UHI Inverness course for care experienced students wins national award

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UHI Inverness has won the Widening Access Award at this year’s The Herald Higher Education Awards.

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The LEEP Ahead team - Louise Martin-Theyers, Tabitha Rattray, Nina Gatt and Amanda Campbell - at the awards ceremony. Credit: Newsquest Scotland Events.

The prestigious award recognises the LEEP (Life, Education, Employment and Personal Development) Ahead programme, which supports care experienced young people to re-engage in learning and employment.

The Herald Higher Education Awards took place at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on Thursday, June 1. They have come to be recognised as one of the leading marks of excellence for Scotland’s higher education sector.

The 18-week LEEP Ahead programme ran as a pilot in January 2022, in partnership with Highland Council. Thirteen students took part, with 90 per cent of those progressing onto positive destinations.

A second programme, which has been running since January 2023, is expected to have a similar successful outcome.

Care experienced young people often face additional challenges that result in disruption to their education or gaps in learning, knowledge, and development. The programme addresses these challenges by providing the participants with the tools and skills to support them to progress positively, whether that is onto college or university, or an apprenticeship programme, training or employment.

It was developed to combat barriers to learning whilst building self-esteem, refining emotional literacy, increasing personal and social skills, improving health and wellbeing, and introducing a wide curriculum experience through project-based activity.

Lindsay Snodgrass, Vice Principal at UHI Inverness, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have won the Widening Access Award; it’s testament to the hard work and talent of the team members who deliver the course which has changed the lives of the students who have completed it so far. It forms part of our commitment to widening access and is just one of several projects we’re working on to help different groups of people reconnect with learning. We are incredibly proud of the students who have completed this programme, as well as those on the programme currently, and we will be here to support them as they continue to develop and grow through their continued studies.”