SOAS boosts access to university-style learning through schools
SOAS University of London celebrates another year of transformative engagement in collaboration with The Brilliant Club to deliver scholar programmes to over 300 students across the UK.
SOAS has been working with The Brilliant Club since 2019 to help students who are less advantaged access the university experience and offer additional support who are most likely to face barriers during the transition to higher education.
By bringing university-style learning into schools, we help students build confidence, develop academic skills, and see themselves as future university students.
The programme supports trained SOAS PhD tutors to deliver university-style learning to students aged between 8 and 18 years old in non-selective state schools, sharing their subject knowledge and passion for learning and supporting students in their progress and pursuit of higher education.
In 2024-25, nearly 400 students from 29 schools studied with a SOAS PhD tutor in the 24/25 academic year. Researchers from SOAS delivered tutorials at schools across Greater London, as well as in the East Midlands.
A total 553 students from 29 schools were also provided with the opportunity to experience the SOAS campus as part of their Scholars Programme Graduation. A further 80% of tutors that took part in the programme felt strongly that it develops their own transferable, pedagogical or training skills for future teaching in higher education.
Victoria Edwards, Head of Access, Experience, Success at SOAS said:
"Widening access and improving outcomes for under-represented students is at the heart of SOAS’s Access and Participation Plan, and through our Access, Experience and Success (AES) department, our long-standing partnership with The Brilliant Club plays a central role in delivering this commitment.
By bringing university-style learning into schools, we help students who face structural barriers to progression build confidence, develop academic skills, and see themselves as future university students. At the same time, our PhD tutors gain invaluable teaching, pedagogical, and leadership experience, ensuring this programme supports both access to higher education and excellence within it."
