Julian Said:

UK college question. Is there a minimum number of people there must be on a further education course?

We Answered:

Most further education is taught 'for profit', so there must be enough paying students to cover the costs of the staff, room and other resources, and make a profit.

Chris Said:

online further education courses?

We Answered:

That depends on what kind of further education you desire. However, GOOGLE is the first place to start. Type a search of the kind of education you want to pursue into Google's search engine and click through relevant links.

To mention a few instances, the HP website offers free online courses on various subjects. Likewise, the ACCA website that has a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme for Professional Accountants.

Mildred Said:

I am unemployed living in the UK and I want to apply for a further education course.?

We Answered:

Hi, the previous answerer was referring to higher education (i.e. university). For further education, there is a different system. Basically there are no standard loans or grants, what you can get differs from course to course and from college to college. One standard thing which you will almost certainly be entitled to is the Adult Learning Grant, which pays £30 per week to people studying for 12 hours or more per week. As you are currently unemployed you may also be entitled to pay a lower course fee, or none at all.This depends on the course though - the government chooses which courses can have concessions and usually they are the more 'useful' or vocational courses. At my local college, for example, things like hairdressing, woodwork and computing courses are free for people who are unemployed or on a low income, but courses like languages or anything related to arts and crafts charge full fees regardless. You would need to check with your college. There may also be course specific grants, for example on my access course I got a £50 one-off grant for course materials, but these are unlikely to be very large.

To be honest there isn't much available for college level courses. If the course is less than 15 hours per week you can continue to get JSA and housing benefit. Otherwise, most people just try and get a part time job - that's what I did, and most other people on my course. To find out more information that is specific to your course, you could make an appointment with the college providing it - they usually have some kind of a student finance office which helps people with these issues. Good luck!

Jerome Said:

What further education course could I do if I am good a sketching and drawing, but not good on the computer?

We Answered:

If you want to be an artist you should learn as many mediums as you can. Art is leaning more toward the digital side, which I find useful to some degree, I draw and sketch by hand and once the original is complete I scan it into the computer to make copies. Once the copies are made I fill in the colors by hand and that way I get to choose which colorization is best without ruining the original. However, you don't have to do digital to be an artist the non-digital art still sells and works in your portfolio.
You can always take the courses just for the purpose of learning a new technique and getting your degree and then doing everything by hand. Just remember that computers do come into play. For example book publishers are always looking for artists that can make a deadline for a project, but now you must submit your work digitally. Which could be a photo of a completed work or a digital piece submitted by e-mail or a link to your electronic portfolio. If you want to show your work to them in person you have to arrange meetings with them at conventions.

Side note as a photoshop user I must point out that digital art has less clean up, such as: no paint on a drop cloth, no ink blotted fingertips, and no pencil smudged paper.

Randy Said:

What are your feelings on On-line courses to further education???

We Answered:

I think any means you choose to better yourself is great. If you choose online courses, I would check them out thoroughly beforehand, to make sure that they will, in fact, deliver what they promise.