SIXTH-form students enjoyed a taste of life as undergraduates at the University of Wales, Newport.

Skulls, skills and psychology featured in lectures given to sixth-formers from Bettws High School.

Masterclasses in psychology, history and creative writing held this week helped highlight the differences between studying at school and at university, and gave the 17-year-olds a chance to explore the facilities at Caerleon campus.

Psychology lecturer Dr Stuart Ross used a human skull to help illustrate what goes on inside people's heads, and a hidden skull in Holbein's painting 'The Ambassadors' caused a lot of interest in the masterclass given by history lecturer Dr Maddy Gray.

Grant Hopkins said: "I definitely want to come and study psychology at university.

"I'm doing it at A-level and it's fascinating to find out what people do and why they do it."

Matthew Casey, who is studying A-level history, said: "It's made me realise how different it is having a lecture at university to being taught at school."

His teacher Jan Watkins, head of year 12, said: "I've had some positive feedback from the students.

"The masterclasses run by the university's school of humanities and science have been a good experience. Giving sixth-formers a real taste of what university lectures are like has made them think on a higher academic level."