Brookes Engage

A brand new, national outreach programme for students in Year 12 or the first year of college. Application Deadline: Sunday 30th October

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What is Brookes Engage?

A free subject based programme designed to support you in making decisions about your next steps after school or college through the following activities.

On campus ‘Conference Days’

Visit the campus to take part in an exciting range of activities and make use of our state of the art facilities. You’ll get to engage in your choice of subject sessions as well as benefiting from information, advice and guidance related to university applications and beyond.

Online content

You can choose what content to complete and complete it in your own time so that you can tailor your experience to what you are interested in or need more support with.

Mentoring from current Brookes students

Mentors will help you navigate the challenges of applying to university and will tell you all about student life and what it is like to be a student at Brookes. Your mentor is also able to support you with subject related questions, and will be at your Conference Days at Brookes.

What’s in it for me?

Explore a subject area that interests you

Subject workshops will give you the chance to learn more about studying your chosen subject and get to know new people with similar interests to you from across the country, including current students.

Take part from anywhere in England

Much of the programme, including mentoring, personal statement and interview support sessions will take place online so you can access them from anywhere! There will also be ‘pick and mix’ website content you can access in your own time and at your own pace.

Experience the campus and our facilities

Conference Days will take place on campus so you can experience our incredible facilities and work with academics in person! As a Brookes Engage student, you’ll also receive a special invite to the Open Day and Applicant Days.

Strengthen your UCAS application

If you decide to apply to university, Brookes Engage will be a great thing to write about in your personal statement, as it shows your commitment to learn more beyond sixth form or college. As part of the programme you’ll receive support in completing your UCAS application.

A contextual offer to study at Oxford Brookes

Successful completion of the programme will give you access to a contextual offer to study at Oxford Brookes. This means we’ll offer you a place on reduced tariff points as long as any other conditions of the offer are met. This is usually around two grades lower, but can vary per course.

Gain £1K scholarship

Lastly, if you successfully complete the programme, you’ll also be entitled to a £1,000 scholarship in your first year of study at Oxford Brookes.

“I loved the experience and it definitely helped me with stepping into uni life. I did actually get accepted into my firm choice of uni, I can’t stop smiling!”

Brookes Engage graduates, 2020

What will I do?

Part 1 - Exploring your Options: The programme will start in November of Year 12 with 4 Conference Days taking place throughout November-May. These will be on campus and travel will be provided at no cost to you via a travel bursary.

Conference Day 1

Group A (Technology, Design, and Environment, and Humanities and Social Sciences) - 26th November 2022
Group B (Business, and Health and Life Sciences) - 10th December 2022

Conference Day 2

Group A - 28th January 2023
Group B - 4th February 2023

Conference Day 3

Group A - 4th April 2023
Group B - 5th April 2023

Conference Day 4

Group A - 20th May 2023
Group B - 13th May 2023

Part 2 - Transition to University: Once you return for Year 13, the programme will begin again in September with a range of support available for your UCAS application. In October you can visit campus again, with a special invite to the university Open Day. Any travel to campus, including the Open Day, will be provided at no cost to you via a travel bursary.

What can I study?

Each faculty at Brookes has designed a range of subject streams for you to choose from.

When it comes to selecting which subject stream you would like to join, you could choose a subject that you know you are interested in studying at university and really develop your knowledge and understanding of this subject.

Or if you are curious about a subject but not sure if it is right for you, why not use Brookes Engage as a chance to get a taste of what studying this subject at university could be like.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences are offering three programmes to choose from, each bringing together a range of disciplines that builds the critical and creative thinking skills vital for success at university and in the world of work, whilst offering opportunities for enquiring investigation into the world around us and our relationship to culture, society and power.

Crime and Justice

A fair criminal justice system is important but who decides what is fair, how do we ensure impartiality and how do we challenge injustice and create change? This subject stream will ask you to consider those important questions with input from academics from our Law, Criminology, History and Philosophy programmes.

Power and representation

Who holds the power in society? How do individuals and communities get their voices heard and what happens when they don't? This subject stream will examine those questions with input from academics from our Education, Politics, Sociology, History of Art and English Literature programmes.

Identity and Difference

Gender identity, ethnic and racial identity, political and national identity; How do we define ourselves and others and what impact does this have on the way we live and think? This subject stream will bring together ideas and thinking from our Communication, Media and Culture, Geography, Modern Languages and Anthropology programmes to develop your understanding of these key themes.

