Guest Blog - Widening Participation: Then and Now

Zoe Ashford

Zoe Ashford, 16, recently completed a week of work experience with IntoUniversity. She was keen to learn more about our charity because she is particularly interested in Education and Psychology.

Dr Rachel Carr, IU’s Chief Executive, recently spoke at the launch of ‘Impact: The Nottingham Campaign’. It was a great opportunity for the charity to celebrate its new partnership with The University of Nottingham which will allow IntoUniversity to open and run three more of its education centres in Nottingham over the next few years – starting this autumn.

In her address, Rachel discussed the roles of universities in the wider community. In the nineteenth century, the University Settlement Movement saw students living in settlement houses amongst the poor and helping the local community in any way they could. This included welfare support, clubs for children and evening classes, lectures and debates for adults. Like the team at IntoUniversity today, those students were committed to nurturing talent and reducing the burden of poverty and lack of education which so easily limits a person’s potential. Although very few of these settlement houses remain today, the same ideas of the role of the university can still be seen in some of the outreach work across the university sector.

Rachel and the team at IntoUniversity look forward to working with the University to open three new IU centres in Nottingham which will focus on providing a sustained, long-term educational and aspirational-building programme which values and recognises the talent of every child.