North Wales HE Fairs
Well, the two North Wales HE Fairs pretty much demonstrated the best and the worst of what HE Fairs can be like. On Tuesday I went to the North East Wales fair in Wrexham. The organisers were really friendly and helpful, all the information I received in advance was complete and well-organised, on the day the flow of potential applicants was steady so they had plenty of time to chat with university reps if they wanted, they stopped for lunch to give us all a rest, they fed us a fantastic buffet meal and there was an unlimited flow of free tea and coffee. Just brilliant.
On Wednesday, I went to the North West Wales HE Fair in Llandudno. The information they sent in advance was incomplete so I didn’t know what times the fair would be open, nor did I have any contact details so that I could find out. At least finding the place and parking was easy, but I had to hike all the way in to the building and back to get the free parking permit which added 10 minutes to my set up time. The flow of students was all over the place so stands were mobbed for half an hour, then there’d be no-one for ages so it can’t have been a very useful experience for the students. Then there was no-one after about 1pm so we all had to sit like lemons for an hour until the organisers would let us pack up. Worst of all they didn’t close for lunch. I think the idea was that you would grab a quick buttie from the coffee bar, but having tasted their foul and disgusting coffee I decided to give it a miss. We were given two free coffee tickets (which is really stingy) but I doubt if anyone used both.
The students themselves though were quite well informed which is always good to see.