A record number of schoolchildren from across Yorkshire and Humber are using the start of their summer holidays to gain first-hand experiences of university in Bradford.

Some 150 young people aged 14 to 16 are taking part in five themed residential programmes run by Bradford University at its Higher Education Summer School.

Invitations were extended to children from disadvantaged backgrounds whose families do not have a tradition of university study.

Sophia Khan, the Children’s University co-ordinator at the university, said she had been surprised by the popularity of the summer school in its tenth year. She said: “It’s really fantastic because the programmes breaks down what university is about.”

She said the raising of the university’s tuition fees to the maximum £9,000 a year from 2012 was not putting teenagers off. She said: “We’re giving them lots of information to explain that university is still possible for them, that it’s affordable with bursaries, student loans and under the ‘access’ agreements universities have to sign.

“Our undergraduates have been mentoring them and showing them how they budget their money, and they’re not perturbed by that.”

Held over three days across the University’s campus this week, the summer school gives teenagers the chance to stay in student halls of residence and spend time on campus participating in workshops involving a mixture of study and practical work.

At the end of the programme participants are invited to make presentations on the work they have produced to give them an all-round experience of the skills it takes to get ahead at university

  • Read more in Wednesday’s T&A