Exeter Scholars

Record number of pupils recruited onto University’s progression programme Exeter Scholars

The University of Exeter is celebrating a record number of entrants onto its pioneering new progression programme Exeter Scholars aimed at helping high achieving pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The programme is part of the University’s commitment to fair access and was relaunched in September. It now offers places to around 900 pupils from across the country with entry points in Year’s 9, 10 & 12. Participants can take part in five different pathways and choose from 32 subject activity strands run by the University’s leading academics and PhD students.
On 1st December, 431 students from the South West plus their parents and carers were invited to attend the Scholars conference at the University’s Streatham Campus as the first step in their programme experience. The four other pathways will be recruiting over the next six months and these participants will become a part of the Exeter Scholars community via a variety of day visits and residential events.
Former participants of the programme now studying at the University spoke to attendees about their experience and how it helped them on their journey to Higher Education.
Thomas Bailey, a first year BSc Geography Undergraduate, said: “It will give you a great insight into whether your chosen subject is definitely what you want to do at university. It will also give you an idea if university is the right path for you. Mainly have fun and make the most of it!”
Amelia Huxtable, a first year MPhys Physics with Astrophysics undergraduate told participants, “When I started at university I felt like I was ready as I had already been in the university setting. Although everything was new I had almost done it before.”
The Scholars scheme’s achievements so far include:

• 816 new entrants onto programme in 2017/18
• 414 course applications to Exeter from Scholars in 2018 – more than half of the most recent cohort
• 104 Senior Scholars started at Exeter as an undergraduate in September 2018
• 83% of 2018 programme graduates applied to a high tariff university
• Scholars are twice as likely to apply to a high tariff university than their peer group
• £218,800 in donor funding has been pledged to help WP students in 2017/18
• 75% of respondents said the programme increased their motivation with regards to their current studies

The University’s Widening Participation Manager Melissa Ruddock said the content of the programme was designed to help support students in making informed decisions about their future but also to support their school attainment throughout the 2–5 years that they are with the University and make the transition to university as easy as possible.
“It provides an insight into the benefits of higher education, student life and what it’s like to study a wide range of different disciplines. The focus is not just on raising aspirations but also supporting participant wellbeing in a time when mental health is very much in the spotlight,” said Melissa.
The programme helps young people deal with the pressures of progressing through GCSE, A levels and equivalent qualifications and beyond to university by building resilience and opening access to a range of support tools.
These include a recently launched new eLearning platform, developed in partnership with social mobility charity Brightside, allowing a blended learning approach for those pupils who live further away from campus to gain skills and improve their own understanding about university.
Exeter Scholars incorporates within it the nationally recognised Pathways to Law programme, which is run in partnership with the Sutton Trust, the foundation which seeks to improve social mobility. Having successfully delivered Pathways to Law at Exeter since 2013 it is a significant opportunity for Exeter Scholars participants taking part in this subject activity strand to have access to a national group of leading universities also working with the Sutton Trust on the programme.
Melissa said: “Recently published data on the Exeter Scholars programme and that released by The Sutton Trust show that these programmes have a significant impact on participants likelihood to not only apply to university but to apply to high tariff, research intensive universities.”

Date: 10 January 2019