Matt's story

When Matt was finishing his GCSEs at school in Scarborough, he faced a difficult choice: to study A Levels at the town’s Sixth Form College or opt for what was then Yorkshire Coast College and a vocational course.

Neither his self-employed father nor his mother had gone to university and conversations with school friends rarely, if ever, featured discussions about higher education. “I was very torn, I didn’t know what to do, I had no one to turn to for advice and information,” says Matt, who now heads up Shine, one of the University of York’s flagship outreach programmes.

Looking back on those crucial years, not once from year 7 to year 11 did a university visit his school. Countless others like Matt face the same challenge every year. And now he and his team at York are determined to do something about it.

“I can remember like it was yesterday, when the University’s widening participation team – the forerunner to the Access and Outreach team I now work with – came to the college. They told us about Next Step York, a chance to meet like-minded students, take part in academic sessions, visit campus and take part in student life on a residential stay. I thought this was such an amazing opportunity to help me make an informed decision. Hand on heart, without the Next Step York programme I wouldn’t have gone to university at all,” says Matt.

Today Matt is playing a leading role in Shine, one of the University’s most successful access initiatives, working with secondary school pupils across the region from Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Hull and Grimsby to Leeds, Bradford, Doncaster and Wakefield.

“We are now planning to grow Shine from a network of 21 schools to 35 schools. We are reaching out to Scarborough, raising awareness of higher education in a way that was not available to young people of my generation. It’s great to be leading a team that is opening up opportunity and aspiration all along the east coast.”