General Information for Teachers

What is UniWorld?

UniWorld is an exciting new scheme aimed at raising aspirations and encouraging young people to go to University.

In particular, we aim to encourage young people whose parents have not been to University, and those with less privileged backgrounds.

UniWorld comprises a series of activities for different ages, starting at Year 8, hosted by Keele University.

UniWorld Activities for Year 8

The scheme aims to start educating children about the advantages of Higher Education from Year 8, and to follow up this introduction with activities in each key stage.

The learning experience begins with ‘The UniWorld Game’, an interactive CD Rom for use in classrooms. The game teaches the players about many aspects of Higher Education. It includes learning what life is like for a University student, careers information and a fun Monopoly-style board game about university. The CD is differentiated so it can be used by all abilities.  Extension work is provided to stretch more gifted students. See the game info page for more details and some stills from the game.

The CD is available free to qualifying schools. To qualify schools must be in less advantaged areas and/or have lower than national average attainment at GCSE. If you would like to request a free copy for your school please contact us.

Following on from the CD Rom is the web-based ‘UniWorld Club’, through which students complete four activities to gain a certificate from Keele University for their Record of Achievement. The activities will be in three categories: academic, higher education and citizenship. The tasks can be used flexibly, either in school or at home. The Club is aimed at students with average to high attainment.

There is more information about participating on the Club page or you can enter the Club Zone to view the activities.

Small groups of pupils from selected schools in the Midlands will be able to visit Keele University Campus for an extended day combining academic sessions with a taste of student social life. For more information have a look at the news page .

In addition, we have a group of ‘Mentors’ who are current Keele University students, working in some schools local to Keele. Their role is to guide and advise the participants, and encourage them to aspire to Higher Education.

Keele runs a series of other activities for young people, including:

• The Six Towns Project, a residential experience in conjunction with Staffs University (Year 11)
• Higher Education Summer Schools in conjunction with ESF and Aimhigher West Midlands(Years 10 & 11)
• Higher Education Fairs / School or College Visits (Year 12)
• Access Scheme, which enables students with financial, health or other difficulties to get into Keele (Year 13)

Student Participation

All students can use the UniWorld CD Rom, as it is differentiated to allow it to be used in mixed ability classes.  The CD will be made available to qualifying (see above) schools free of charge and to all other schools at a small cost (the project does not make a profit).

Students will be selected for the ’UniWorld Club’ by teachers. All the students invited to be part of the scheme will be from families where there has been little or no experience of Higher Education, and from backgrounds which are under-represented in HE. They should be capable of attaining a university education.

The safety of participating students is a key concern and is considered at all times. Key staff and Mentors working with young people are subject to Police checks.

Your Role

The teachers' role is obviously to deliver the CD Rom materials in the classroom. The CD Rom should take around three hours to complete in full, but is designed to be a flexible resource which can be used in parts if required. Each CD Rom comes with Teacher's Notes. Teachers are also asked to support the students involved in the Web Club in completing the tasks. Parents will also have a support role for the Web Club. You can access Teacher's Notes for the web club online.

Contact Details

For further information please contact Sarah Hatfield

Write to:
UniWorld, Widening Participation, Academic Registry, Keele University, Keele, Staffs, ST5 5BG

Tel:  (01782) 584127

Fax: (01782) 584471

Email: uniworld@keele.ac.uk