The Corpus Admissions Team has welcomed new research from UCAS showing that Cambridge's STEM SMART programme - founded by Corpus Life Fellow Professor Mark Warner and physicist Dr Lisa Jardine-Wright - saw the participant's A-level grades rose and that more secured places at top universities, including Cambridge and Oxford. 

This programme, Subject Mastery and Attainment Raising Tuition, provides free complementary teaching to students who attend a UK maintained (non-fee paying) school and have either experienced educational disadvantage or belong to a group that is statistically less likely to progress to higher education.

The most engaged of these students – more than 360 – saw their results jump by a grade on average across maths, further maths, physics, chemistry and biology. They were more than twice as successful in achieving an A* in maths, around four times as successful in achieving an A* in physics, and around twice as successful in securing an Oxbridge place than students from similar backgrounds who did not join the STEM SMART programme. A total of 80 students from its first two cohorts secured a place at Oxbridge. 

The STEM SMART programme launched in 2021 to help bridge attainment gaps in maths and science A-level subjects, and mitigate educational disruption caused by the COVID pandemic. In total, 848 students joined the first STEM SMART cohort in 2022, and 1,083 joined the second cohort in 2023. 

The new data – which compares the outcomes of 1,120 sixth formers from STEM SMART’s first two cohorts with those of around 9,000 demographically matched students who did not – is reported in the first independent UCAS analysis of the programme, which has now been running for four years and has so far welcomed 6,500 students. Overall, the evaluation shows that STEM SMART students – or ‘STEM SMARTies’ as they have named themselves – were more aspirational, received higher grades, and were more successful at securing places at top universities. And sixth formers from the most deprived backgrounds in the UK saw the biggest average grade boost in their A-levels across maths, further maths, physics, chemistry and biology, with physics students on average achieving a grade higher.

Expanding regional access

Tutor for Undergraduate Admissions, Dr Jo Willmott, said “Elaine Effard, our North East Access and Outreach Coordinator, has promoted the programme to her growing network of teachers and students, with significantly more students from the North East applying to STEM SMART.”

Outreach & Access Coordinator James Davies-Warner said, “STEM SMART continues to demonstrate its ability to not only raise students’ aspirations but also - crucially - raise their A-level attainment. It is a superb example of how Colleges, departments, and the central University can work together on access and outreach programmes to help sixth formers reach their academic potential and increase the range of Higher Education options available to them.”

Former Tutor for Undergraduate AdmissionsDr Michael Sutherland, Co-Director of STEM SMART, and now Senior Tutor at Trinity Hall, said: “STEM SMART is unique in terms of its scale and approach. In just four years, thousands of sixth formers have come through the programme, accessing sustained support throughout their A-levels, and many of them have travelled to Cambridge to stay at one of the colleges and get a taste of student life. Year on year, we’re seeing increased demand for the programme, and it’s clear that it’s raising aspirations and attainment, and having an impact on these students’ lives.”

Professor Bhaskar Vira, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Cambridge, said: “As well as supporting sixth formers in realising their true potential, and encouraging more applications to top universities from students who might not otherwise apply, STEM SMART is benefitting the UK as a whole – through the boost it is providing for STEM industries and innovation. Cambridge takes its role as a national university seriously, and I’m delighted that STEM SMART is ultimately helping to address the UK’s skills shortage in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) subjects.”

Much of the programme is delivered through the Isaac Physics online platform founded by Dr Jardine-Wright and Professor Warner. STEM SMART and Isaac Physics are free to students, following generous support and funding from the University, Colleges, The Ogden Trust, Raspberry Pi and previously the Department for Education. They are also being supported philanthropically, and through donations from alumni.

Top photo: STEM SMART students from the 2022 cohort with Corpus Fellow and Project Physicist at Isaac Physics Robin Hughes.