Pembroke College, Oxford has appointed a senior academic to the full-time post of Access Fellow – and it is believed to be the first Oxbridge college to do so. The newly created post will encourage and support bright state school students in their applications to competitive universities like Oxford. Pembroke is also expanding its successful aspiration-raising programme with BSix College in Hackney to the North West.
The creation of the post will see Dr Peter Claus, Senior Research Fellow in History oversee and teach a year-long academic programme with high-achieving sixth formers from Hackney schools and colleges at Citi Bank, Canary Wharf. He will also oversee a similar programme at a number of schools and colleges in the North West of England with the Etihad stadium, home of Manchester City Football Club, as the venue for seminars.
The new collaboration with South Cheshire College acting as a hub college will be launched on 24 September and a group of students drawn from surrounding schools and colleges will take part in a sustained academic programme which mirrors the Hackney scheme. South Cheshire College, like BSix in Hackney, will be host to a ‘tutorial room,’ a book-lined study in the style of an academic office in Oxford, as a venue for sustained academic work to be undertaken as part of the collaboration.
Dr Peter Claus says, ‘I am delighted to take up this unique position as Access Fellow, a role which acknowledges the importance of delivering high quality and sustained academic work with students as part of the widening access process. Pembroke College has made clear a significant investment and commitment to outreach work by appointing an academic to this full-time post. I look forward to encouraging students who may benefit from the academic interventions that we offer, who would like to take a step beyond school-based learning and who relish the unfamiliar and want to take a trip beyond their comfort zone’.
‘With these new developments, our aim is for students to feel better prepared to make an application to Pembroke, to Oxford or to other competitive universities. We hope that after working with an Access Fellow over a full academic year, pupils will have experience of undergraduate teaching and some knowledge about the Oxford admissions process and so will be able to look beyond the myths and feel confident about applying to Oxford’.
Pembroke has worked closely in recent years with Brooke House (BSix) Sixth Form College in Hackney in its award-winning Raising Aspirations programme. This association has seen members across the college deliver a sustained course of academic studies for 30 Year 12 students, including an Easter Study Skills school sponsored by the Henry Drucker Trust and taught by Oxford and Cambridge undergraduates, and a residential summer School at Pembroke College which has been taught by academics, postgraduates and undergraduates.
As part of this programme, now to be extended to the North West, Dr Claus has been conducting one-to-tutorials, seminars, study skills sessions, guidance on the Oxford interview process, including mock interviews in the ‘Red Room’ tutorial study in Hackney and will do the same in the soon-to-be-opened tutorial room at South Cheshire.
Linda Buchannan, Honours Programme Coordinator at South Cheshire College, said: ‘South Cheshire College is delighted to be collaborating with Pembroke College, offering opportunities for students in the North West to experience the Oxford approach to learning’.
For more information please contact:
University of Oxford Press Office on 01865 280 528 or press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk
Dr Peter Claus at Pembroke College on 07719 884314 or peter.claus@pmb.ox.ac.uk
NB: Dr Peter Claus will be unavailable to take calls or do interviews on 16-18 and 26 and 30 September.
Notes for Editors:
The new post of Access Fellow at Pembroke College is believed to be the first time a college at Oxford or Cambridge has appointed a senior academic to a full-time access post that involves weekly academic intervention with prospective students.
Most Oxford colleges employ dedicated outreach officers who undertake outreach and widening access activities on behalf of the college. Academics from many colleges and subjects undertake outreach activities as part of their admissions work as well – but this is thought to be the first time such work on the part of full-time publishing academics is formalised with a dedicated post.
The appointment of an Access Fellow is the first phase of a ten-year strategy for Pembroke’s targeted widening access activities. Dr Claus will be responsible for implementing a strategy for these activities, working closely with Rebecca Wilson who is now the college Access and Admissions Officer.
Pembroke has worked closely with Brooke House (BSix) Sixth Form College in Hackney through its Pem-Brooke Raising Aspirations programme, which Ofsted has described as “a highly successful model to further the progression of students to Higher Education”. This has seen the sustained involvement of the whole college in delivering an academic course for 30 Year 12 students.
Within just five years, the collaboration has made a substantial impact. Applications to Brooke House have quadrupled since 2008 and the number of students winning places at Russell Group universities has increased by over 500% in the last three years. The first successful Oxbridge students took their places in 2010 while applications have also risen significantly. Since 2010 the scheme has been significantly expanded. BSix now has 16 universities leading subject strands on the Pem-Brooke model, with university undergraduates, postgraduates and academics coming into the classroom and selected groups going onto university courses, some of which include summer schools.
As part of the University of Oxford’s on-going commitment to engage with schools, each Oxford college is linked to a Local Authority to ensure that each school has a first point of contact within the University. The new collaboration with South Cheshire College aims to reach students in the local authorities linked to Pembroke College, including Cheshire, Rochdale, Warrington and parts of Manchester.
The new collaboration will be launched on 24 September and a group of students drawn from surrounding schools and colleges, including Ashton Sixth Form College, will take part in a sustained academic programme which mirrors the Hackney scheme.
Pembroke College will support 60 high-achieving students from Hackney and the North West region to achieve their academic potential, rising to 90 students. Students from South Cheshire College and partner schools and colleges who win a place on the year-long academic course will benefit from the special room which will offer a place for reflective study, host mock interviews and will be surrounded by books to create a calm and reflective atmosphere. The room will also be home to visiting academics and undergraduate students from Oxford, who will be working closely with students.
An East End Classics Centre was launched in BSix recently with the active cooperation of academics from Oxford and Birkbeck College, University of London. In the North West, Ashton under Lyne Sixth Form College will act as Pembroke Subject Leader College in Theology. The third collaboration will be in East Manchester, part of the regeneration of the area which will see Connell’s Sixth Form College act as both a hub college in the region and as a Subject Leader College in Oriental Studies (Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Hebrew and Jewish Studies).
For more information on outreach at Pembroke see: http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/Students/Admissions/Schools_Liaison.php
For more on the Pem-Brooke at BSix Hackney collaboration see: http://www.pmb.ox.ac.uk/Students/Admissions/Schools_Liaison.php
