Local schools were invited to Gower College Swansea recently to celebrate the launch of the HE+ programme for 2015/16.
Gower College Swansea, at the invitation of and in collaboration with, the University of Cambridge, is the “hub” institution in the Swansea HE+ Consortium, working with the seven state sixth-form schools in the area.
“HE+ aims to help students develop academic skills and inspire them to aim as high as possible when making university choices,” says the college’s Oxbridge Tutor Felicity Padley. “Students on the HE+ programme, and there are over 250 at the moment, attend monthly extension classes after college on post-syllabus academic content and have the chance to apply for visits to explore the University of Cambridge and its constituent colleges.”
Since 2013, 26 students have progressed from Gower College Swansea to Oxford and Cambridge, and almost 600 have successfully applied for top Russell Group universities around the UK.
For this academic year, the Swansea HE+ consortium is being supported by investment from the Welsh Government’s Seren Network Programme. The Seren Network is a series of regional hubs which aim to assist Wales’ brightest Year 12 students fulfil their academic potential. It also allows schools and colleges to share expertise and work directly with the UK’s leading universities.
At Gower College Swansea, this investment has supported the purchase of books for college students and school pupils who need to sit aptitude tests, in subjects such as medicine and economics, for Oxbridge and Russell Group universities.
It has also enabled the college to purchase five sets – comprising 2000 books in total - of the Oxford University Press’ ‘Very Short Introductions’ series, which can be accessed by Gower College Swansea students and school pupils alike and which cover a wide range of subject areas including science, biography, history, literature and philosophy.
“Thanks to this investment from the Welsh Government and the generosity of the Oxford University Press and Blackwell’s Oxford, hundreds of young people across the Swansea area now have direct access to some incredible books which will help them as they progress from further to higher education,” adds Felicity.
HE+ is currently only available in Wales to students who attend Gower College Swansea or one of the state sixth-form schools in the City and County of Swansea.
ENDS
Notes:
The Welsh Government is expected to announce additional hubs over the coming months. This is with a view to ensuring national coverage, with all schools and sixth form colleges having links to a hub network by the start of the 2016/17 academic year. For additional information on the Seren Network visit www.gov.wales/seren
Photos: Flashbulb Photography