Retailer John Lewis has announced plans to further its vocational training programmes by creating a new qualification which will be the equivalent of a university degree.

The level six vocational qualification will be launched before the end of the year and will be aimed at senior management level staff. The qualification will be the equivalent of a honours degree at university and will build on the retailers existing qualification programme, which currently runs from entry level to level five.

The “University of John Lewis will also offer other work-based qualifications and builds on John Lewis’ ambitious aims to professionalise the retail sector and develop their staff. The retailer launched an apprenticeship programme in 2012 which successfully recruited 80 school leavers.

Vocational education in the UK received a huge boost on Monday with the announcement of the new Technical Baccalaureate.

The “TechBacc”, as it is being dubbed, is designed to measure the achievements of the quarter of children in further education that choose vocational courses instead of A levels. It will put vocational qualifications on par with A levels, and will become a factor in the league tables that judge school performance.

Students and graduates looking to get into film production have received a boost after the British Film Institute (BFI) announced a new multimillion pound training organisation.

Film Nation UK will deliver a bold and visionary new film education programme which will be available to all children aged between five and nineteen and to all schools in the UK. The organisation has been awarded £26 million worth of funding and will run alongside the BFI’s successful Film Academy, which started in January 2013.

Film Nation’s programme – which will be announced in the autumn – will allow school leavers and students to participate in film production and will provide a platform for students to learn about production techniques and the industry.

If you’re approaching your end of year exams and thinking about your next step post school, then don’t panic. There are plenty of options open to you, from further study and vocational qualifications to apprenticeships and work experience.

Finishing school can be scary and your future options unclear. Do you decide to stay in education and take the university route, or should you look for a professional qualification that will get you into your chosen career quicker? What about if you just want to earn some money?

The spike in university fees may seem daunting, but it does not have to thwart your ambitions. Just Courses puts together five ways to help you ease the burden before and during higher education.

Save between studying

Taking a year or two to work after A levels will allow you to hit the ground running when you get to university.

This is also an opportunity for you to build your skills without missing out on the chance to travel. English teachers in foreign countries are in constant demand, and all you need to do is qualify with a TEFL course. Prices start from £180, and you will frequently find last-minute offers on flash sale sites.

Think you’ve got what it takes to create the next Family Guy, Black Mirror or Downton Abbey? You should consider the brand new A-level in creative writing, which claims to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Offered by the AQA exam board, the creative writing A-level will be available to students from next autumn and will examine different types of creative writing and different forms – anything from poems and prose to travel writing and radio plays.

Students will be assessed on their ability to create a variety of different types of work and their ability to understand the techniques and styles of creative writing. Assessment will include producing a piece of creative work in response to another already published text.

“Teachers tell us that they want to provide their students with inspiring lessons and every day we hear business leaders calling for sharper writing skills. Our new A-level does both, turning students into bold, confident writers across a range of styles, who have also developed their own distinctive voice too,” said AQA chief executive Andrew Hall.

AQA suggests that the creative writing A-level will be the perfect addition to an existing range of creative subject that includes music, drama, art and dance.

Creative writing courses have grown in popularity at university, with more than 700 creative writing degrees on offer across the UK. One of the first universities to offer creative writing was the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Andrew Cowan, novelist and professor of creative writing at UEA had this to say: “The organised study of creative writing provides students with a practice-based, experiential means of acquiring literary knowledge and understand.

“The earlier this engagement can be fostered the better, both for the benefit of the A-level students themselves and for the further and higher education establishments that will receive them onto their courses.”

The importance of social media is growing in the UK, but many UK universities have been slow to make an impact with potential students on Twitter, Facebook and other channels. This is at odds with American universities, which not only gave us products like Facebook, but also are at the forefront of social media.

Harvard University for example, has almost 200,000 followers on Twitter and 2.3million Facebook likes. By contrast, most UK universities struggle to get their message out there. However, recent research by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) looked at the top three UK universities for social media in the UK:

1. Oxford University
2. University of Cambridge
3. University of Glasgow

The common thread amongst all three institutions – according to the CIPR – is the use of photography, images and branded videos to impress visitors. As with all social media, interaction is key, and the quick response rates to queries from all three institutions helps to build their profiles.

Engineering students who get three grade ‘A’s at A Level (or equivalent) are now eligible for a scholarship of £1,000 per year.

The new Diamond Jubilee Scholarships initiative from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) will reward students who achieve three grade ‘A’s at A Level (or three ‘A’ grade Advanced Highers or five ‘A’ grade Highers) and start an IET accredited engineering or technology degree course this Autumn.  They will be entitled to an annual scholarship of £1,000 for up to four years.

The IET launched the Diamond Scholarships initiative to encourage bright young students to consider studying engineering and technology, and to go on to enjoy very rewarding and challenging careers.

Prof Andy Hopper, IET President, said: “Engineering and technology are thriving in the UK but there is a very real problem with skills shortages to fill the jobs available. The IET wants to encourage young people to study engineering and technology and go on to pursue careers in these sectors.

The Scholarship Hub, a new online portal of scholarships, grants and bursaries, has compiled its top five scholarships and bursaries for wannabe UK university students and undergraduates wishing to study at universities in the UK.   

With a three year degree now costing an estimated £75,000, The Scholarship Hub lists more than 1,000 scholarships, grants and bursaries, from over 150 universities and organisations, amounting to more than £80 million worth of funding for UK undergraduates.

The Hub’s comprehensive database is the first of its kind solely for UK undergraduates and means students no longer have to visit each institution’s website to find out about scholarships, grants and bursaries to help them through their studies.

Records released today by UCAS show a record fall in the number of people taking up university places this year.

Nearly 54,000 fewer people started courses this autumn than did so last year, a 6.6% fall. But UCAS did not suggest that this is because more students are refusing the pay the large increase in tuition fees, implemented this September.

Rather, UCAS believes that the introduction of the fee increase caused many 2011 students to skip taking a gap year and go straight to university, to avoid having to may triple the amount of fees. This year, the numbers of students taking gap years has returned to normal, causing the drop in attendance.