Most summer school students ‘already want to go to university’

Summer schools designed to attract more disadvantaged students into university are not reaching those who would benefit most from participating, according to a new study.

More than nine in 10 students who applied to attend eight such initiatives were already likely to want to progress into higher education, the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) found in its latest research project.

The body has called for more collaboration with schools and colleges to ensure universities are targeting harder-to-reach students in light of the findings.

Most universities run summer schools as part of their widening participation activity, the report noted. They are intended to provide a taster of university life and encourage young people from more diverse backgrounds to consider whether studying for a degree is right for them.

TASO said although evidence had previously shown participation in summer schools led to positive attitudes about higher education, the causal impact of such initiatives has not been well documented.

It conducted a randomised control trial involving eight UK-based universities, only four of which received sufficient applications to allow the researchers to randomly allocate places to a group of students and reject others, creating a control group that would allow them to compare the impact of participation. Half the summer schools targeted students younger than 16, and the other half targeted students over the age of 16.

Prior to attending the school, applicants were surveyed on their likelihood of applying to university and perceived barriers such as a lack of financial support or difficulties getting the correct grades. Of the 342 who responded to the poll, 94 per cent were already “likely” or “highly likely” to apply to university in future.

Post-participation, the students were surveyed again and the researchers noted a small positive effect on disadvantaged or under-represented students’ confidence in their ability to apply to, and succeed at, university, their perception of barriers to entry, and fitting in. This suggests that attendees are likely to start higher education in a better position than those who do not attend, TASO concluded.

“Young people today are facing strong economic headwinds,” said its chief executive, Omar Khan. “These headwinds have a greater impact on more disadvantaged young people, with a rising cost of living, stagnant wage growth and wider questions about the future of the labour market.

“We need to double down on our efforts in higher education to ensure that future generations have a fighting chance, building on the success of existing interventions such as summer schools, but also expanding on and developing new interventions that support those who are currently less likely to attend higher education.”

The summer schools TASO looked at were delivered online because of the pandemic and the organisation is running a second evaluation of face-to-face summer schools being delivered between June and August 2022 to compare the effects of online versus in-person delivery.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com