Member News: Retired professionals help disadvantaged pupils get to university
26 January 2016
Retired professionals from fields such as banking, law, medicine and science are helping disadvantaged pupils get to university through the Glasgow Intergenerational Mentoring Network. The network is run in partnership between the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow City Council, with backing from Big Lottery funding, and covers seven schools in the Glasgow area with the aim of recruiting 300 mentors to work with 450 pupils. The scheme involves pairing mentors with pupils from schools in deprived areas who have the aptitude for higher education. The volunteer mentors then provide weekly or fortnightly one-to-one sessions to provide advice on how to write personal statements, pass on contacts who can organise work experience or even give simple tips on how to dress and speak in an interview. Recent figures show that many schools in Glasgow, which contains almost half of Scotland’s most deprived neighbourhoods, send low numbers of pupils to higher education compared to the national average. The mentors are all volunteers drawn from a diverse range of backgrounds, but the focus is on recruiting experienced, retired professionals from education, science, engineering and business who also have a knowledge of higher education and relevant career paths. The scheme is seen as a particularly effective way to break down barriers for pupils from families who have no experience of higher education themselves.
The full story is available from the Herald Scotland website and further information on The Glasgow Intergenerational Mentoring Network is available here.
