Our campaign is now complete. 40 supporters helped us raise £4,566.00
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The campaign has now expired but it's not too late to support this charity.
Visit the charity's profileFrom the 20th June to the 20th July 2022 Universify Education will be challenging participants and teams to walk, run, swim, cycle or jog 91 miles: the average distance UK university students travel for university.
The challenge is intended to help raise funds to enable Universify Education to deliver our intensive, year-long programme to more students whilst also raising awareness to geographical disparities in university access.
We aim to raise a total of £5,500 which will allow us to provide ten students in Year 10/11 from underrepresented backgrounds with places on our year-long programme.
Sadly, it is currently the case that a young persons background (economic, social, ethnic, family background and geographic background) often determines the opportunities they have to fulfil their potential, rather than the ability of that young person.
Moreover, university (as a vehicle for social mobility) still remains unrepresentative of the population. People from disadvantaged or minority backgrounds are less likely to apply to university because they may face barriers like poor attainment, low aspirations, and fear of not belonging at university. This in turn can limit their personal opportunities like access to high-paying professional careers, and continues a cycle of underrepresentation at university and societal inequality.
We equip young people with the skills, knowledge, and belief to fulfil their potential through education, including accessing the life-changing opportunity of university. Our year-long programme provides Year 10-11 students from non-selective state schools with the opportunity to experience university. On our programme, students attend two residentials hosted by Oxford and Cambridge colleges, learn from the experiences of current university students, experience University-level teaching, and receive 1-on-1 coaching throughout the year. This helps to raise aspirations and attainment early, in order to increase the likelihood of individuals making a successful application to university.
Our programme has a proven track record of delivering long-term positive impact, as expressed in the testimony of our students. Gulled, a participant on our first ever course in 2016, described how the programme helped raised his aspirations and gave him the confidence to make an application to study medicine at a top university:
The Universify programme is definitely one of the experiences that have had a profound impact on my life to date. I remember being 15 not having a clue what I wanted to do and honestly, I was pretty lost. It was only after taking part in the programme that I really started to consider higher education as an option.
Olivia took part in our programme in when she was still unsure about what she wanted to after finishing school. She explained how:
The [Universify] experience not only helped in building my academic confidence but in introducing me to new friends and building a network of peers with similar aspirations to my own, alleviating much of the social anxiety I had previously experienced in relation to meeting new people within academic environments.
Through the subject taster sessions during the summer university residential, Olivia discovered a passion for politics and sociology which she went on to study at university. Her positive experience of the Universify programme inspired her to volunteer for our alumni panel on our 2020 course, sharing her advice and guidance with current Universify participants.
Your efforts will enable us to support more students like Gulled and Olivia overcome barriers to realising their full potential and help them make more informed decisions about their futures.
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Click the 'Start Fundraising' button to sign up and create your own fundraising profile. You can also join and connect your page to our Strava group by searching for 'UE 91 Miles' in clubs, or by following this link.
All entrants will receive a fundraising pack to help you get started and an event t-shirt. To receive a t-shirt please complete this form
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