Taking part in CQUniversity's STEPS (Skills for Tertiary Education Preparatory Studies) program was a life-changing experience for a Bundaberg mum.

Cheryl Bland, a mother to 3 teens, had worked in office jobs all her life and thought university was out of her reach until she discovered the University's preparatory program STEPS.

Cheryl Bland is launching herself into a new career thanks to CQUniversity's STEPS program."I can't speak more highly about it ... I just loved it," Cheryl said.

Cheryl left school after year 11 and worked in a number of administration jobs over the years until the threat of an economic downturn made her rethink her choices.

She then discovered STEPS, which has opened doors that she once thought impossible to open.

"Without STEPS I didn't stand a chance of going to uni," she explained. "Now, going to uni is not so daunting and the prospect of advancing into a new career is exhilarating."

STEPS is a 13-week Accelerated or a 26-week Extended/Flex/External program, designed to instill in its adult learners the skills and confidence necessary to embark on tertiary study.

Free of charge*, STEPS covers academic communication, mathematics, computing, independent learning skills, study skills and library/information literacy skills.

Learning through the STEPS program was a different education experience for Cheryl.

"It was nothing like I remembered from school. We were respected as adults and learnt things that would set us up to succeed at uni. Each of our individual teachers made every lesson memorable in some way."

"One of the best lessons I learnt was that university offered flexibility. If we went into a degree with one idea of where we wanted to go, nothing stops us from changing our mind."

Since graduating from the program Cheryl has enrolled in the Bachelor of Learning Management (Secondary) and hopes to work as a secondary teacher in the future.

Her initial thoughts have been to teach English and SOSE (Studies of Society and Environment), but she hasn't ruled out junior science as well.

Cheryl has also inspired her 18-year-old daughter to reconsider university as an option. She since has enrolled in a Bachelor of Nursing program at CQUniversity.

CQUniversity will hold an information session for people interested in enrolling in STEPS on campus in 2010. An information and testing session is planned for Thursday February 4 at 9.30am in Bundaberg.

Interested people interested should contact Wendy Christensen on 4150 7015.

* STEPS is offered free of tuition and textbook charges.