Anna Pyne: higher education

Higher education is one the major transitions of life. Because one enters and leaves the system in one's late teens and early twenties, it could be said one enters as a child and leaves an adult. For some the passage is too much in one go, and they feel alien to many things about their place of higher education. Taking a period out to get away and then come back proves very beneficial for some people – though some institutions will either not allow a 'rest-period' or put many hurdles in the way, not the least of which is not allowing a student to graduate.

But these days many colleges are more sympathetic to the different ways students mature into professional adults, and are more flexible. Anna luckily found the Royal Academy allowed her a period to reflect and assess her aims and ambitions.