Capturing the Impact 2023 blog series 

Aston Universities Pathway to Medine and Healthcare Pathway Program.

Our very own Jacob Ayre Community and Citizenship Manager at Wesleyan has kicked off his new blog series which will be capturing the impact of the Wesleyan Foundation’s work in 2023. He met with Aston University’s pathway team for an end of academic year catch up, here’s what he had to say...

Our Wesleyan Foundation gave £100,000 in funding for Aston to provide two cohorts of students through the 18-month Wesleyan Pathway to Medicine and Healthcare programme. The pathway programme recruits students which are at Schools in areas with high levels of deprivation, and households which have a low income. Many of the students recruited have never had a family member go to University. The programme aims to help remove barriers and enable young people to attend University by providing additional support, mentoring and insights into professions.

Aston shared with me the great successes in the first year of delivery with 106 students taking part in this year group. Our first Cohort of students were in year 12 at either school or college. All students were given regular mentoring, revision support, and support with the process of applying to University. On top of this students have attended a host of events which help to give them a taste of what University Life, and a Career in Medicine or Healthcare would be like. The events included:

NHS Allied Professionals Day – This is an event I was lucky enough to attend. The event included speakers from across the Medicine and Healthcare professions. The profession’s highlighted different routes you can take up other than the traditional hands on medics, such as Technology companies. Their was also a Q & A panel with health care and medical ambassador students who shared their experience on studying either medicine or healthcare. The students told me first hand how supportive the pathway programme was, particularly around their revision study and support, as well as the opportunities to experience different career options.

“The Q and A with all the students that attend university was amazing. The first-hand experiences of each of them were really insightful. Hearing from people in different sectors like tech and seeing how it relates/links to healthcare was great as well as helping open my mind to other aspects of the medical field.” – Participating Student at the NHS Allied Professionals Day

Medicine Taster Day – The medicine taster day is an opportunity for the pathway students to spend a day within the Medical suite at Aston University. They spend the day talking to student ambassadors, lecturers and taking time to try out workshops they would complete on their course. The tasks were very eye-opening with students being able to try out tasks such as taking blood from an artificial arm.

“Getting a hands-on experience has allowed me to know what to expect from university. The insight into the different pathways into medicine was really useful and talking to current students about their experiences was amazing. The range of simulation activities helped me understand how broad the field of medicine is.” Participating Student at the Medicine Taster Day

Summer School -

The Summer School is a fantastic opportunity for students to get a taste of ‘university life’, as they spend a week on campus, attending lectures and workshops and living in a hall of residence. For some students this was the first time they had stayed away from home and from the feedback received it’s clear the event as a success.

“Thank you so much for your hard work preparing the Summer School. I genuinely had so much fun I wish it was longer! It has helped me so much in deciding what I want to do, every lecture we went to and the challenges we did were so insightful.” Student who attended the Summer School.

It was great to hear what a difference the pathway programme is having on students life, and helping individuals on their journey into a career in Medicine, Healthcare, or just onto University life. I look forward to seeing how the students journey progress in the final year of their programme and seeing you are second Cohort start theirs.