Sutton Trust funding for Summer School

Around 60 Scottish school pupils will be given a helping hand towards a university place thanks to a new Summer School being established at the University of St Andrews.

Starting in July 2002, the venture will be funded by a three-year grant of £90,000 from The Sutton Trust which finances various initiatives in a bid to provide educational opportunities to bright people from non-privileged backgrounds.

The Sutton Trust Summer School will offer students a one-week taster session at Scotland’s oldest and most research-intensive university. Aimed at helping young people fulfil their desire to progress to higher education, it will focus on those 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.

The funding, the first of its kind in Scotland, has been warmly welcomed by Principal and Vice- Chancellor of the University of St Andrews Dr Brian Lang – “The University is committed to widening access. Formal qualifications are one indication of how well people will do at university, but they are not the only indication. The challenge for St Andrews is to identify people who, for various reasons, may feel discouraged from applying to St Andrews but who would still benefit from coming here. We want the best to come to St Andrews and disadvantaged socio-economic background must not be a barrier. The Sutton Trust Summer School will be one of the most effective ways of surmounting that.”

Meanwhile, Chairman and Founder of the Sutton Trust Peter Lampl said, “Summer Schools make an enormous difference. Research shows that students are many times more likely to get a top university place if they attend one of the Sutton Trust Summer Schools than if they do not. The one week courses give students, neither of whose parents went to university, the same chance to get a university place as those with parents who did. That is why we are so pleased to be sponsoring this Summer School at St Andrews.”

The Sutton Trust Summer School will operate for a period of one week per year, commencing on 8 July 2002. Similar ventures have been funded by the Trust at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Nottingham.

Emphasis will be placed on both academic study and the development of learning skills necessary for success at university level. With a choice of several programmes of academic study across all of the University’s schools, the timetable will follow a typical undergraduate’s first week of term with one core subject, two others and five hours of teaching from Monday to Friday, 9.30am until 4.30pm. Depending on the subject studied, laboratory work or fieldwork may also be undertaken.

Postgraduate student volunteers will be on hand to provide guidance and support to each individual student and, as well as enjoying a host of recreational activities, the students will be provided with food/accommodation in one of the University’s hall of residence.

For further information, please contact 1. Stan Farrow, Associate Director of Admissions, University of St Andrews, Access Centre, Old Union Building, 79 North Street, St Andrews – telephone 01334 462150 or email access@st- andrews.ac.uk or 2. Kate Stewart, Projects Co-ordinator, The Sutton Trust – telephone 020 8788 3223 or email [email protected].

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS:

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 or Tim Devlin, Sutton Trust on 01580 893176 or email [email protected] Ref: summer- sutton/standrews/chg/17april2002