New students had a chance to find out more about campus life when they attended the Gower College Swansea Freshers’ Fayre.

For hundreds of students across Swansea, the time has come to make decisions about what happens next in their educational journey, whether it’s college or sixth-form, an apprenticeship or heading straight into the workplace. Each educational and training option offers young people an opportunity to gain new skills and forge an exciting and rewarding career path. Here to look at some of those career opportunities available to students across the city is Mark Jones, Principal at Gower College Swansea.

Among the 1000-plus students about to progress to higher education from Gower College Swansea is Elli Rees, who has won a place at a prestigious American university.

Elli, who attended Ysgol Gyfun y Strade before studying A Levels in Maths, English Literature, Government and Politics, and Religious Studies at the Gorseinon Campus, will now read for a Liberal Arts degree at St John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Four Gower College Swansea students have made it through to the WorldSkills UK national finals for Industrial Electronics, which take place at the NEC in November

Rhys Watts, Liam Hughes, Ben Lewis and Nathan Evans are all on Electronic Engineering courses at the Tycoch Campus.

“The entire teaching team is delighted and extremely proud of these students,” says Curriculum Leader Steve Williams. “The group heading to Birmingham in November is comprised of eight learners so, for half of that team to be Gower College Swansea students, is an incredible achievement.”

Students at Gower College Swansea are celebrating an overall A Level pass rate of 99%, with 1205 separate exam entries.

Of these passes, 35% were at grades A*-A, 61% were at A*-B and 82% were at A*-C.

The overall pass rate at AS Level was 92%, with 67% of those passes being grades A - C and 44% being grades A - B. There were 2447 separate exam entries for AS.

The College’s vocational results are also strong again this year with a 100% pass rate across Level 3 Extended Diplomas. 57% of these students achieved at least one Distinction.

Mark Jones, Principal of Gower College Swansea, explains how the College is planning to help students create a clear progression pathway for their future.

One of the conflicts that all educational institutions face is that, whilst many parents and prospective students can often judge their performance on what can be a narrow view of pass rates and grades, their actual role goes far beyond this.

With exam season well underway, students across Swansea will undoubtedly be thinking about what comes next, and what their options are post-exams. In the past 20 years, the jobs landscape has changed considerably – here to talk about what some of these new opportunities look like is Mark Jones, Principal at Gower College Swansea.