Enabling Access
Helping applicants believe they can come to Trinity Hall by changing perspectives and removing barriers.
We believe in nurturing brilliance and dismantling barriers. Gifts towards Enabling Access/Widening Participation at Trinity Hall support our commitment to ensuring that talented students from all backgrounds feel welcomed, empowered to apply, and confident that they belong at Trinity Hall.
Even with a student loan and a Cambridge Bursary, some students will find the day-to-day costs of undertaking their course to be greater than their means. The perception of this financial pressure can deter talented applicants. To help attract talented students, our schools outreach programme dispels myths about studying at Cambridge and breaks down perceived barriers for potential applicants from a range of socio-economic backgrounds.
We have created and participate in several initiatives designed to reduce educational inequalities, which have markedly increased following the pandemic.
Our Aims
- Raise £80,000 per year to continue to support the new post of Access & Recruitment Officer to visit schools, run residentials and create new and innovative access and outreach initiatives. We want to improve equality of opportunity for students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with disabilities.
- Raise £50,000 per year to continue our own ‘You’ll Fit In’ programme to raise aspirations of those from under-represented ethnic groups.
- Raise £40,000 to extend the “Cambridge from the Inside” podcast for a further year.
- Raise £24,000 to run a residential in College for school groups from the South West of England.
- Raise £12,000 per year to continue our support of the STEM SMART initiative, helping bright young scientists from disadvantaged backgrounds raise their aspirations and improve their success rate in University applications.
- Raise £3,000 to support the events and workshops within our link area.
You’ll Fit In
Trinity Hall’s new ‘You’ll Fit In’ initiative aims to encourage applications from under-represented ethnic backgrounds at Cambridge. The programme offers a series of webinars and residentials to help students develop their academic skills and help demonstrate to potential applicants that they would not feel out of place socially at Cambridge if they were to apply and obtain an offer. Launched in 2024, the programme has supported hundreds of students in making informed choices about applying to university and so far, over 200 participants have applied to study at Cambridge.
Photo: You’ll Fit In 2024 participants
Get In Cambridge
Trinity Hall is also part of initiatives to widen social inclusion by encouraging applications from under-represented ethnic groups. Students from a Black British, Black Bangladeshi and Black Pakistani background have historically been under-represented at Cambridge. Although they make up 12% of the UK sixth form population, applicants from these ethnic backgrounds comprise only 3.8% of postgraduate admissions and 6% of undergraduate admissions. Gifts to Trinity Hall as part of the University’s “Get In” programme help to attract Masters students from under-represented ethnic backgrounds.
STEM SMART
STEM SMART is a pioneering widening participation project aimed at supporting educationally disadvantaged students in their ambitions to apply to a top university to study sciences. Through the scheme, students receive free complementary teaching online to help them master their A-level science subjects, strengthening their grades and university applications. Philanthropic support allows Trinity Hall to play its part in this transformational programme. Last year, the scheme supported over 3500 students from across the UK and although STEM SMART is currently focused on the science subjects, with further funding, similar initiatives could be launched in the Arts and Humanities.
Working with schools
Our Access & Recruitment Officer and Director of Admissions travel regularly to schools to speak with students and meet teachers and higher education (HE) advisors. Through these activities we directly engage with over 1,800 students and 250 teachers per year. Many of these school visits take place in the Southwest of England, where we have strong historical connections, but increasingly we are engaging with students from across the UK. We also support the University’s HE+ scheme, with our linked hubs of Bristol and Somerset, where we speak to Y12 and Y13s at various hub events. We enable a select group of disadvantaged students from each cohort to experience life at Cambridge with an overnight stay at Trinity Hall, an opportunity highly valued by school students. Our aspiration is to cover travel costs to College for those on free school meals who are involved in these residentials and in our College tours.
Cambridge from the Inside podcast
In 2024, Trinity Hall launched an exciting new podcast called ‘Cambridge from the Inside’. The podcast features candid interviews with current students, admissions tutors and academics, providing prospective students with information on the admissions process, allowing them to hear from a diverse range of people at Trinity Hall, and giving them an insight into what life is like as a Cambridge student. Since its launch, our videos have been viewed more than 150,000 times and we believe that this success is behind the surge in applications received by Trinity Hall this year – the highest number in Trinity Hall records. The pilot project is coming to an end, but further support would enable us to expand the podcast series.
You can make a difference
Your gift will help applicants believe that Trinity Hall is for them by building confidence and knowledge in what makes a strong application to Cambridge.
Together we can ensure the next generation of great thinkers, leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, and problem solvers find their home at Trinity Hall, whatever their background.