Higher Horizons+ is off to a flying start
Year 10 learners from Paulet School, Burton, at the recent visit to Somerville College, Oxford.
The Keele University led Higher Horizons+ project, which aims to inspire young people from economically disadvantaged areas to enter Higher Education, has officially launched.
The four-year HEFCE-funded project has seen £11.8 million in funding awarded to Higher Horizons+, which will enable young people at 91 schools and 25 colleges across Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire to engage in a free programme of activities. These activities will build upon and provide a boost to existing outreach work taking place across the region, and will include residential stays, curriculum and advice sessions, both in schools and on university and college campuses.
The other key partners supporting the Keele-led Higher Horizons+ team are Staffordshire University, Chester University and Harper Adams University, which all have dedicated staff at their sites to deliver and organise engaging and innovative activities and projects.
The Higher Horizons+ project also includes input from Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Derby, the University of Oxford, South Cheshire College, Reaseheath College, and Warrington Collegiate, in an attempt to double the amount of 18-year-olds entering Higher Education from economically disadvantaged areas, including Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe.
Since the soft launch of the scheme, recognised nationally as The National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) on 3rd January, Higher Horizons+ has already engaged with hundreds of young people, delivering “Why Go to University?” sessions in Crewe, talks and information stands across Stoke-on-Trent and Middlewich, and a taster day at Oxford University for a group of students from Burton.
With a large-scale eMentoring project, residential stays at the partner universities, and many more engaging projects about to launch, Head of Higher Horizons+, Ant Sutcliffe said:
“Keele along with our excellent partner universities and colleges are dedicated to inspiring and changing the lives of the young people across these three counties as we aim to encourage them to consider Higher Education. The Higher Horizons+ team - supported by excellent student ambassadors from our partner universities - has already started to run activities with local schools, and over 500 young people have taken part in the programme in the last few weeks alone. We’re looking forward to meeting many more over the coming weeks and years.”
The official website for Higher Horizons+ will launch later this month.
For any questions about the scheme, please contact Ant Sutcliffe: a.g.sutcliffe@keele.ac.uk