Student mentors to encourage university life

Teachers are to be given support in pushing pupils to continue their studies to university level in a new mentoring scheme, the universities secretary has announced.

The £21-million Aimhigher Associates programme will see 5,000 student mentors build long-term links with some 21,000 pupils, to encourage them to attend university.

From the age of 14, pupils from working class backgrounds will liaise with their mentor, who will inform them about student life and provide them with support and advice about university options.

John Denham, universities secretary, said: "The government is committed to both widening participation in higher education and promoting access to universities where the competition for entry to courses is most fierce."

He also told the BBC that long-term relationships between GCSE pupils and universities are essential in giving young people information about all the options open to them.

The announcement comes after government research suggested that white working-class pupils are the lowest aspiring and achieving group in English schools.