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Our year-long programme starts earlier to widen the pool of potential applicants to top universities

Our programme starts in the summer after Year 10 to raise aspirations, overcome feelings that university is not for state school students, and to boost attainment at GCSE through two residentials and monthly coaching sessions.

What we do

Our year-long programme

Our annual programme starts in the summer of Year 10 and supports students from non-selective state schools throughout Year 11.

Our programme involves three key elements:

Six-day summer residential at a highly-selective university;
Monthly remote coaching;
Three-day Spring GCSE revision weekend.

We raise aspirations, attainment and the likelihood of making a successful application to university by providing an authentic experience of what it is like to be a university student.

Our summer residential

In the Summer of Year 10 students become Universify participants when they attend our six-day summer residential at our partner universities.

The week-long residential gives participants a snapshot of life as an undergraduate university student as they attend academic seminars taught by university lecturers, complete a group work project, and take part in various social activities. Participants live in student accommodation and explore the city, helping them to feel comfortable in the university and easing concerns that they might feel out of place.

An undergraduate experience

We run seminars delivered by academics in a range of subjects, including some that participants will have studied before in order to highlight what the discipline may entail at university-level. In addition, participants experience subjects they may never have encountered before, such as Philosophy, Medicine and Economics.

Achieving academic goals through ongoing coaching

Each Universify participant will have their own Universify coach, who is a current or recent university student. Their coach works with their coachee to set goals, outline actions to work towards those goals, and review how they are progressing towards those goals. After the summer programme, participants catch up remotely with their coaches each via video or call, so they can continue to work towards their goals until participants complete their GCSEs and get their results in August.

Preparing for GCSEs with our Spring revision residential

Participants return to their host university in March or April for a three-day Spring revision residential. Over the weekend participants receive eight hours of revision classes in a core subjects focusing on exam technique and course content, and a workshop on exam preparation. Our Spring residential is also about looking towards the future after the Universify programme, with sessions from follow-on programmes participants can apply to after Universify and a careers fair to explore the range of opportunities a university degree can offer.

What makes our programme different?

Universify’s programme begins earlier in a student’s journey to higher education than most access programmes. This way, we can become part of the journey into university, complimenting existing programmes for Year 12 students and increasing the duration of support available to students.

Our programme is future focused. We want to raise participant's aspirations throughout Year 11, to help them work towards the best GCSE grades possible and think beyond school towards making an informed decision about their next steps in education.