I had an interesting and potentially important meeting last week with the head of the External Courses department of a London university – I won’t give details of where and who just yet, but hopefully if things develop, you’ll be reading more about it in the coming weeks and months.

Basically UK universities have been encouraged over the past few years to expand not only the number of students, and the diversity of background that students come from, but also to expand the opportunities available to local communities for education and personal development. I have spoken previously in these blogs about the challenges of these changes, which are seen by some within the university world as ‘dumbing down’ and a dilution of standards. However, many universities have taken up the challenge and developed courses not only for the students on campus, but also for adults in the local community. I met up with the university to discuss offering short courses or workshops on Exam Preparation and Performance.

Tackling exams is a universal study skill, but for many people is a source of unnecessary anxiety and so a barrier to otherwise good people accessing education. The skills developed from tackling exams are also highly transferrable to other situations where people are assessed and judged in a short time, such as interviews or public speaking.

So I had a very productive meeting with an extremely enthusiastic head of department, which was quite refreshing to see, given the loss of morale and general spirit of gritted-teeth one so often finds in the academic world today. We are going to look at how I can structure a course which will incorporate Exam Coaching - my unique combination of research-grounded, educational psychology (‘left brain’) and imaginative, intuitive techniques (‘right brain’) into their programme of external courses for the upcoming academic year. It’s an exciting project, and from what I’ve seen so far, an enthusiastic partner to work with. Watch this space!