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̽��ֱ��course was also attended by a small number of standard age students.

A total of 35 students, all of whom who will be starting their new life as Cambridge undergraduates next week, took part in the course, which is supported by the Sutton Trust. They include students who left school to work in fields as diverse as hairdressing, recruitment, marketing and IT.

Many have overcome considerable personal challenges – including single-parenthood and homelessness - to achieve the academic standards required by the ̽��ֱ��'s admissions process.

̽��ֱ��first part of the course, which is coordinated by the ̽��ֱ��'s Institute of Continuing Education in conjunction with the Colleges, took place at Madingley Hall where students benefited from hands-on sessions to develop their study skills.

̽��ֱ��second part was based at Selwyn and Lucy Cavendish Colleges, and introduced students to day-to-day college life at the ̽��ֱ��, tackled practical issues such as finance, and included tours of facilities such as the ̽��ֱ�� Library.

Two PREP participants – Wayne Bateman (pictured left) and Esther Silva (pictured right) - had applied to Cambridge after attending a Going Further residential summer school at Cambridge in 2006, an annual course run for mature students returning to education and hosted by Lucy Cavendish College.

Wayne worked for ten years in recruitment and human resources before taking an access course at North Herts College in Stevenage. He juggled paid work and intensive academic study for an eight month stint, and gained a place to read Social and Political Sciences (St Edmund's College).

Esther Silva, who took an access course at Bradford College, is reading Law (Lucy Cavendish College) and will combine her studies with looking after her young daughter. Esther, who had a three-year gap between leaving school and starting an access course, said that she was “absolutely shocked” when she was offered a place at Cambridge.

“When I started getting decent results on the access course, the course director Stephen Jones suggested I considered applying to Cambridge. I just took it one step at a time, and decided I had nothing to lose by giving it a go just for the experience,” she explained.

Acting as student mentors on the programme was Alison Thompson, a third year history student at Lucy Cavendish, and Sue Long (pictured middle), who graduated from Cambridge in 2003 and is Student Outreach Officer for Lucy Cavendish, where she too studied history.

In her previous role as FE Access Officer at Cambridge Admissions Office, Sue Long organised the Going Further summer schools. She said: “It is so rewarding to see that Wayne and Esther successfully completed their access courses and are now Cambridge undergraduates.”

On the course were several students from the Cambridge area, including Mike Hawes, who is returning to full-time study after 40 years. “I was on the point of going to university to study maths and physics at the age of 18, when I was offered the chance to join a local firm and to earn money while doing a degree part-time,” he said.

“After many years in international sales, rushing round the world, I retired but felt much too young to do nothing. So I signed up at Cambridge Regional College to re-take maths A level and then went on to prepare for the STEP papers required by Cambridge at Abbey Tutorial College.”

He continued: “I believe that anyone who wants to go to Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� should give it a go. From the moment I first contacted St Edmund's to ask about entry requirements, right up until I was offered a place, everyone was extremely helpful. ̽��ֱ��PREP course has been excellent.”