Professor Anna Vignoles CBE FBA delivers keynote for Sixth Form UCAS day

Our Sixth Form students were fortunate to benefit from the experience of Professor Vignoles - who delivered the keynote for our UCAS day earlier this month.

Professor Vignoles' journey in education was not a smooth one, with frequent school changes when she was young; disrupted A-levels, and a deliberate choice to turn her back on Oxbridge and LSE at university in favour of SOAS , and a course that ignited her interest in economics. It wasn’t until she was nearly 30, however that she chose to move into academia, and sign up for a PhD at Newcastle University.

She went on to become one of the youngest professors at Cambridge University, and a leading expert on education economics. She has advised successive governments on how education adds value for both the individual and the wider economy. Recently she took over as Director of the Leverhulme Trust, an organisation that funds over £100 million of blue-sky research each year.

Professor Vignoles gave our students some excellent tips on universities, translating choices into average earnings so that you can gauge the value of a specific degree at a particular university, really empowering you to make informed choices about which course is best for you, at least on paper.