̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Cambridge Foundation Year

Cambridge student thanks teacher who helped him believe in himself

ps748 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 11:59:34 +0000

Elijah Denning nominated Tom Lloyd, a teacher at Dudley College of Technology, for a ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Educator of the Year Award, which he has won.

A-level results day 2024

hcf38 — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 16:47:51 +0000

Congratulations to the students who've achieved the grades they needed at A-level to secure a place on a degree course at Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��teachers going above and beyond

ps748 — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 11:35:13 +0000

2024 Educator Awards recognise those who transform lives

Teacher wins award for encouraging pupil

ps748 — Tue, 14 May 2024 15:26:30 +0000

Teacher wins Educator's Award for encouraging pupil to apply for Foundation Year.

Cambridge welcomes first Foundation Year students

sb726 — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 06:52:53 +0000

Cambridge’s first-ever Foundation Year students are among those who have arrived at the ̽��ֱ�� for the start of the new academic year.

Vice-Chancellor gives evidence to ̽��ֱ��Times Education Commission

Anonymous — Fri, 13 May 2022 08:22:44 +0000

Professor Toope’s evidence focused on the higher education sector’s role in raising attainment in schools and sixth-form colleges, widening participation, and exploring different approaches to university examinations and assessment.

His submission to the inquiry, particularly around widening participation, generated discussion in the media and saw some commentators suggest the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge is discriminating against pupils from independent and grammar schools. This suggestion misrepresented the Vice-Chancellor’s comments. Professor Toope's response was published by the Telegraph:

“ ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge does not and would not discriminate against pupils from any type of school and does not use any quotas when making admissions decisions.

“Universities like Cambridge have been challenged by successive governments to reflect wider society by drawing students from all backgrounds. Unlike our great independent and grammar schools, many comprehensives have no tradition of sending pupils to places like Cambridge with the result that many of their pupils never consider applying. It is those pupils that the country’s leading universities are now trying to reach.

“This does mean that a greater number of applicants from a wider range of backgrounds will be considered for broadly the same number of places. But the most high achieving pupils from independent and grammar schools will still find a welcome at Cambridge, along with those from the comprehensive sector.”

During his submission to the inquiry, the Vice-Chancellor focused on the work universities are doing to share best practice to raise attainment and aspirations in schools.

Professor Toope cited the ̽��ֱ��’s recently launched Cambridge Foundation Year and STEM SMART programmes as examples of how Cambridge is working to reach talented but educationally disadvantaged students who might not otherwise consider applying to Cambridge, or other top universities. He also highlighted the huge success of more established Cambridge outreach programmes like NRICH and Isaac Physics, as well as Cambridge’s pioneering efforts to widen participation in postgraduate education - including a collaboration with colleagues at Oxford, using a grant from the Office for Students, to develop new admissions practices and systems to help transform selection processes.

New approaches to assessment at Cambridge were also discussed by Professor Toope. ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has world-leading pedagogical expertise and all decisions are based on delivering the most effective examinations. Along with other universities, some of our examinations - where the primary aim is to assess a student’s analytical, critical and problem solving skills - are now 'open book' and completed online. When detailed knowledge retention or mathematical skills are being tested, we continue to use the traditional format of in-person exams. We are in the first year of a three-year trial and data from ongoing evaluation will ensure standards remain as high as they always have been.

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen J Toope, this month gave evidence to ̽��ֱ��Times Education Commission, which was set up in May 2021 to examine the future of education following the COVID-19 crisis, declining social mobility, advances in technology, and the changing nature of work.

Universities like Cambridge have been challenged by successive governments to reflect wider society by drawing students from all backgrounds.

Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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First-ever Cambridge Foundation Year offers made to prospective students

sb726 — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 10:48:17 +0000

̽��ֱ��landmark new programme will provide a new route to undergraduate education at Cambridge for around 50 talented individuals every year who have experienced educational and social disadvantage, and demonstrate the potential to succeed in a degree in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

̽��ֱ��one-year, full-time residential course will welcome its first intake of students to Cambridge for the start of the new academic year, in October 2022. Following a rigorous admissions process, offers have been made to 52 students.

