"We have packed the Virtual Summer School full of great content and activities to provide a real taste of university life," explains Sarah Watkins, Head of Recruitment and Outreach
The University of Portsmouth is holding its first ever Virtual Summer School this week (6 to 10 July) with students from across the UK getting a taste of university life.
Normally, the University’s Summer School residential would see students staying on campus to take part in a number of activities, workshops and visits. However, the coronavirus restrictions haven’t stopped the Recruitment and Outreach team from recreating a similar experience without the need for travel.
Through the week, over 275 Year 10 students from across more than 60 schools (normally there would be around 100 students from 10 schools on campus) will take part in a variety of interactive challenges and activities from the comfort of their own home or from the classroom, including:
- Subject taster sessions and challenges
- Virtual tours of the campus and facilities
- 'Ask the expert' webinars on everything from student life to finance
- Fun interactive challenges and quizzes with a chance to win prizes on social media
- A fun student social quiz one evening
- An interactive digital scrapbook so that they can record everything they have achieved.
New content will be released to students gradually throughout the week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and on the last day there will be an online graduation with an inspiring message from cosmologist Dr Jen Gupta.
Sarah Watkins, Head of Recruitment and Outreach, said: “The Outreach team and Web & Digital team have done a fantastic job of transforming our residential into an engaging, interactive online event in a really short turnaround time. We have packed the Virtual Summer School full of great content and activities to provide a real taste of university life.”