How Are Schools In The UK Using USB Flash Drives

USB Flash Drives are proving popular with schools and universities up and down the country at the moment but they’re not all buying them for the same reason. Whilst many are buying them for their staff and pupils to enable them to backup and store their work lots of others are getting very creative and are buying them for all manner of events and activities including:

1. Award Ceremonies – A number of schools are buying USB flash drives printed with the school crest and details of their annual awards evening and are giving the branded flash drives to all of the attendees. The USB drives are pre-loaded with details of all of the award categories and winners before being handed out. Electronic versions of the Award Certificates are pre-loaded onto the drives for the award winners adding a personal touch to their particular drive.
2. School Open Evenings – Today with significantly more choice and power in the hands of the parent when it comes to selecting a school for their children it’s important that schools actively promote themselves to prospective pupils and parents alike. Pretty much all schools now make lots of information about the school available on the school web site(s) including performance tables, OFSTED reports and intake procedures. Much of this information is also given away on school open evenings but with the amount of information now demanded, printing and collating the information and having it ready for the open evening can be a daunting task. Consequently as an alternative some schools are now making all of this information available on a pre-loaded and branded USB memory sticks. The branded USB sticks are then handed out to the parents who in turn can read and/or print the information at their leisure.
3. School Shops – some enterprising schools are buying USB flash drives in bulk and at a discount and then reselling the USB sticks to pupils (and staff) via the school shop. Typically the profits flow back to the school but occasionally the purchase and sale of the sticks will be organised by a student group to enable them to fund raise for trips and events.
   USB for Universities
4. Fresher Fairs – in an effort to attract students to join certain events and activities at university it’s not unusual for promotional USB flash drives to be given away to encourage them to stop by and listen to a “pitch” at a specific stand.
5. DT Projects – some schools with students studying GCSE Design Technology have discovered that custom and bespoke USB flash drives are ideal products for students to develop their DT skills on. The core component of a USB flash drive; the controller chip, the flash memory module and the USB connector are readily available from UK suppliers and allow students to design, manufacture and package a complete USB product.

USB PCB

This list is by no means an exhaustive list but it does go some way to illustrate the diverse way in which USB flash drives are being used by schools and universities in the UK.