Free and fully funded, the Cambridge Foundation Year is aimed at engaging an entirely new stream of applicants who have been prevented from reaching their full potential by their circumstances. This includes students with experience of the care system, estrangement from parents, low levels of household income, and schools with little history of sending students to highly selective universities. Their selection has taken into account their educational background and contextualised their achievements, recognising that circumstances and opportunity should not be a barrier to future academic success.

̽��ֱ��programme’s engaging and challenging curriculum will prepare students for further study at Cambridge, or another top university.

Typical offers for the Cambridge Foundation Year - which is open to those ordinarily resident in the UK who meet specific eligibility criteria - require 120 UCAS Tariff Points, which is equivalent to BBB at A-Level. ̽��ֱ��usual Cambridge offer is at least A*AA.

In total, there were 267 applications to the pilot Foundation Year programme, around 5 applications for every place, which is comparable to the number of applications the ̽��ֱ�� normally receives for undergraduate study (6 applications for every place). Cambridge Foundation Year applicants, including mature students, came from diverse backgrounds and from across the UK. They have received guidance during the process through a ̽��ֱ�� online applicant support programme to help them make the strongest possible application.

A Foundation Year Offer Holder Day will be held in June, giving students an opportunity to find out more about life at Cambridge and visit colleges, and a Residential Pre-Term Induction Week will take place in September.

Dr Alex Pryce, Foundation Year Course Director, said: “This is a big day for those who are receiving their Cambridge Foundation Year offer, and a big day for the ̽��ֱ��. This is the first time in its history that Cambridge has run a pre-degree foundation year programme, aimed at talented applicants who might not otherwise consider applying to study here, and the number of applications we received shows that it is competitive and that there is a clear appetite for it.

“I’d like to congratulate everyone who has received an offer; we look forward to welcoming our first-ever Cambridge Foundation Year students to Cambridge very soon.”

Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “ ̽��ֱ��Cambridge Foundation Year offers a fresh approach to widening participation at Cambridge. It is an innovative programme that aims to reach an entirely new field of Cambridge candidates, and to transform lives. After all the planning that has gone into creating the Cambridge Foundation Year, and the hard work of many people across the ̽��ֱ�� and Colleges, I’m delighted that we have reached this important moment.”

A cornerstone gift from philanthropists Christina and Peter Dawson is funding the launch of the programme and full one-year scholarships for all students who are accepted. Students will study at one of the 13 Cambridge colleges participating in the pilot scheme, and will benefit from the community, support and academic stimulation this offers, which is intrinsic to the Cambridge experience. They will also be taught at the new West Hub, on the ̽��ֱ��'s emerging West Cambridge Innovation District.

As with all courses at Cambridge, there was a rigorous admissions process designed to help admit students who will thrive on the Foundation Year and be able to progress to a degree at Cambridge – including interviews and assessment. Students also have to prove their eligibility to receive the generous scholarship given to all students on the course.

On successful completion of the programme, Cambridge Foundation Year students will receive a recognised CertHE qualification from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and with suitable attainment can progress to degrees in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Cambridge without the need to apply to the ̽��ֱ�� again in the usual admissions round. Students will also be supported during the programme in finding alternative university places if they do not wish to continue to undergraduate study at Cambridge, or do not meet the required level of attainment.

Along with the Cambridge Foundation Year in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the ̽��ֱ�� last year launched the STEM SMART programme to support hundreds of UK state school students through their maths and science A-levels with enhanced learning, encouragement and mentoring. ̽��ֱ��two programmes build on widening participation progress made by the ̽��ֱ�� in recent years, including the use of the August Reconsideration Pool to reconsider candidates who exceed expectations in examinations, and the launch of an enhanced bursary scheme.

In 2021, 72% of Cambridge’s new undergraduate students were from state schools and more than a quarter were from the least advantaged backgrounds.
For more information visit: www.foundationyear.cam.ac.uk

More than 50 students from backgrounds of educational disadvantage have been offered a place on the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s first-ever pre-degree foundation year.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Foundation Year is an innovative programme that aims to reach an entirely new field of Cambridge candidates, and to transform lives.

Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor

Current students at the new West Hub, where the Cambridge Foundation Year will be taught

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