Scots school pupils to sample life at St Andrews

Scottish school pupils are being offered a week’s taster session at the University of St Andrews.

The summer initiative, now in its second year, is aimed at pupils who will have just completed fifth year and are about to move into sixth year, and was made possible by the Sutton Trust, an educational charity run by philanthropist Peter Lampl.

The project is targeted at bright students who would not traditionally have applied to St Andrews, who may have become the first generation of their families to attend university or who attend schools which have little history of generating pupils who progress to university.

It allows students to sample – free of charge – the academic and social life at St Andrews from Sunday 6 to Friday 11 July 2003.

Following last year’s pilot initiative, one quarter of those who attended applied to the University and all of these have been offered a place for next year.

Research by the National Foundation for Educational Research showed that students who attend a summer school have, on average, a five times greater chance of attending the university of their choice than other students.

Mr Lampl said: “When I came back to Britain from the United States in the 1980s I was shocked at how poor the opportunities were for bright students from non- privileged backgrounds. I was outraged by the waste of talent and determined to do something about it.”

He added: “Our research shows that there are thousands of able students from non-privileged backgrounds who obtained the required Highers to go to a top university but they do not apply because they think they will either not fit in or get in. The summer schools are designed to dispel these myths.”

Leaflets and application forms are available in schools.

Further information available from The Sutton Trust on telephone 0208 788 or website www.suttontrust.com.

The closing date for applications is 31 March 2003.

ENDS

Note to Editors: Further information from Claire Grainger, University of St Andrews Press Officer, telephone 01334 462529 or [email protected] – or Tim Devlin, Sutton Trust Press Officer, telephone 01580 893176 or [email protected].

Issued by Beattie Media on behalf of the University of St Andrews For more information please contact: Claire Grainger on 01334 462530, 07730 415 015 or email cg24@st- andrews.ac.uk View University press releases on- line at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk Ref: suttonfeb2003/standrews/chg/18feb20 03