UK Course Discover

The CD‐ROM is an electronic guidebook to over 100,000 courses available at the UK’s universities and colleges of further and higher education. The software will run on three different platforms: Apple, Acorn and IBM PC compatible. The hardware and software requirements are:

MS‐DOS :286 PC, 500K RAM, DOS version 3.1 or later

Windows: 386SX/20, 4MB RAM, VGA monitor, Windows 3.1

Acorn: 4MB RAM, 2MB hard disk space, RiscOS 2 or 3

Apple Macintosh: 2MB RAM, 2MB hard disk space, System 7 or later

The software was evaluated on a 486/25 PC running Windows 3.1. Installation is both speedy and problem free. A full installation offering speedier operation occupies 18 MB of disc space. Minimum installations occupy 6.5 MB of hard disk space. Users are prompted for several options during the installation; and the on‐line help explains very clearly the function of each of the options. Documentation is minimal, devoted entirely to the installation process for the various computer platforms, and is confined to ten pages of a booklet which fits in the CD‐ROM case. The remaining documentation is software‐based and is a wonderful exercise in clarity which other software companies ought to emulate.

UK Course Discover was designed to guide students toward educational institutions which offer courses whose structure, geographical location, and entry requirements match their individual needs. Traditionally this has been done by looking through college prospectuses — a laborious affair. It is a near impossible task to gather all of the college prospectuses and know their contents. In the current climate of the expansion of UK college and university places with many new courses being offered, it is impossible for a careers tutor to know of all of the permutations which lead to successful placements of students entering further education. The CD‐ROM relieves the tutors of the burden of the initial queries, as it guides students, by the use of a well structured menu system, to a list of institutions offering courses which are likely to accept them. Students can compose and print out a short list of preferred institutions which they can then seek guidance on if they feel a need to. A very useful feature of the software is its insistence on making users identify themselves and allocating user identities and passwords. This allows users to return to the database later and continue from where they left off.

As well as the extensive listing of courses, the CD‐ROM contains electronic brochures illustrating key features of many of the colleges. The information is presented in a window with an outline of the document adjacent to it. This feature is relatively rare in CD‐ROMS but is incredibly useful for navigating through a lengthy document. Not all of the listed colleges have a brochure on the CD‐ROM as the onus is upon the individual colleges to produce the contents. ECCTIS produces updates six times per year to keep up with the changes in the courses offered by the colleges. The majority of the institutions listed have flexible admissions policies.

In addition to the database of college and university places, there are a number of other bodies of information accessible from the CD‐ROM. This extra information deals with academic and vocational validating institutions in the UK. Other aspects covered includes the student grant and loan systems and the Erasmus European student mobility programme.

Several students were given access to the CD‐ROM to try it out. They all found it easy to use and commented positively on the quality of guidance and help available from the software. All schools and colleges who are likely to have students applying for further education places in the UK will find ECCTIS+ a most worthwhile purchase. Although the product guides students based on A‐Level examination grades, potential international users of the product should still find the product extremely useful, as it gives them access to a greater quantity of information than they previously had in the printed media form. I would consider this product a “must buy”. Careers counselors and tutors will be eternally grateful to the schools who buy this on their behalf.