Brilliant Club charity leads new access summer camp at Trinity

The Brilliant Club is a university access charity seeking to increase the number of under-represented students at selective universities across the UK

The event, which was the College’s first in-person access event in 17 months, saw 24 students visit the College and interact with current students and academicsJohn Mason / Flickr

by Serge Isman

This article is 5 years old

Thursday August 12 2021, 5:27pm

Trinity College is running a new summer school for students from under-represented backgrounds, it was announced yesterday, as part of a new collaboration with the Brilliant Club, a London-based university access charity.

The camp, which was the College’s first in-person access event in 17 months, gave 24 students from under-represented backgrounds the opportunity to visit the College and interact with current students and academics.

Participating students learnt about applying to Cambridge, and had the chance to observe a mock interview.

The majority of students enrolled in the Scholars Programme “meet at least one of three measures: the first in their family to go to university, receive free school meals, or live in a government-defined ‘low participation’ neighbourhood in terms of higher education”, a College press release said.

The annual summer school is part of the Brilliant Club - Trinity College Transition Project, which aims to help graduates of the Brilliant Club’s Scholars Programme develop relevant skills, knowledge and confidence to secure a place at a top university.

Jon Datta, Head of Outreach at Trinity College, said: “This exciting partnership with the Brilliant Club is about maximizing the potential of high ability students from less-advantaged backgrounds from areas that are under-represented at highly selective universities, including Cambridge.”

Datta continued: “It’s been really inspiring and we’re really passionate about working with these exceptional students on the next stages of the Transition Project – which will involve mentoring and support with university applications, study skills and university preparation sessions.”

Trinity College announces pilot mentoring scheme for Black Year 12 students

Trinity announced an enhanced bursary scheme at Cambridge earlier this year to provide £100 million of financial support to disadvantaged students over the next ten years. The launch of this scheme follows an inter-collegiate pilot programme that was funded mainly from the College’s alumni donations.

The number of applicants eligible for government-funded free school meals admitted to Trinity more than doubled from four students in 2018 to nine students in 2020, which was an increase of just under 3% of the total acceptances to the College over these three admissions cycles.

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