Oxford Brookes Business School

Business and Management: Shaping the World Through Innovation

The Business and Management stream will be delivered through a series of engaging academic workshops where you will be introduced to some thought provoking ideas. These will include brands and products that have disrupted the business world by thinking outside the box. For example, we might discuss AmazonFresh and how this has the potential to disrupt the supermarket retail industry; we will also look at the growth of B Corporations, businesses who meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. The B Corp community operates to reduce inequality and reduce poverty amongst other aims, examples of such companies are The Body Shop and Jude’s Icecream. The academic workshops will be a mix of theory and practice, so that you will leave each session with a greater understanding of how business and management can shape the world through innovation.

Faculty of Technology, Design and Engineering

Design your Future

An exploration of different university choices and career paths in science, technology and creative industries. Gain hands-on experience, cross-subject insights and industry knowledge that will help you to take your first steps towards the university course and career of your choice. From engineering and robotics to computer science; art, design, media and architecture, you’ll have plenty of choice when it comes to electing sessions to attend on each conference day, as well as online content that allows you to explore a whole range of subjects and opportunities in technology, design and engineering disciplines in your own time.

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

Healthcare

If you’re interested in working in health-related industries, a key skill will be your ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team. Each member is a specialist providing patient centred care. This healthcare stream includes: Paramedic Science, Midwifery, Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Occupational Therapy will bring together several departments and their academics for you to really understand how these multidisciplinary teams work in practice.

You are invited to explore your chosen profession and gain insight into the specific role and professional skills required to provide patient centred rehabilitation in an acute and chronic environment. Using patient cases and a simulated clinical environment you will have the opportunity to apply analytical and problem solving skills and understand the significance of reflection and excellent communication in patient management.

Sports, Exercise, and Nutrition

This stream will cover the relationship between physical activity, nutrition and health. You will engage with workshops that will address socio-cultural, psychological, and physiological factors. The workshop knowledge will then be applied in practical- and lab-based sessions in state of the art facilities. Academics will also provide you with extension research activities for you to complete as part of the programme.

This Sports, Exercise and Nutrition stream will bring together two departments and their academics for you to really understand how these multidisciplinary teams work in practice and research.

Biology and Biomedical Science

On this stream, you will gain insight into what it’s like to study a Biology related subject at university. You’ll meet and work with staff from the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, in a range of research and teaching roles. There will be practicals, lectures, discussions and advice, with plenty of time to ask any questions you have. Topics are likely to include: histology and microscopy, bioinformatics and digital analysis, anti-microbial practical and global climate change and entomology.

Over the course of your time with us, we will also learn more about how you learn and study at university, the types of assessments that are commonly used, and the careers within research, industry, healthcare and support roles that Biology could lead to!

Who can take part?

To be eligible to apply for Brookes Engage, you must meet all of the following criteria:

Be in the first year of a two-year Level 3 qualification (e.g. A Levels, BTEC, or equivalent)
Be studying at a non-selective state school or college in England
Have 5 GCSEs A*-C/ 4-9, including English and Maths (or expect to have 5 GCSEs including English and Maths by July 2024)
Live in England
Be aged 16 or 17 at the time of starting the programme

To be eligible to apply for Brookes Engage, you also need to meet at least one of the following criteria.

Currently eligible for free school meals or 6th form bursary
Currently live in local authority care, or have lived in care
Are a young carer (are under 18 and help to look after a relative with a disability, illness, mental health condition, or drug or alcohol problem)
Have a disability, mental health condition, or specific learning difficulty
Are of black or minority ethnic origin
Have official refugee status in the UK, or are an asylum seeker
Are from a traveller family
Have at least one parent/carer who has served in the armed forces at any time within the past six years
Are irreconcilably estranged from both birth parents
Live in an area where progression to university is low. To find out whether this applies, please visit www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/postcode-search/. Instructions on how to use: Type your postcode in the search box. Check the box marked ‘MSOA (used to calculate POLAR4 and TUNDRA)’ Look at the box on the right hand side of the map under the ‘POLAR4’ measure. If the number here is Quintile 1 or 2, you are eligible.
Live in an area of higher socio-economic disadvantage. To find out whether this applies, please visit http://imd-by-postcode.opendatacommunities.org/imd/2019. Instructions on how to use: Type your postcode into the search box. Download the Excel spreadsheet generated. If the number in the column labelled ‘Index of Multiple Deprivation Decile’ is 1-4, you are eligible.