News & web magazines
Educationet.org
www.educationet.org
A news and campaigns site about developments in education – mainly higher education. Conservatives and Tony Blair may find the angle a bit uncomfortable.
Fresh Direction
www.freshdirection.co.uk
Online version of the free student magazine. All a bit self-consciously cool.
Funky
www.funky.co.uk
Funky by name, funky by nature. A bit lightweight on resources, but good for the latest Big Brother gossip or getting your hands on drinking game rules.
InterStudent
www.interstudent.co.uk
Not so much a website as a collection of links to other websites. Most useful for the student-written articles, on all kinds of things from pulling the opposite sex and missing deadlines to dealing with depression.
The National Student
www.national-student.co.uk
Online newspaper for Higher Education students in the UK. Equally useful for budding Piers Morgans as somewhere to practice writing, editing and buying dodgy photos.
Student Alive
www.studentalive.com
Another fun and funky student portal.
StudentUK.com
www.studentuk.com
Yet another website for students, by students.
Aim Higher
www.aimhigher.ac.uk
A Government-funded site about applying to university and being a student in the UK. It's got lots of useful stuff and is less dull to use than the DfES site (see below), but don't expect anything radical or not officially approved.
BUSA
www.busa.org.uk
The official British Universities Sports Association homepage.
Central Applications Office (Ireland)
www.cao.ie
Deals with Higher Education applications for the Republic of Ireland. Search for a course or access the applications handbook.
DfES (Department for Education & Skills)
www.dfes.gov.uk
The Government department that runs the education system and universities. Contains advice and reliable details about anything official to do with higher education and student finance. Also the latest on funding and policy changes and the Government's excuses.
ESIB (The National Unions of Students in Europe)
www.esib.org
A Europe-wide umbrella organization of students. It consists of 50 national unions of students (from 37 countries), but these tend to be umbrella organizations themselves for individual students' unions, which in turn are umbrellas for individual students. That's so many umbrellas, most of the students underneath are along way from the kind of rain that ESIB is bothered by.
HERO
www.hero.ac.uk
Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK. Dry but useful education resources.
NI Students
www.nistudents.org
National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland – try saying that after several pints – represents the interests of students in Northern Ireland and this is their website.
NUS (The National Union of Students)
www.nusonline.co.uk
NUS is the national body that brings together all the individual students' unions at all the individual universities and colleges. It represents students and campaigns on their behalf – they're the ones who organise the placard-waving marches. NUS also provides a whole load of services from a huge range of discounts to some of the best welfare advice available for students anywhere.
SCOP (Standing Conference of Principals)
www.scop.ac.uk
A platform for the heads of higher education colleges that aren't universities. University heads join Universities UK (see below) instead.
UCAS (The University & Colleges Admissions Service)
www.ucas.com
The organisation that handles most applications to almost every university and college in the UK. Lots of useful stuff (if a bit dull) about how they think the application system should work and some stuff about the universities themselves (based on info provided by the universities, so beware). Two other useful functions: a courses list, which is handy, but not as easy to use as Push Online's, and a questionnaire to help you decide what course is right for you.
Universities UK
www.universitiesuk.ac.uk
The umbrella organization of the universities, but this umbrella leaves the students out in the rain. It's basically a platform for university vice-chancellors.
Uniaid
www.uniaid.org.uk
UNIAID is a charity helping young people overcome financial hurdles to higher education. Bursary news, financial advice and sometimes a listening/helpful ear on money matters.
Last updated on: 07 March 2007