Private pupils urged to consider Napier University

HEADTEACHERS at prestigious independent schools are advising pupils to look beyond Oxford and Cambridge to new universities, as competition for degree places intensifies.

Andrew Hunter of Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, is recommending that pupils consider applying to Napier rather than only to the traditional institutions.

He described the university in the capital as vastly improved and said: "In the UK, people tend to think of Oxford and Cambridge, then the Russell Group, but there are also some fantastic other universities.

"Employers have turned their nose up in the past, but Napier is a rapidly improving university and, for some people, the perfect place to go."

More than 74 per cent of Merchiston pupils have gone on to university five years running.

Peter Hogan, headteacher at Loretto in Musselburgh, East Lothian, praised Napier's high employment record for graduates. He said: "Pupils are not simply seeing a university as the end goal. An awful lot more people are saying what they want to do, rather than where we want to go."

One of his pupils wanted to design racing cars, so chose Coventry University. Mr Hogan said: "It is a former polytechnic, but it's one of the best places in the country for designing planes and racing cars."

He said the Russell Group, representing the UK's top 20 universities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow, was no longer the only target. "Russell Group universities were the ones seen as having the reputation but that has been blown out for certain subjects," he said.

"Napier is definitely excellent for business and engineering.

"There will always be people who are focused on Oxford, Cambridge or St Andrews and Durham – and they have the best courses in some areas – but the employment market today is very different."

Claire Baker, Scottish Labour's higher education spokeswoman, praised new universities. She said: "Their ability to produce highly skilled graduates with the know-how to help grow and develop Scotland's economy is one of the great success stories."

However, she warned record applications to university could see many unfairly rejected.

Earlier this week, it emerged straight-A students who would normally expect to go to medical school were not getting interviews.

Dr Jenny Rees, vice-principal academic at Napier, said the university was delighted to receive ringing endorsements from such prestigious schools.

She said: "The increase in applications to study at Edinburgh Napier – up by 53 per cent this year – is well in excess of our competitor institutions and shows that prospective students are attracted by what we have to offer. Edinburgh Napier is one of the top ten universities in the UK for graduate employability, with 97.4 per cent of our graduates going into work or further study within six months of graduating."