IntoUniversity

PEF Contribution

PEF is helping IntoUniversity replicate their service in new areas to help 8,000 more young people per year achieve their aspirations.

Changing Lives

Setor Lassey is in his final year at Imperial College, he first volunteered as an IntoUniversity Mentor and has been paired with Karim for two years now. Since then he has worked in partnership with the IntoUniversity staff to develop his ‘Buddy Day’ scheme: Year 8 children from an inner-city secondary school attend a morning workshop on ‘What is a University?’ and enjoy a demonstration of a science experiment.

Two weeks later, the same children visit Imperial and are matched with a trained Buddy for the day, enjoying a Scavenger Hunt and hands-on science. As well as volunteering as a Mentor and a Buddy, Setor is also a Trustee at the North Kensington IU Centre. He has recently received a National Volunteering Award.

PEF is helping IntoUniversity replicate their service in new areas to help 8,000 more young people per year achieve their aspirations.

Introducing the Charity

IntoUniversity provides a network of high quality, local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve. At each local centre IntoUniversity offers an innovative programme that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to attain either a university place or another chosen aspiration.

It addresses underachievement and social exclusion among young people by offering an integrated programme of out-of-school study, mentoring, aspirational coaching, personal support and, in partnership with universities, specially-devised FOCUS weeks, days and weekends.

IntoUniversity is an on-going and long-term service: at the heart of the programme is the belief that underachievement is best addressed in the context of a long-term pastoral engagement with young people where we can build their esteem and support their learning in order that they can reach their potential. It builds relationships with young people at Year 3 and continues to support them up to university access and beyond. The majority of the young people served are from ethnic minority backgrounds and other social groups currently under-represented in higher education.