A Level Accounting students are again being given the opportunity to participate in the Institute for Financial Services’ prestigious “Student Investor Challenge” competition.
Working in teams, students invest a “virtual” £100,000 in shares and use their skill and judgement to trade their portfolios using real data supplied by Bloomberg and FTSE (just like real traders). Entrants are given extra tuition to learn about stock market theory so this is a great opportunity to learn something new (and it also looks good on your UCAS application). NULC students have in the past reached the national finals (top 8 out of more than 800 entries) so why not have a go. You never know, you could win the top prize which is an all expenses paid trip to New York.
If you are interested contact lecturer Richard Simpson but be quick, the competition starts on the 5th November! For further information visit http://www.studentinvestor.org
On Thursday 17 October a group of 27 A Level Accounting and Economics students visited Lancaster University’s Management School for an insight into the finance related degree courses they offer and to get a taste of what it is like to study at one of the UK’s leading finance research universities.
After a tour of the campus and the halls of residences students were treated to taster classes with Professor Mark Shackleton and Dr Emanuele Bracco. Professor Shackleton demonstrated how market prices are set in the “trading pits” for a range of commodities like barrels of oil, coffee and wheat. Follow this link to a get a feel for what a “trading pit” looks like:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKE6McIwqfg&feature=related
Pretty frantic! Did you notice how the traders use a range of hand signals to say whether they are selling or buying? Palms out, “I’m Selling”, fists clenched “I’m buying”. Here is another link that should give you a good feel for what’s going on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF3e7MY9Hqk
Students had to estimate the prices that they would be prepared to pay to buy and to sell bottles filled with pennies. The catch is you don’t know how many pennies are in the bottles. This link shows the trading game in action in a previous session. The ideas in the demonstration are very relevant to issues like the pricing of shares in Royal Mail too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_5uuKpiS0&feature=edu&list=PL18895495644A6AF5
Well done to Josh Hopley and Yusuf Gigani who won the game with the closest estimate of the real value.
Dr Bracco led a session on game theory (also called The Nash Equilibrium after the character Russell Crowe played in the film “A Beautiful Mind”). Dr Bracco explained this theory using a classic example called “The Prisoners’ Dilemma”. Have a look at the following for further explanation. Game theory is essential for understanding collusion in markets.
https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/nash-equilibrium-tutorial
Curriculum Leader Richard Simpson said, “This was a brilliant way to show students what studying at a leading University might be like. Hopefully it will really inspire our students to really aim high”.
To launch Film Club 2013 special guest speaker, Daniel Hopkins, Senior Lecturer at Staffordshire University and experimental filmmaker visited NULC.
Dan provided a talk to students which focussed on courses at Staffordshire University and provided invaluable career advice to AS and A2 Film Studies students and A2 Media Studies students.
Several short films were screened and post talk NULC students had the opportunity to speak with
Daniel on a one to one basis. The night was highly successful and the students felt it was an enriching event – they absolutely adored the films, especially the student projects and Daniel’s experimental bodies of work.
To find out more about studying A Level Film Studies at NULC click here or contact the Information Point on info@nulc.ac.uk or 01782 254254.
AS and A level Graphics students have been working with young typographic artist and designer Tom Perry. Tom, who studied A Level Graphics alongside the National Diploma in Graphics at Newcastle-under-Lyme College in 2004, has recently been carving out a successful career as a freelance designer.
Having completed a degree in illustration Tom launched Pez and Pencil, with a growing client list including the ‘Why Not?’ clothing brand, Tom has built a reputation of highly individualised approaches to the creation of type and lettering based illustration and advertising. During his workshops at NULC, Tom gave students an illustrated overview of his journey from College to industry and led a quick-fire creative typography exercise.
Mike Kelly, Course Leader for Graphics at NULC, is delighted to have someone of Tom’s calibre coming back to share their ideas and industry insights with current students. “ Tom is such a motivating character and if a little of his energy and inventiveness rubs off on the students it can only help them as their understanding of this subjects potential grows. Students need to hear and see first-hand how an interest can become a career choice, something we can do by bringing in talented practicing artists.”
Check out Tom's outstanding portfolio by clicking here to visit his website.
To find out more about studying A Level Graphics at NULC click here or contact the Information Point on 01782 254254 or email info@nulc.ac.uk.
On Friday 4 October NULC Sixth Form was lucky enough to welcome John Murtough, Head of Elite Player Performance at the Premier League, to talk to some of our students.
John works at the Premier League Head Office in London. His talk was to a packed auditorium of students studying A-levels in Computing, IT and Sports Science. John explained all about the Elite Player Performance Plan, and the way that they collect data from every Premier League player.
He then talked about how the advances in Computing and IT systems have enabled more analysis to be done into training methods, and that this has helped improve the clubs academy systems for youth players.
John has worked previously at a number of Premier League clubs, and he ran the youth academies at Fulham and Everton. It was a fascinating insight into the world of professional football, and how important data analysis is becoming across many sports.
To find out more about studying A Levels at NULC click here or contact the Information Point on 01782 254254 or email info@nulc.ac.uk.
Students from Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) are taking part in European Democracy Week in partnership with Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Students studying AS and A Level Law at the College have been invited to take part in a week of events by the local council. The week kicks off on Monday with the Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Gareth Snell meeting with students and providing an insight into local government and the role it plays within society.
Emily Phillips, Curriculum Leader for Law at NULC, said: “We’re delighted to be the only college locally to be participating in European Democracy Week. The students will be meeting a whole host of public figures and learning all kinds of employability skills. Opportunities like this really set our students apart when applying for university, as they have first hand experience of working with public figures and an informed insight in to government and politics.”
In addition, students will also be taking part in a Planning Committee Meeting where they will have the opportunity to apply the theoretical law they have been studying at college.
NULC offers the broadest range of post-16 opportunities in North Staffordshire, courses are available in a wide range of subjects including 35 different AS/A Levels plus vocational courses in Art, Design and Media, Beauty Therapy, Business and Accounting, Childcare and Early Years, Computing and IT, Construction, Engineering, Floristry, Hairdressing, Health and Social Care, Land Based Studies, Music Technology, Performing Arts, Public Services, Sport and Travel and Tourism.
To find out more about the range of full-time courses available visit www.nulc.ac.uk or contact the Information Point on 01782 25424 or email info@nulc.ac.uk.
