MSC Summer Schools provide boost to medical school widening participation work

Funded by Health Education England, the programme is designed to provide targeted support to students from areas in England where few apply to study medicine. The summer schools provide confidence and social capital building activities as well as admissions advice and support to those considering applying to study medicine. The initiative was first piloted by four medical schools in 2019 and was successfully extended to five medical schools in 2020.

Published today, the first report on the summer schools builds a profile of the participants’ characteristics by pooling data from different sources on their socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. Key findings include:

• Over 61% of participants were from ‘cold spots’, defined as those areas which have limited engagement with medical schools.
• More than half (57.65%) were from the most disadvantaged IMD quintiles and nearly half (45.48%) were from the lowest POLAR 4 quintiles.
• 37.2% qualified for Free School Meals (or other support measures) against a national average of 17.7%.
• 11 students have been or are in local authority care. This compares to only 10 students entering medicine in 2017 from a care background.
• There was a greater representation of students from a minority ethnic background compared to the national population or the composition of medical students.
• Nearly half (47.2%) have parents with no experience of higher education.

Importantly, it can be seen that the students were overwhelmingly positive about the summer school experience. The greatest change was detected in students feeling more confident in applying their thoughts and ideas (up 12%).

Whilst the summer schools were planned as residential events, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic the programme was delivered online in 2020. An IT accessibility survey was taken to inform this shift and therefore a key recommendation of the report is to identify how to best support students if remote delivery is adopted in future summer schools.

Dr Paul Garrud, Chair of the Medical Schools Council Selection Alliance, said:

“Whilst the final university destinations of the summer school students will not be known until 2022 for the first cohort, this report provides welcome confirmation that the programme has targeted and successfully recruited students from some of the most deprived communities in England. It is even more gratifying to see that the summer schools are achieving their objectives in boosting students’ confidence and making applying to medical school feel like a more attainable goal.

“One of the key findings from the attitudinal gain survey was that there were different outcomes from Year 11 and Year 12 summer schools. Year 11 summer schools had the greatest impact in preparing students to develop the skills and attributes they will need as a student doctor, whereas the Year 12 summer schools supported students in considering their future career paths. These outcomes must be further considered when planning future summer schools to ensure that widening participation outreach is timed to have the greatest impact.

“We would like to thank Health Education England for its continued support of this vital work.”

The report can be accessed here.