About Us – History, current, future

History

Course Discover has been around under various banners for about 15 years. Previously known as Ecctis 2000, in September 2004 Course Discover became part of Trotman Publishing, at which point it was redesigned and visually became the product you see now.

In March 2007 Course Discover was welcomed into the UCAS Media family, this revolutionised both the breadth and quality of the information that we can incorporate into the tool. And as part of UCAS Media, new developments have been and continue to be added to the offering making Course Discover a flexible, responsible and up-to-date tool.

Current

As part of Course Discover’s commitment to continually enhancing the product and so improving the decision-making process for both students and advisers, the website now features information from Unistats including:

  • Responses to the National Student Survey, showing what students genuinely think about the quality of their higher education experience
  • Student feedback on institutions and the quality of subject content
  • Employment prospects based on subjects and institutions

What is Unistats?

Unistats gives an overview of how successful a subject currently is at an institution. This includes National Student Survey results, typical percentage of entrants broken down by tariff points, previous careers pathways of graduates from that subject and institution and how successful the previous year’s first year students were.

Unistats is drawn from Universities and Colleges in the UK, it brings together authoritative, official information to help potential students and their advisers compare subjects at universities and colleges in the UK. The information is provided by HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) and the National Student Survey (run by HEFCE - Higher Education Funding Council for England). It includes information on the following:

HESA:

  • Student data - entry qualifications and UCAS points, continuation and achievement.
  • Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) data - destinations of leavers, job categories and job types.

HEFCE:

  • National Student Survey
  • Student satisfaction.

“There is just so much to explore… I will definitely be recommending it to my friends.” Year 13 Student

Future

Course Discover is maintained and developed by a dedicated team of professionals who specialise in the collection and provision of education-related data. We are continually looking for ways in which to improve, develop and expand our offering and welcome any feed back or suggestions you may have. For any suggestions please email enquiries@coursedicover.co.uk or call 0870 160 2008.

Future plans already on our agenda include:

Future Advice sections:

  • Modern Apprenticeships
  • Alternatives to higher education
  • Work-based routes
  • Improved gap year advice
  • Provision of league tables

New functionality and features will include:

  • Course Comparison - this would be a shopping basket style feature which would allow users to compare and contrast their course choices; e.g. comparing the level of coursework versus examination each course requires or comparing entry requirements.
  • Administrator interfaces – providing usage statistics, student monitoring, tips and pointers for how to get more out of your Course Discover subscription based on your institution’s usage patterns, tailored technical support specific to your subscription.

We hope that these improvements will not only appeal to our broad range of subscribers but will increase the value you and your students receive when using our service.