What is HUE?
Hackney University Extension is run by BSix Brooke House Sixth Form College and is an outgrowth of the Pem-Brooke project, a collaboration with Pembroke College, Oxford that began in 2008. Collaborating with the Hackney Learning Trust and schools and colleges across the borough, we bring young people in Hackney together with leading universities to provide short university-style programmes, as well as a range of opportunities, including residential Easter and summer schools at Manchester, Cambridge and Oxford Universities. The Extension programmes are split into an Autumn Term and a Spring Term, and students can take part in one programme per term, and can participate in one or both terms. There are a wide range of subject courses available, from Humanities to Engineering. Some courses will be suitable for anyone with an interest, whilst others will require you to be studying particular subjects.
The courses are run by leading universities, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, University of York, and Queen Mary, University of London. You will have the opportunity to work with lecturers and current students from these prestigious institutions.
A university is first and foremost an academic institution. Hackney University Extension therefore seeks to introduce you to degree level study: new subjects and ways of learning that move beyond your work at school or college. The programmes are challenging because university study isn’t easy. We require a commitment that you attend all sessions, and some programmes will assign reading or tasks, but programmes will fit around your school and college work, and won’t interfere with exam revision or coursework deadlines.
Over the next year you will be making important decisions that will have a significant impact upon your future. Whilst many sixth-form students in Hackney go on to higher education, far fewer take up places at the most selective institutions. Hackney University Extension aims to give you an insight into the world of higher education, to expose you to the rigours of university study, and to aid and strengthen your university application.
Selection Process
We will consider all applications holistically, looking at all the information you provide us with, much like a university admissions tutor does. We want to ensure that places on Hackney University Extension go to those who will most benefit from participation, and will make decisions accordingly.
For the Humanities programme, we longlist students according to eligibility criteria set by Pembroke College, Oxford. The eligibility criteria is as follows:
Pupils meet at least one of the following:
- In receipt of free school meals
- Looked After Child
- From an ethnic group which is underrepresented at research-intensive/ Russell Group institutions
Or two of the following:
- No parental experience of HE
- Parents employed in low socio economic categories
- Live in an area of low participation to HE
- Have a disability
We will be in touch with longlisted applicants in November to direct to a dedicated online application form held on the University of Oxford website. These students are then required to complete a short academic task which they will be able to access from 2nd December.
For more information email Andrea MacLean, Learning Beyond the Classroom Coordinator (Hackney University Extension).
