Two hundred 14 and 15 year olds from across the West Midlands will be experiencing university life this July when they attend UniFest Summer Schools at the University of Birmingham.
The Year 10 students have been recruited in partnership with Aimhigher from across the West Midlands. They will have the opportunity to experience lectures, seminars and interactive workshops on diverse topics from the History of Medicine to Mandarin Chinese. The experience will give them the opportunity to find out more about the courses they can study, the differences between school and university and careers options.
This initiative aims to increase the participation in higher education from under-represented sections of society.
The University of Birmingham offers students a choice of two programmes to follow. One is focused on courses and careers in the Health and Life sciences and the other provides a more general higher education experience with a taster of subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences. The Summer Schools are being supported by a number of academic staff who have volunteered their time to showcase their subjects.
A critical part of the programme is the work of current University of Birmingham students who provide useful advice through workshops on student finance, gap years and student life.
Anna Speakman, Outreach Assistant Officer who is coordinating the University Experience events explains: ‘Summer Schools offer students the chance to explore a range of subjects, stay in Halls of Residence and experience student social life whilst developing self confidence and motivation. By the end of their visit we hope the students will consider Higher Education as an achievable goal.’
Ester Hill, Outreach Officer, co-ordinator of the Health and Life Science events adds: ‘The Summer Schools give participants an insight into the benefits of Higher Education and help to dispel any misconceptions about University. We hope that by giving the students a taster of the different courses on offer here it will help them with decisions about their future and encourage the participants to aspire to Higher Education.’
Further media information:
Ben Hill - Press Officer, University of Birmingham
tel: 0121 414 5134 / mob: 07789 921163 / email: b.r.hill@bham.ac.uk
ENDS
Summer School Dates: Wednesday 14th July – Friday 16th July and Sunday 18th July to Tuesday 20th July
Location - University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT
Contact details –
Uni Experience, Anna Speakman, Outreach Officer, tel: 0121 4147142 / a.speakman@bham.ac.uk
Health and Life Sciences, Ester Hill, Outreach Officer, tel 0121 414-8039 / e.h.hill@bham.ac.uk
Further information
• Summer Schools are a well established part of the University of Birmingham’s continuing commitment to Widening Participation in Higher Education – this is the seventh year that residentials have been run at the university.
• The Higher Education Experience Summer School is funded by Aimhigher and the Health and Life Sciences Summer School is funded by the University of Birmingham.