University’s new partnership will encourage poorer students to apply

The University of Warwick has entered a partnership with the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce.

The partnership between The University of Warwick and the RSA seeks to inspire children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds to progress to higher education.  It will form part of Warwick’s rapidly growing Widening Participation Strategy.

The scheme is devised to increase the student’s knowledge about what a university education entails and provide a platform to develop skills, knowledge and experience to obtain a university place.

Breaking down perceived barriers of going to university is deemed as one of the core goals of the programme.

The partnership will provide various benefits to the partner academies such as opportunities to attend the ‘Experience Warwick’ summer schools, guidance sessions for the students and taster days at the university.

There will be a programme of activities for the partaking schools that is focused on raising aspirations and increasing awareness of the varied higher education options.

RSA intern Lisa Hevey said:  “At Year 8 students were talking about adults who had influenced their future plans and career aspirations, so getting in early with a range of potential career possibilities is essential.”

First- year Computer Science student Osman Hassan highlighted the benefits of the project. He said: “A scheme like this can go some way to levelling the playing field and raising the aspirations of those who simply did not contemplate the idea of going to university.”

Warwick Vice Chancellor Professor Nigel Thrift said, “The Warwick-RSA Partnership is an important and original approach to supporting pupil progression from Year 7 through their school career and into higher education.

“We are pleased to be working collaboratively with the RSA family of academies, where we will be providing academic support to pupils, professional development opportunities for teachers and independent financial and career advice and guidance to pupils and parents.”