Applied Inspiration has partnered with the Sutton Trust to evaluate the social mobility charity’s summer school programme as part of their 30th anniversary.
Founded in 1997 by Sir Peter Lampl, the Sutton Trust began with a single UK summer school delivered in partnership with the University of Oxford. Nearly three decades on, that programme has grown alongside a wider portfolio of work, including initiatives supporting over 14,000 young people a year through university access, apprenticeships, and career opportunities.
As part of this project, Applied Inspiration will draw together participant, survey and longitudinal data, combining this with a detailed qualitative process and impact evaluation through interviews with a range of alumni, Sutton Trust staff, and university consortium staff. The combined impact and process evaluation will ensure that the project highlights what the programme achieves and what the residential experience meant to participants.
The report will develop an understanding of the long-term impact of UK Summer Schools, situate this within the wider widening participation ecosystem, and make recommendations for the future of the programme and sector. Findings are due to be published in 2027.
Applied Inspiration’s Director of Operations, Professor Stella Jones-Devitt, expressed her enthusiasm for the project: "This is a landmark collaboration, and we're proud to be undertaking it with the Sutton Trust, the leading organisation in the social mobility space in the UK. Applied Inspiration shares their commitment to understanding the impact summer schools can have on students, not just in the moment, but years on. Understanding that impact properly is what will let us identify practical, evidence-based ways to help the sector deliver programmes that actually serve students.”
Dr Antony Aleksiev, the project lead on quantitative research and the Head of Research at Applied Inspiration, added, “Thirty years is a significant milestone, and this evaluation is a chance to properly understand the impact the Summer Schools programme has had over that time. That will allow us to gain reliable insight into how the residential Summer School shapes the paths of students who take it.”
Sutton Trust’s Head of University Access Programmes, Student Digital Strategy and University Sector Engagement, Jon Datta, commented, “We already know that the UK Summer Schools programme makes a real difference to thousands of young people each year. As it approaches its 30th anniversary, Applied Inspiration’s independent evaluation will help us understand that impact in greater depth - which elements make the greatest difference, for whom and how we can make the programme even stronger for the next generation of students.”
To learn more about the Sutton Trust, please visit their website.