Oxford University has received £6.25 million to improve access to STEM degrees in a joint donation with Cambridge University. The fund, announced on 17th July, aims to expand outreach work for socio-economically disadvantaged students aged 14–19 who are studying STEM subjects. The donor has chosen to remain anonymous to the public.
The donation will fund three outreach programmes, beginning in October 2025, including a new GCSE Mathematics programme. The new initiative will provide weekly maths tutoring with a mentor to improve students’ performance and to increase the take-up of Maths and Further Maths at A-Level. The University says it hopes to provide 850 students with tutoring in the programme’s first four years. A University spokesperson told Cherwell: “The University will partner with schools with high numbers of disadvantaged students and ask them to nominate students who show promise to achieve in maths.”
The donation will also go towards the expansion of the Mathematical, Physical, and Life Sciences Division’s (MPLS) ‘bridging programme’, which supports offer holders and those in their first year at Oxford. The donation will increase the number of students invited to a residential bridging programme from 45 to 100.
Professor James Naismith, head of the MPLS division, said: “This generous gift significantly enhances our ability to support talented young people who want to pursue STEM subjects but face obstacles to their dreams. These innovative programmes will enable Oxford to support the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.”
The Comprehensive Oxford Mathematics and Physics Online School (COMPOS), which provides free tutoring to UK state-school students, will also benefit from the fund. The donation will be used to increase the number of participants each year from 500 to 1200 and expand COMPOS to include Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, and Pure Mathematics.
At Cambridge University, the donation will extend funding to Isaac Physics, a free online platform which enables teachers in physics, maths, chemistry and biology to set homework and have it marked automatically. It will also support their STEM SMART programme, which provides live online tutorials and mentoring by Cambridge University students.
Oxford University has stated that “while the programmes will be administered separately, the universities will work together”, including by sharing academic tutors and online resources. “The universities will meet regularly to share progress [and] monitor take up of their respective courses to ensure they are not working with the same students,” a University spokesperson told Cherwell.
The 2024 Oxford admissions report found that the proportion of state-educated students at the University has been falling since 2019, despite an increase in the number of applicants from state schools.
