Current Students and Staff

// University News

6 Jul 2015

Pioneering project celebrates 10 years of success

Loughborough University, the University of Leicester and De Montfort University are holding their tenth Summer School event to help raise the aspirations of young people in care.

The partnership between the three local universities was developed in 2005 as part of the pioneering project, ‘The Way Ahead’. This project invited the three universities to work together collaboratively with the common aim of improving the life chances of young people in public care (also called Looked After Children).

The project, initially funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, was led by Leicestershire Aimhigher and sought to enhance the educational outcomes of children in care of all ages. The three Higher Education institutions continued with the outreach work, embedding their ground-breaking collaborative approach. This work has grown to include campus visit days for both primary and secondary pupils, and a HE awareness raising training day for foster carers, social workers and other care professionals.

The universities, in partnership with local authorities across the East Midlands, are offering their tenth two-day summer school programme to encourage young people in care to participate and engage with the wider opportunities available. Held across the three university campuses, the summer school delivers exciting and inspirational activities that demonstrate the possibilities of studying in Higher Education.

More than 140 attendees aged 16+ have come through the summer school programme over the last decade and the numbers attending each year have increased from nine in year one, to 24 in 2014. Young people have travelled from across the East Midlands (Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire included) to attend the Summer School, since nothing similar was offered locally. Care experienced students at all three Leicestershire universities have been involved as positive role models for the young people.

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