Student Get Ahead 2008 conference hailed as great success

Students and their learning experience were at the heart of the 2008 Get Ahead student conference at London Metropolitan University, which was held earlier this month.

The free conference, which was aimed exclusively at students, attracted over one hundred people and provided an upbeat and positive way of addressing study and academic skills issues.

London Met's three Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs) worked together with staff and students across the University to organise a wide range of learning activities at the one day event. The conference was designed help students learn more about how to make the most out of their time at the University and how best to maximise their potential.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Development), Professor Paul Lister, gave an inspiring speech to students in which he outlined what it takes to succeed both at university and in life in general.

The rest of the day consisted of a series of workshops and talks focusing on different areas of learning and development.

Alumnus and recent Vice-President of JP Morgan, Wajid Malik, (pictured above) who graduated with a BSc Business and Computing in 1992 also presented a talk at the conference. He spoke to students about his personal experiences at the University and in the world of work. He also discussed what attributes were necessary to be successful in the corporate world. He motivated the audience by highlighting the benefits of making the most of opportunities afforded at the University.

Andy Mitchell, one of the conference organisers, said: ‘It has been a great day. I think this sort of focus event really helps and motivates students. The feedback we have had from student delegates was very positive and a lot of interest has been shown in whether we will be organising conferences like this in the near future.’

One student delegate said: ‘This event has been really useful and I'm grateful to everyone who organised it.'

6 March 2008