

Mhairi Shillinglaw, Director of Student Experience and Engagement at Fife College, said:

“Thank you to everyone who tuned in to our virtual open day events, and for the hundreds of questions that were posed to us during the sessions. Feedback from the sessions has been fantastic with engagement actually higher than when we run physical/face-to-face events on campus.

“It really was great to see so many prospective students getting involved asking questions, such as our plans around social distancing on campus etc. This shows a real appetite for information on how college life will look during these unprecedented times.

“We will continue to ensure we provide detailed updates on our return to college plans as often as we can over the coming weeks and look forward to students getting their learning experience underway with us in August.”

A phased start to the new college session will see full-time courses beginning on 31 August with each student contacted individually with details of their own course arrangements.

The College will take a blended approach to learning and teaching, with courses, delivered online for the majority of students. Digital learning will be supported through the distribution of devices and 4G internet provision where required.

The College’s plans for reopening are aligned to the Scottish Government route map for moving out of lockdown and, as ever, the health, safety and wellbeing of students, staff and visitors will continue to be the number one priority.

The Fife College Virtual Open Day sessions can be re-watched on demand on the College website which includes all video clips, case studies and course information from each session.

An accompanying question and answer page is also available which will also be updated in the coming days and weeks to reflect questions raised across the sessions which could not be answered live at the time.

The success of the Virtual Open Day events follows the release of the College’s latest Student Satisfaction Survey results that showed 94% of students were satisfied with with their experience at Fife College, with 96% recommending the College to others.

For more information about the Fife College Virtual Open Days visit, www.fife.ac.uk/virtual-open-day/

For information about the College’s plans for getting the 20/21 academic year up and running, visit www.fife.ac.uk/return-to-college/