Nicholas Craig column

Aug 19 2005 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

A-level results came out yesterday, ending a time of sleepless stress for parents, teachers and thousands of nail-biting, hair-pulling, teeth-gnashing students.

Exams are bad, but waiting for results is much, much worse.

On A-level results day, my stomach knots just as it did decades ago.

The impending horror of having to read the contents of a brown envelope is panic-inducing, possibly capable of causing emotional scars, no doubt deepened by all the other brown envelopes I have had to open over the years, most with equally unpleasant contents.

The breezy announcement that A-levels are getting easier to pass, and that this year is the best ever is little compensation for all those who just miss their required grades, or crash out of the reckoning for their chosen university.

It is agony, and we all know it.

Most would-be students do manage to get a place, however, and I hope all of them enjoy what's left of the holidays before setting off for Freshers' Week, recharged and ready for a whole new way of life. Students are an essential part of our cities. The difference between the pace of life at cities such as Durham and Newcastle during the summer vacation and term-time is dramatic.

The streets are quieter, the houses are emptier and the shops do far less business.

We need our students. They inject momentum and money into the North-East.

The universities are huge regional resources, feeding businesses, accommodation, restaurants and a thriving nightlife.

The balance at a smaller city like Durham is tipping towards the students, to the concern of some residents who find their streets virtually empty for months of the year.

So the newly fledged A-level holders will soon be able to contribute to the future economy of a UK region with their training, talent and their temporary resident status bringing new opportunities for existing businesses to employ.

Newcastle is one of the best student cities in the country.

It is compact, cosmopolitan and welcoming. We are boosted by 60,000 students in the city.

It brings home to me how much we need that same drive, talent and determination in our businesses and our marketing of the region.

Students can teach us a thing or two about surviving stress and getting results - while having fun.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton LLP