In a lecture room in the Faculty of Law, 60 heads are bent over sheets of paper describing a knotty legal problem. It is titled “The Mysterious Case of the Shrinking Company” and features some fishy goings-on at a paper manufacturer where key staff are handing in their resignations.

Small groups of students are asked to put themselves in the shoes of a lawyer advising the company on how to stop a former employee poaching its staff in contravention of his contract. They are also preparing short talks on the skills needed by litigators which they will be presenting tomorrow morning.

This is day four of the Business Challenge Summer School, a new initiative developed by Cambridge Admissions Office (CAO), as a way of engaging bright teenagers from state schools in less affluent areas in the process of thinking about the long-term value of a university education.

Very few, if any, of these students have visited Cambridge before. Some feared that Cambridge would be snobby and arrived full of trepidation; others had no idea what to expect and only a vague idea of what Cambridge might be like. All settled in and took part enthusiastically in the wide range of activities, which included sessions led by companies including Lehman Brothers and Clifford Chance.

Bobbi Hartshorne, Aimhigher Widening Participation Officer at CAO, explains: “The idea behind the Summer School is that these young people have the chance to learn what an education at a leading university can do in terms of career opportunities and the kind of salaries graduates can expect.

“As a consequence of discussions and workshops, many have broadened their ideas geographically in terms of the universities they might aim for, and others are re-thinking their A level subject choices.”

She went on: “I’ve worked on about ten summer schools, three of which have been at Cambridge, and this has been the most successful and exciting event I’ve done. It’s attracted exactly the kind of pupils we were hoping to reach, bright and highly motivated, and they have had the most wonderful week together. It’s no exaggeration to say that for many it will have been life-changing.”

Zuleyha Kussan (pictured centre) goes to Albany School in Enfield, north London. She says that the Summer School has helped her improve her social skills, and has shown her that she is able to interact with people from different backgrounds and parts of the country in a way that mirrors university life.

Ieva Zulyte, who goes to Meden School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, agrees that the programme has helped develop her communication skills.

Meeting new people, and getting involved in challenging activities that go beyond and cross over the boundaries of the school curriculum, were the high points for James Groves (right), who goes to Heysham High School in Morecambe, Lancashire, and Hamint Singh Madhan (left) who is a student at The John Roan School in Greenwich, London.

The Business Challenge Summer School was funded by the Sutton Trust working in partnership with CAO and all participants’ costs were covered. Applications were invited from pupils at maintained schools and colleges meeting certain criteria, in line with widening participation objectives.

Stop Press: Look out for Rebecca Bradshaw’s diary of her experiences on the Business Challenge Summer School on this site later this week.
 

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