Into University provides local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve.
They exist to help young people growing up in Britain’s least privileged neighbourhoods who have always faced an uphill struggle.
Homes are often overcrowded spaces where young people have nowhere to study, where devices are shared between siblings, and where hard-pressed families do not have spare cash for tutors and after-school activities. Few get the grades to go to university.
As a result, many families are caught in a vicious cycle, where the disadvantages of one generation are passed onto the next. This creates neighbourhoods where for decades, poverty and educational underachievement have gone hand in hand.
In these communities, Into University centres offer a safe space for young people to learn, explore and succeed, a welcoming and supportive home-from-home, located in young people’s neighbourhoods.
Through after-school study sessions, mentoring meetings and their FOCUS programme, which inspires and supports ambition, they provide the dedicated, long-term support that can break cycles of disadvantage.
Bringing IntoUniversity to Leicester One of the newest locations for Into University is Leicester, which has come to the city thanks to a partnership between the University of Leicester and De Montfort University; supported by a landmark grant from the Randal Charitable Foundation.
Leicester was identified as one of twenty local authorities in the UK where people are most likely to experience ‘destitution’, and also has the second lowest household disposable income rate in the UK.
Poverty has long-lasting effects on educational attainment, and disadvantaged students are found to fall significantly behind their peers at every stage of their education as a result. In Leicester, disadvantaged young people are almost 19 months behind their more advantaged peers (Education Policy Institute, 2020).
Into University has a 20-year track record and is currently operating in 22 UK towns and cities. At each
Into University centre, students aged 7-18 participate in a holistic programme of support, designed to raise aspirations, broaden horizons, improve attainment, develop soft skills and provide experience of the world of work, ultimately helping them reach university or professional careers that would not be easily available to them.
This creates a tradition of educational and career success that cascades through generations. 64% of
Into University students progress to Higher Education, compared with 44% of students nationally, and only 28% of students receiving free school meals – just one indicator of Into University’s success.
In 2023 the Randal Charitable Foundation provided the landmark grant towards the new IntoUniversity centre in Leicester. The centre will provide training and education to help them reach university or professional careers that would not be easily available to them.
For more information on Into University visit here: Homepage – IntoUniversity