The programme will have monthly interactive online sessions on weekdays throughout the academic yearSimon Abrams/UNSPLASH

A new outreach programme, ClickCambridge, has been announced following a successful pilot year programme.

ClickCambridge is a new online programme which “aims to equip students with the information and skills needed to apply to selective universities” . It is the first programme of its kind in terms of both scale and the collaborative nature of its administration.

The ClickCambridge programme will be expanded from the pilot year, with an increased number of colleges participating. ClickCambridge hopes that this expansion will “ensure its continuity as a staple programme within Cambridge outreach.”

The programme will have monthly interactive online sessions on weekdays throughout the academic year. The webinars are timed to align with different stages in the process of preparation. Examples of these sessions for the Year 12 stream are “Personal Statement Workshops, Subject Taster Sessions with BPA Cambridge Academics, Study Skills, Introductions to Supercurriculars, and Q&As with current BPA Cambridge students.”

Leaders of the programme are planning to have “skills-focussed” sessions on the programme such as a session on Metacognition and Revision Strategies in April to coincide with the Year 12 Exam Period.

Catherine Walker, the Admissions and Outreach Officer for ClickCambridge, commented on the pilot year’s success: “We saw significant increases in both students’ understanding of how to make a successful application to a competitive university and their confidence in doing so.”

Sophia, a participant in last year’s pilot programme, said: “The best part of ClickCambridge was the ongoing support that was available that covered all the parts I was worried about, especially super curriculars and personal statements.”


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Nafiza, another participant, added that she “was able to ask questions to Cambridge students and they really debunked the myth about how Cambridge is only for the elite.”

The pilot year programme, which launched in September 2020, consisted of a Year 10 stream for Black and mixed Black students and a Year 12 stream for Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Arab (BPA) and mixed BPA students.

The Year 12 programme is currently the only event targeted specifically at Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Arab students across the University of Cambridge and, with over 300 students on the 2020-21 programme.

The impact from the pilot year of the programme was measured by pre and post-programme surveys. A student involved said that “everyone was very nice and helpful, it felt like a mini community.”

59 percent of the pilot year’s cohort would be the first in their family to attend university. The surveys also measured an increase in student’s confidence about applying specifically to Oxford/Cambridge.