The goal of the Higher Education Office (HEO) is to help every student to find a university or pathway that is the right ‘fit’ – one that suits them academically and socially. At Discovery College we have two full time Higher Education Counsellors whose role is to help students in Years 9-13 review the options for their educational and vocational futures and guide them towards making the right decisions. We also have a full time assistant who plays a key role in organising events, overseeing the day to day operation of the office and processing university applications.

The HEO offers individual and group counselling to students providing them with guidance and support throughout their journey to life beyond school. Several career and personality profiles are administered, which help students identify their interests and strengths and explore appropriate career and subject options. The expertise of the HEO in university and admissions systems around the world enables the counsellors to keep students and parents informed about the requirements for tertiary studies, the latest trends, the wide variety of courses on offer and the entire university application process.

We are excited to once again welcome uni reps to visit the school in person.  After four long years, students are embracing the valuable opportunity to meet and interact with university admissions staff and professors from a range of institutions around the world.  The HEO organises regular workshops throughout the year for both students and parents focusing on various aspects of the admissions journey.  Coffee mornings, information evenings, university fairs and career Days are frequently organised to effectively prepare our students for the planning of the future.

With support from the HEO, Discovery College’s graduates have received some excellent offers including and not limited to: the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Bath, University College London, London School of Economics, King’s College London, Imperial College, University of Manchester and University of York, Durham University, University of Exeter, Loughborough University, University of Sheffield, University of Manchester in England; University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, University of Chicago, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Barnard College, Boston College, Tufts, College of Wooster, Loyola University Chicago, Northeastern and California State University Long Beach in the USA; University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, University of Victoria, McGill, Emily Carr, Waterloo, Concordia and Simon Fraser in Canada; HKUST, University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, PolyU, CityU, and Lingnan University in Hong Kong; Leiden, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands; and numerous others throughout the UK, North America, Europe and Asia.

The HEO helps students find placements to suit a diverse range of programmes including subjects such as Literature, Aviation, Classics, Hospitality, Media, Communications and Journalism, Marketing and Advertising, Fine Arts, Computer Science, Psychology, Engineering, Medicine, Law, International Relations, Finance, Urban Planning, Sustainability and Environmental Studies, Physiotherapy, Music, Fashion Management, Film Production, Architecture and Global Business.

The HEO is also very aware that some students may not choose to go straight to university. Some opt to take a Gap Year and some decide to move into the world of work or take on an apprenticeship. As these options grow the HEO explores all avenues to support students on their individual journeys.