News

OVER 3000 STATE SCHOOL STUDENTS APPLY FOR SUMMER SCHOOLS

(23 June 2004)

A record number of more than 3,000 sixth formers at state schools and colleges from across Britain have applied this year for about 940 places at the free week-long summer schools which the Sutton Trust sponsors at six of Britain's top universities - Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford and St Andrew's.

The summer school at Durham, which starts on July 9th, is designed to give a taste of university life to encourage applications from students from non-traditional backgrounds aged 16+ in Year 12. These include those with no family history of university attendance, those whose parents are in non-professional occupations or who attend schools with virtually no history of sending pupils to Durham.

Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "Earlier this year we commissioned MORI to survey a representative sample of 2,600 state school students aged between 11 and 16. When asked whether they were likely to go to university, a staggering 70% said yes. These figures confirm this finding but sadly 35% of students leave school at 16 - by far the highest percentage of any advanced European country. There is therefore a mis-match between their aspirations up to the age of 16 and their actions thereafter. Some of them are bright enough to win places at our top universities but they do not believe they will get in or fit in. These summer schools are designed to counter this view."

An analysis of the success of the summer schools in defusing myths about top universities by the National Foundation for Education Research shows that about a third of the students at the summer schools sponsored by the Sutton Trust succeed in getting into the university where they attended summer school. Most of the others find places at other leading universities.