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Notes for Editors

This section has been created to accompany any press releases submitted by Programme Partners or Project Leads.  The information outlined below will provide journalists and members of the media with sufficient background information on the Programme overall. 

These notes can and should be combined with similar notes produced by the institution running the particular project concerned.  Please contact your press office or marketing department for assistance in this area.

1.     The National HE STEM Programme supports Higher Education Institutions in the exploration of new approaches to recruiting students and delivering programmes of study within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.  It is supported through a three-year grant from the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Wales (HEFCE & HEFCW).

2.     The Programme’s aim is to influence long-term university practices at an individual, departmental and faculty level by engaging staff directly in the development and delivery of activities.  Through collaboration and shared working it seeks to embed sustainable approaches that will be a core part of Higher Education STEM sector practice for years to come.

3.     The activities of the Programme are focused upon the disciplines of Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics which were deemed strategically important and vulnerable by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 2004.

4.     The National HE STEM Programme is hosted by the University of Birmingham and delivers its activities through a distributed model with a central Hub and regional spokes based at Universities in England and Wales (University of Bath for the South West region, Manchester Metropolitan University for the North West, University of Bradford for the North East, University of Birmingham for Midlands and East Anglia, University of Southampton for London and the South East, and Wales Institute of Mathematics and Computational Sciences for Wales).  Along side the spokes sit four professional bodies also working as partners on the Programme; the Royal Society of Chemistry, Institute of Physics, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

5.     Since its inception in 2009 the Programme has initiated a wide range of activities across England and Wales of varying scales related to its three areas of activity: 

A.    Widening participation within the STEM disciplines at university level, by supporting HEIs to work with those currently within the school and FE sectors;

B.    Higher education curriculum developments focusing upon course delivery and design and student support, to enhance student knowledge, progression and skills;

C.    Encouraging those currently within the workforce and society to engage with further study to develop enhanced knowledge and skills.

For more details on the work of the Programme, please visit www.hestem.ac.uk.