The Study Group-run International Study Centre at the University of Sussex will increase its undergraduate and postgraduate offerings, which it hopes will attract more international students to the centre, as well as boosting the flexibility and choice the ISC pathway programs give to students.
50 new courses will be added across the pre-masters and pathway options currently offered by the ISC.
Speaking to The PIE News, Vaughn Leyshon, network director at Study Group, said the decision was made in order to increase the available options for students who may have a change of heart during their pathway program.
“What we’ve done is design some courses which have a lot more choice in, for the student,” he said.
“This is a really well timed initiative because the University of Sussex is currently developing its campus”
“So they might have started thinking they want to do business, and most will carry on like that to… do a business degree at the university. However, through an innovative approach to optional modules we’ve been able to build in the option for students to come in on a business pathway, and then through tailoring their options, progress to a media course, for example,” he continued.
The new undergraduate degrees available to international students progressing from the ISC include BEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering with Robotics, BA History and Politics, and BA Art History. New Masters include MA Education, MA Philosophy, MA Art History and LLM Criminal Law and Criminology.
Allowing students to take many more routes to achieve a degree-level qualification, Leyshon said, will only increase the popularity of the Sussex ISC.
“We think opening up the progression routes will increase the number of students. Sussex is already a very popular place to study, it’s relatively high in the rankings, the ISC is well established, and we get very good progression rates,” he said.
“[This extension] will certainly take us over 1,000 students,” Leyshon added.
The development is not a standalone action, as Leyshon explains, and is timed to coincide with further extensions at the university.
“This is a really well timed initiative because the University of Sussex is currently developing its campus, and specifically is introducing a significant increase in student accommodation on the campus.”
“Across the path from the ISC, they’re building 1,000 new bed spaces,” Leyshon said.
