Members of the Admissions team visited Denmark for the second in a series of outreach activities to encourage applications to Cambridge from Danish students from less privileged backgrounds.
Christ's works closely with the charity Project Access International to ensure that outstanding overseas students from modest backgrounds understand what the University has to offer. The programme supplies the information and resources that they need to submit a competitive application.
Director of Admissions, Dr Emily Tomlinson and Admissions and Outreach Officer, Ellie Wood joined members of the Project Access team on a road trip to Aarhus, Copenhagen and Odense and met with more than 150 students.
Danish student Martin Brogaard, a current undergraduate at Christ’s, joined their presentation via zoom.
Agnes Bjørn Anderson, Operations Manager for Project Access Denmark, said:
“A lot of the students are in their first or second year of High School, so our main aim of the road trip is to give the students an extensive overview of their educational opportunities abroad. That is why it is fantastic to have Emily and Ellie from Cambridge attend, it helps the students visualize themselves at a top UK university and breaks down barriers to higher education abroad.”
While Project Access now works across the globe, it originated in Denmark, where it partners with the Akademiet for Talentfulde Unge (Academy of Talented Youth - ATU) a nation-wide stretch and challenge enrichment programme for highly able secondary school pupils or ‘knowledge enthusiasts’.
Since 2016 Christ's and Project Access have collaborated to run workshops and events for state-school students enrolled on the ATU programme who might not otherwise consider studying outside Denmark.
In the first outreach event in October the ATU brought a group of Danish school students to the UK – including a visit to Christ’s College - to experience UK academic life, first-hand and meet with Danish students already studying at Cambridge.
Lena Bredlund, project manager for the ATU Øst said:
“One of the most popular activities at ATU East has for many years been our trip to London and Oxbridge as well as our study abroad event. Meeting admission and outreach officers as well as students and experiencing the colleges in real life, has been a key factor for many students in deciding to apply, for example, to Cambridge.”
A student who visited the College in October said:
“I liked that we got all the knowledge we needed for studying/applying, and that we also got to hear a lecture, so we can imagine how it would be to go there. It was nice to get to talk to Danes about specific things.”
UK universities are attractive to Danish students wanting an international education, in English, in a country that is relatively close to home.
Cambridge is particularly popular on account of the supervision system, the employability of its graduates, and the wide scope of many of its courses.
Dr Emily Tomlinson said
“We have admitted Danish students in a range of subjects over the past four years, and they make a lively and active contribution to our College community. We are fortunate to have support for both our outreach work in Denmark and for outstanding Danish students through the Oscar Lewisohn International Award.”
Applying to Christ's from Denmark / International Students / International Webinars