The depth in lectures was really surprising... It made me realise that uni isn’t the same as A-levels.
- UNIQ Summer School student, 2018
This week, we have been proud to host another brilliant group of UNIQ Summer School students. Highlights of the week have included a hands-on neuroscience wet lab, participating in an EEG imaging session, demonstrations of the MRI and MEG equipment at the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, tours of various colleges and taster lectures and small-group tutorials with Experimental Psychology faculty members.
The UNIQ programme, which draws students from across the UK, is the University’s residential Access programme aimed at high-performing students who meet the university's Widening Participation and Access criteria (learn more). The programme is now in its ninth year, and will host 875 students in July and August 2018.
It is provided completely free of charge, and is designed to give students a taste of university life as well as challenging and expanding their understanding of a subject. As one 2018 student said, activities such as the neuroscience wet lab provide “opportunities that you wouldn’t have at school, which give you a realistic understanding of what it’s like to study the subject at university”, adding that “we all know we have brains, but it was quite strange and interesting to handle one!”
As well as enjoying the activities, many students expressed surprise at the depth and detail of the material covered – as one student commented, “The depth in lectures was really surprising; we touched on some of the topics at school but didn’t get to go into so much detail. It made me realise that uni isn’t the same as A-levels”. Another student agreed that “it helped me understand the differences between A-level and degree-level study, and helped me to realise that research in neuroscience might be something I’d like to take up in the future.”
Special thanks go to Rebecca Cardus and Nele Demeyere for their hard work in organising the week in conjunction with the UNIQ team, to the EP students who acted as mentors to the group, and to all the researchers, lecturers and tutors who gave up their time to contribute to making a fantastic week.
