Nouska Cooper
Photo credit: Eve Ainsbury
At 18, Nouska Cooper was training to be a professional ballerina and missed out on the typical university experience. Across her 15-year career on the stage, she performed internationally on the West End, on UK tours, in ballet companies and at The Royal Opera House. Throughout this, Nouska never forgot her dream of going to Oxford, which became realised when she began the Undergraduate Certificate in English Literature.
‘I am based in Windsor with my husband (also a teacher), my two children and my dog, Shakespeare. I am originally from Liverpool but left home to train at English National Ballet School when I was 16.
‘Throughout my professional ballet career, I harboured a desire to complete my studies and challenge myself intellectually. At English National Ballet School I was only permitted to study Dance A-Level, so I completed two additional A-Levels in my spare time at a college in King’s Cross during my employment in the West End production of Phantom of the Opera. I often missed classes because of rehearsals, but managed to get all As.
‘At this point my teachers started to encourage me to consider an application to Oxbridge, and I did attend an outreach event put on by Oxbridge, but I wasn’t yet ‘done’ with my ballet career and wanted to continue performing. However, the idea of applying to Oxbridge was one that took hold from that point.
‘It wasn’t until I was married and living in Windsor that I felt able to take the time out from professional life and become a student again, and by then I was in my late thirties. I knew then that, to get a place at Oxbridge, I would be required to engage in focused contemporaneous study after over twenty years away from formal education.
‘One of my best friends spotted the English courses at Oxford Lifelong Learning, and I realised that it was feasible for me to make the journey by train from where I lived. I started with a Critical Reading course and spent the following year devoted to a programme of self-determined devouring of many of the classics. Following that I was offered a place on the Undergraduate Certificate in English Literature.
‘Once I completed the Certificate I applied for a Bachelor’s degree just like every other candidate, sat my ELAT exam and was subsequently offered interviews at Regent’s Park College and Harris Manchester College. To be offered a place at Regent’s Park College was the culmination of at least twenty years of quiet aspiration, and I loved every minute of my time there. It meant even more given I was the first in my family to attend University and had also missed a whole year of my secondary state education due to illness.
‘The assignments for which I received Firsts were moments of deep pride which also helped steer my interests for further study beyond the course. You can’t help but feel a huge sense of satisfaction when, after all the years of wondering whether you’re still capable of something, you then prove to yourself at forty years of age that maybe you are!
‘The competing demands of family life, working life and the demands of the Certificate had to be managed in order to be successful. I was helped by the fact that I had a goal in mind and that I wanted to use the course as a springboard into further study. Having that focus made all the work I put in feel very worthwhile, as well as the fact that I was enjoying the academic stimulation.
‘The Certificate was a great starting point for further study and got me back into the rhythm of essay writing and intense scholarship. Now having completed my degree, I have aspirations to go on and complete a Master’s and PhD one day too. The Foundation along with the degree gave me confidence and a reminder that I can still work at a high level, despite not being a spring chicken anymore!
‘The degree opened up new career pathways and enabled me to transition into full-time teaching. I am now a Teacher of English at an Independent school in Reading. Had it not been for my ballet training, I would have gone to university at 18, so it was empowering to complete my studies later in life and feel the satisfaction and accomplishment of now having a degree.
‘To anyone considering the course, I would say do it, but be prepared to do the work. You need to really want it for its own sake. You’ll meet interesting and accomplished people and be inspired along the way, and it will open up a world of possibility in terms of literature and further study. I personally love writing essays about literature, so it really helps if you enjoy the process as there’s a lot to fit in on the course. If you’re looking for a challenge and are motivated by hard work then go for it, but it’s more vocational than it is recreational.’