From the army to UEA: The mature student about to graduate university after leaving school with no qualifications
By: Communications
A mature student at the University of East Anglia (UEA), who left school aged 15 with no qualifications, is fulfilling his lifelong dream of Higher Education.
Mike Marshall, 69, joined UEA to study History in 2023 – 12 years after retiring from a successful career in the army and the police.
Born and raised in Norwich, Mike grew up in a council house as one of eight children. He attended West Earlham Junior School, just around the corner from the budding UEA campus, where he “saw them building the university back in the day”.
Despite doing well at school, and encouragement from his teachers to continue his studies, Mike’s father insisted he get started in the world of work and so he left education, aged 15, without any qualifications.
A lifelong “adventure seeker”, Mike pursued a successful career across Europe in the army and the police, but his childhood fascination with history never left him. Following encouragement from his partner and a chance encounter in the city centre, Mike was given the push to pursue his life-long passion for the subject.
Mike said: “I was in the bar in Jarrolds and happened to be sitting next to someone who worked in the UEA Admissions team who told me, ‘We love mature students at UEA.’
“I was unsure about my qualifications, but she said, ‘Just give us a ring’.”
Mike took the leap and phoned the Admissions Team, who encouraged him to sign up for UCAS with the Maths and English qualifications he’d gained during his time in the military, as these were equivalent to modern-day GCSE Maths and English awards. To Mike’s delight, he was offered an unconditional place to study history at UEA.
To help him prepare for his new venture, Mike undertook the History Preparation for Undergraduate Study (Bridge Course) - a 12-week access course for students interested in pursuing or returning to Higher Education. During this time, Mike learnt key skills for university such as critical reading, referencing, and writing academically.
It hasn’t been a matter of learning everything from scratch, though. Mike came to UEA with a range of transferrable skills from his career that have greatly helped him, such as a strong work ethic, investigative skills, and written expertise from compiling military reports. All of which helped to form the basis for developing academic research skills at university.
Three years on and Mike is soon to graduate after thriving at UEA as a mature student.
Mike said: “I’ve loved it and I’m so sad to be leaving soon.
“UEA has been incredibly supportive and welcoming, I can’t believe the amount of help I’ve been given.
“From the first essay I ever wrote, to learning how to write academically, to doing my final essays now and getting top grades – the support and advice I’ve received from lecturers is the reason I’ve progressed this far – they helped me transfer my thoughts into an academic style.”
Reflecting on the highlights of his degree, Mike said: “I’ve learnt a lot from my peers who are young students.
“They’ve shown me how to do well at university while I’ve helped them with their work ethic and timing skills – we’ve exchanged knowledge from our different walks of life.”
And while Norwich is Mike’s hometown, that’s not the reason he chose to study here.
He said: “I’d researched other universities and there’s no doubt that UEA stands out as one of the best places to study History.”
Following graduation, Mike is planning to do a historical tour of Europe and hopes to go on to study at Master’s degree level in future.
When asked what advice he’d give to someone thinking about studying at UEA as a mature student, Mike said: “Accept a challenge and absolutely go for it.
“I've learnt you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
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