SIS Student visit to Heriot-Watt University.

"I visited the University of Heriot-Watt campus for its open day on the 23rd of September, amongst thousands of other students. The campus itself is situated to the northwest of the city, five minutes from Edinburgh Airport and 20 minutes by bus from the city centre. The campus is surrounded by tall trees and fields, and as it’s built on top of an old manor house the gardens in which it's situated make for a country feel.

There are many modern buildings on the campus, however, including the research centre, the new accommodation buildings and the main buildings, all built just towards the end of the last century. The new accommodation on site is extremely new, built last year, and comes with all the modern comforts. Each room has a large window overlooking the vast football pitches and contain a new desk each year, a double bed and en suite bathrooms.

As I went to look at the Business courses, I sat down for a talk in the main hall about the many opportunities the University offers. In particular, the University has three campuses in three different climates; Scotland, Dubai and Malaysia. They offer a year, half year or semester abroad to study there, or at any one of their 200 other University partnerships. Looking at International Business, this would be incredibly beneficial to any student looking to increase their knowledge of international relations.

University of Heriot-Watt Business School

The sport complex at Heriot-Watt is world class. Oriam, the giant sports complex that they have on campus, was built by the Scottish government for £33 million and houses both Hearts of Midlothian and the National Scottish football teams. Three indoor pitches with stands, squash courts, two gyms and two handball courts, all housed in a giant dome, sports lovers will feel right at home. It also has two outdoor football pitches and two rugby pitches, meaning constant sports are available.

A very strong university with multiple routes to follow in accommodation, courses and activities.

DP2016 where they are going

Graduation Speech Opener minus the many SIS Alumni Quotes

We use the term International to mean many things; our outlook, experiences, allegiances, BUT the international diaspora that is the SIS Alumni is a powerful advocate of international mindedness, in its own right, and our own SIS values that interconnect us all to the same story.

Our student population today comes from a far wider global base than it did ten years ago, and where our students are choosing to go to study at University is also changing, making our connections more international and valuable.

This current year DP2016 is already one of the most diverse group for applications, with many having multiple options in more than one country to choose from.

SInce 2009 some 350 SIS Students have left us after graduating to go to University in many different locations around the world, and DP2016 are poised to join this elite international group. With this in mind I asked some of our previous graduates to tell us about what it means to be part of the SIS diaspora.......

Visit of the University of British Columbia/Canadian Applications.

Today we had a very informative series of sessions on applying to Canada from Andrew Champagne from the University of British Columbia. Interest in studying in Canada was really high with our student body, with a lot of take up from D1, M5 and M4 students to the additional Q&A sessions. As the Canadian Dollar is relatively weak against the € the costs ranging between 9000-27000 Can $ proved to be competitive when considering the alternative options for study. The presentation will be shared with the students in their Google Classroom, but some key points to consider are that the IB Diploma is normally enough, but the importance of Maths SL/HL was raised over studies, and also the necessity of a physics and chemistry combination with regard to engineering courses. Scholarships and the importance of the personal profile questions were also stressed, and clarification over English language requirements. Our thanks go to Andrew for his flexibility, and we look forward to seeing the UBC at our University Convention on November the 28th.

SIS Career Convention 15.4.2016

"On Friday afternoon, nearly 50 local businesses took part in the fourth U&C Career Convention at Sotogrande School. This year the event was held in the School gym, and was open to all secondary students and parents. In addition to the main convention, there were eight seminars running on a number of career choices from Law, Medicine, Business, Arts & Fashion, Finance, Engineering and Hospitality. There was also a session on University applications and general career advice. The event was considered to be an overwhelming success by both employers and students alike. Feedback from those who attended was incredibly positive.  The presenters raved about the event, the school and most importantly the students.  One presenter is quoted as saying that, “Wow, maybe we should come back to school!” A big thank you goes out to all of those participants who helped to make the event such a success. U&C Team."


https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-share_video_user&v=c7UTzPCCfDk

Glion and Les Roches Switzerland Feb 2016 Visit

Over half term  I accompanied three sis students to the Switz Hospitality Schools of Glion and Les Roches. Sarah, Kristina and Raul were all incredibly impressed with the Schools. Both these School are considered to be in the top three Hospitality Schools in the world with an 87% placement into a professional career for students before they have completed their degree. The Campuses are set in stunning surroundings above Montreux and next to Crans-Montana respectively. The professors and students who we interacted with, were incredibly open and supportive in answering all of our questions, from applications, costings and the structure of the respective courses. We learnt a great deal about what was on offer, and also about the opportunities for internships and job placements at the end of the three and half year courses. Our students were able to interact with a range of other prospective applicants from across Europe, The Middle East and Africa and they all felt the trip was really beneficial in helping their applications. They are all determined to apply to either Les Roches or Glion next year. These are the links to the Schools: GLION LES ROCHES if you are interested in further information. Finally, for those of you who might remember her, I bumped into Sophie Navarro, an ex SIS student who nows work as an Enrolment Manager for the Laureate Group, who own both Glion and Les Roches!

April 15th Career Convention SIS:

On April 15th we will be holding the fourth SIS Career Convention. The venue this year will be in the Gym with the Secondary student body attending from 2pm to 5pm. Parents will also be invited to attend the event, and there will be an opportunity to present on specific careers in addition to the stalls for a number of related businesses.

Link for Employer interest

DP2017 History trip to London

An excellent first two days on the London history trip. Today has been a busy day at the imperial war museum, then the cabinet war rooms and Churchill museum. Following this we also visited the natural history museum. We also got to meet a number of ex sis students now studying at Kings, Reading, Leeds and Essex universities.