NCS News

The Open University is forty years old this year and is still the world leader for distance learning. That the OU has been moving in the correct direction all this time is borne out by the number of online and distance learning courses offered by the traditional institutions as they learn how to do things [...]

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The BBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are” begins a new series tonight, with an investigation into the family history of presenter Davina McCall. This series will guide celebrities through their family trees, delving into history as we go.
If it puts you in the mood for finding some ancestors, why not try our History and [...]

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Phil Willis, chairman of the Commons select committee covering higher education, says a cap on student places in England will result in thousands of teenagers going on the dole instead of continuing their education. Increased funding of student places is inadequate to keep track of the big increase in applications this year.
This seems to contradict [...]

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Former Education Secretary David Blunkett has come out in defence of the adult need for learning. Writing in the Guardian on Tuesday, Blunkett cites the positive influence of adult learning on performance in the workplace and in the performance of children of adult learners in school as powerful arguments for the support of adults in [...]

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Adult Learners’ Week runs from 9th to 15th May this year and NCS is doing its bit to support it. You can try some course snippets and a complete free course over at the NCS ALW page. Try a course on Archaeology, Health Care or Herbology. It’s all free for Adult Learners’ Week.

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The older students of remote Australian island Tasmania have been served by Adult Education Tasmania since 1949. The organisation is rightly proud of this long-service in an age when the mature learner is often forgotten.
 
 This autumn they are providing courses in an enviable range of subjects from Arts and Crafts to Outdoors and Adventure, by [...]

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A happy Easter to all our readers!
It also looks like the weather is improving; just the right time to be taking a course with an outdoors element. May we suggest getting out in the garden for some Herbal Remedies, or maybe the Ecology of Your Garden is of interest? Maybe travel beckons and an Introduction [...]

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Dr John Medina has applied recent developments in neuroscience to come up with a twelve-point plan for maximising brainpower. You can give your brain a workout over at his web site, Brain Rules.
Some of the ideas may be surprising but are founded in science. Rule 1 suggests that our brains will work better when we [...]

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Durham University is offering £2000 to its graduates to stay on and conduct research rather than trying for a first job in the current gloomy economic climate. As graduate recruiters cut their targets by nearly 50%, the university is offering more opportunites for graduates in the academic sector. 102 scholarships are being offered this year [...]

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How do you qualify to be a student in the UK? Ideally, you need to be under 25 and looking for a vocational course. Only 1% of the UK education budget is available for older students. This in the face of demographic change which sees 11 million people of pensionable age, many of whom will [...]

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