Summer School News

The Department of Continuing Education (DCE) is currently running a widening participation summer school for 46 year 10 pupils from schools in south Cumbria. This residential summer school takes place on 4 - 6 August and has been organised in conjunction with Aimhigher Cumbria, Barrow Community Learning Partnerships, Cumbria Pathfinder and Barrow Excellence Action Zone. It aims to encourage able pupils to think about entering higher education.

Next week sees the start of two more residential summer schools run by the Department of Continuing Education:

Lancaster is the only north west university to run a summer school for the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), which is organised from Warwick University. The Departments of Art, History, Economics, Engineering, Psychology and Music, and the Institute for Environment, Philosophy and Public Policy, are all contributing courses as part of this residential summer school for 150 of the top 5% of Britain's school children. The courses run from 9 - 20 August, and include a wide array of exciting activities designed to stimulate the minds of 11 - 16 year olds and give them the chance to work in small groups with leading academics. For our academics, this summer school offers a fairly unique opportunity to work with very bright school-children and share expertise with academics at the 6 universities running NAGTY summer schools elsewhere in the UK.

The Lancaster University Pre-sessional Programme for around 50 north American year abroad students runs from 12 Aug to 10 Sept. Three courses on British history, culture, geography and science, with a focus on the north west, provide academic credits for students who will be studying in the UK in the autumn term.

The Lancaster University Summer Programme of residential holiday courses and activities ran for two weeks at the end of July. With over 550 participants, this was the largest attendance for 8 years. The programme included many new courses such as Parapsychology and Haunted Houses, a scientific introduction to methods for researching strange phenomena, and the North West Gourmet Tour, which introduced participants to the growing popularity of gastronomic tourism. Also popular were courses on the First World War, Ruskin, Discovering Churches and Botanical Illustration. A vibrant programme of evening activities ensured an enjoyable holiday experience, with many participants keen to return next year.

For information about any of these summer school, please contact the DCE on 92623/4.