Coventry University Phoenix Partnership scheme relaunched to help young people fulfil their potential

Coventry University has relaunched a scheme to encourage children with no family history of higher education to widen and pursue their ambitions.

The Phoenix Partnership aims to strengthen relationships between schools, colleges and universities in a bid to demystify higher education and the application process. 

Advisors from Coventry University will work with schools and colleges who sign up to the scheme to create bespoke, sector-leading collaborations with students at the core.

Dependent on levels of activity, individual collaborations may be enhanced by bursaries, progression agreements, sponsorships, introduction to our contextualised admissions policy, paid travel costs for visits to the university including access to key facilities and more. 

The Phoenix Partnership is driven by the university’s philosophy of widening access to higher education to everyone who can benefit from it.

Coventry University Provost Ian Dunn said:

“We know that when you have no family history of higher education that it can be a strange and alien world.

“Students with no exposure or from disadvantaged backgrounds might think, is it for me? 

“This network is about working in collaboration with our school and college friends to help explain that higher education could be for them, that it can be transformational to life chances, career prospects and general well-being.”

Hemaxi Natali is Head of Post-16 Education at Foxford Community School in Coventry, which was an original school who signed up to the Phoenix Partnership Scheme and she is delighted it has returned to help prepare students for university and rebuild their confidence after COVID-19

She said: “Through this scheme we can educate our students about the different types of universities out there, what they need to know about accommodation, the funding, and scholarships they might be able to access and encourage them to dream big and plan how they can go after their dream career.

“Our students are very resilient, and they are successful already but their self-esteem has been rocked by not having exams and so to make sure post-covid we help them with their decision making it is great to have this connection with a local university.

“Coventry University is extremely popular with our students, and it is good for our students to know that you can access high quality higher education on your doorstep, and you do not need to move away for the complete university experience. 

“They don’t always have that advice from home and that is why this collaboration is important.” 

Schools and colleges wanting to find out more can speak to the Coventry University Group Outreach team.