OXFORD University’s first ever graduate access summer school has finished after a successful pilot year.

UNIQ+ summer school launched at the beginning of July with 33 students from 23 different universities around the country arriving for the six-week-long DPhil (PhD) experience.

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The programme gives potential applicants from areas and groups that traditionally have low-progression into postgraduate study the chance to experience what it is like to be a research student at Oxford, with a focus on the medical, biological, mathematical and physical sciences.

Oxford Mail:

Almost 200 applications were received for the first year of UNIQ+, which builds on the success of the recently expanded UNIQ residential summer school for A-Level students from under-represented backgrounds.

Oxford Mail:

David Gavaghan, Professor of Computational Biology and Director of the MPLS Graduate School, said: "The first students to experience UNIQ+ have arrived at Oxford giving those from under-represented backgrounds the chance to experience the university’s world-leading research environment.

Oxford Mail:

"We hope that many of these students will consider our doctoral research programmes and go on to make successful applications for postgraduate study."

There are plans to extend the scheme in 2020.