Pamela & Anthony

Married couple achieve top grades together

A married couple have graduated with first-class degrees from the University of Bradford, after entering higher education as adult learners.

You both came to University via an alternative route. Can you explain your journey?

Pamela: We both went to Leeds City College and did an Access to Higher Education course. I did it in social care and you did it in...

Anthony: Engineering and science.

Pamela: Then we applied to loads of universities. We were going to move south at one point and then we decided to move here because of our families. We came through Clearing.

What was it that inspired you to come to university? It’s quite a brave thing to do...

Anthony: I was doing predominantly 9-5 retail work, really boring jobs. Pamela wanted to get a career whilst I was doing this and she told me about the Access Course. I looked up engineering and thought ‘I might as well give it a go, why not’. I wanted to get a career out of it, rather than do a 9-5 and not earn enough money to go on holiday and things like that.

Pamela: I did it because I volunteered for around four years at a children’s centre and I thought ‘I'm going to just go to university and make a career out of what I like doing’.

When you arrived did you feel there were services and support available to you?

Pamela: Yeah, all the tutors and everybody were really good. We just had a photo with them outside. I've got a good bond with all my tutors and Anthony has as well.

Anthony: Yeah, I’ve also got a learning disability thing as well but having that extra support has made me feel like I can do whatever I want here and nobody will judge me. In terms of lectures, the lecturers understand me and it’s felt really good.

Did you spend time on campus together throughout the course?

Pamela: Yeah, we used to meet up for lunch or we’d go to the library if Anthony had loads of stuff to do.

Anthony: It made it easier that we were both on campus together.

Pamela: Yeah it did, because we’d come in together and even if Anthony was in later in the afternoon and he didn’t have anything in the morning, he’d go to the library and vice versa.

Anthony: It’s a great excuse to do the work whilst you’re already here.

Pamela: It also made commuting easier because we just used to come together.

It sounds like you were both really keen to do it, but how did you find the initial adjustment?

Anthony: I think being a mature learner, you’re used to that kind of pressure and having to do things yourself. When we had a lot of work to do, it’d be ‘okay, let's go and do it’. There was a small adjustment period but because the Access Course prepared us for it.

A lot of the A Level students found it more difficult than us. We were mentoring the A Level students on how to manage their time and, because we already had to do that having kids, it actually wasn’t that big of an adjustment.

Pamela: I also feel like the first year was really helpful because it slowly got us into it rather than just chucking us in. I found that an easier adjustment period.

Do you think the route you took into higher education impacted the experience you had studying here?

Anthony: Well, if I had gone down the A Level route before, I wouldn’t have been doing engineering.

Pamela: Yeah, I wouldn’t have done social work either.

Anthony: We wouldn’t have got the degrees we wanted to do, but because I’m more mature I knew exactly what I wanted to do and was more driven. If I’d done it when I was younger I’d have probably dropped out doing the wrong degree and not got a degree.

How easy do you think it’ll be to adjust back to a working lifestyle?

Pamela: He’s already started!

Anthony: Yeah, I’m starting a PhD now, so I’ve gone straight back into studying. I started two weeks ago. Bradford made me realise that I wanted to do this more, and I knew that if I didn’t I’d miss it. I’m going to do a 3-year PhD down at Cranfield University and hopefully get into academia. Then I’ll come back up here and work.

What are your plans Pamela?

Pamela: I don’t know yet. I’m waiting until September because the kids are off and I don’t know if I want to do social work, or do social work but in schools - like safeguarding.

Anthony: The good thing about your course is that you can do so much with it.

Pamela: Yeah, social work is such a vast thing, you can do whatever. Even though I might not do social work, I’ve got a degree that’s really useful for what I want to go into.

I might even go into social work in education because I like the education bit of it, or I might even do my masters - I don’t know yet!

Do you both feel that your degrees and your time here at Bradford has helped prepare you for whatever you want to go into?

Pamela: Yeah, massively.

Anthony: I was saying to Pamela, think about where we would be without this...

Pamela: I feel like I’m a lot more confident as well. When we first started and I had the interviews and stuff, I was bricking it. Now I could just do it like that. It’s really helped me to develop.

Anthony: That’s the thing they don’t say about degrees, they make you a better person as well as what you learn. When I had interviews before I’d just shut down, but now I’m confident. I’ll apply and if I get an interview, I’ll own it. I got on a PhD course without having a Masters which is really rare.