New College Swindon Students Celebrate Colleges Week with Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland Q&A

A Level politics students hosted a Q&A with local MP Sir Robert Buckland recently as part of the 2024 Colleges Week celebrations.

Colleges Week aims to raise the profile of colleges across the country by engaging with local MPS’s and other stakeholders to celebrate the successes of colleges and the vital work they do in the local community and to support the local economy.

As well as celebrating individual student success stories, the week was focussed on shaping conversations expected election in the autumn and highlighting the importance of registering to vote.

Colleges week culminated in the Q&A with Sir Robert hosted by A Level politics and GCSE Citizenship students. A wide range of topics were covered; the crisis in Gaza, university funding, and how to make politics more interesting to young voters.

When asked about university funding, Sir Robert was keen to highlight that the traditional model of studying away for 3 years is evolving. “It’s important to tailor degree-level courses to the needs of the student and make them more accessible to students needing to stay locally such as people doing a degree later in life whist working to support a family”. He continues, “You [New College Swindon] now have the Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology and the New College Swindon University Centre that can offer that tailored course for local people”.

Constance Roach, Politics Lecturer at the College was delighted that Colleges Week was such a success. “We always aim to offer an engaging experience for all our students and this week has been brilliant. The students organised voting registration desks throughout the week at our Queens Drive Campus, and really put a lot of thought into the types of questions they were asking Sir Robert.”