Summer schools 2008-10
Of this, £7 million is being provided to support Aimhigher summer schools and £3.5 million is being used to support summer schools that are match funded with higher education institutions.
70 institutions have been awarded HEFCE funding under the match-funded scheme, which has created 6,000 additional places per year. In total, around 25,000 learners will benefit from Aimhigher and match-funded summer schools over the two year programme.
HEFCE published guidance, which can be downloaded from HEFCE's website, for Aimhigher partnerships and higher education institutions in July 2008 which sets out the objectives, scope and structure of the new programme.
Online application system
HEFCE and UCAS have been working together to develop an online application system for summer schools which is currently being piloted in the 2008/09 academic year in nine Aimhigher area partnerships. The system is working effectively but more needs to be done to align the system with Aimhigher processes. As a result, all Aimhigher partnerships have now been invited to take part in an extended pilot in 2009/10. To find out more, view the full letter sent to partnerships below.
Data collection
HEFCE has developed a new system to enable summer school data collected from Aimhigher partnerships and HEIs/FECs receiving match funding for summer schools to be uploaded securely via the HEFCE extranet. The function works in the following way:
• Partnerships and match funded HEIs/FECs receive, by post, a 'key' (log-on ID) to access the site.
• Once logged on, you are able to download the template spreadsheet, add your data and upload back onto the extranet site.
• The template spreadsheet will be based in Excel 2003.
The extranet function is now live and all Aimhigher and match-funded summer schools have been sent details of the processes involved.
