Students highlight the benefits of university
PAIR FIRST IN THEIR FAMILIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
TWO students who were the first in their families to go to university have been chosen to front a national campaign promoting higher education.
Harry Dudson and Connor Duffy were selected alongside the likes of England footballer Beth Mead, Lord David Blunkett, Nobel Prize winner Sir Chris Pissarides and actor Amit Shah for Universities UK’s 100 Faces campaign.
Connor’s University of Leicester education led to him spending a year at the South Pole on a research mission, while Harry’s, also at Leicester, has seen him go from a young carer on a council estate to a medical research expert.
Harry came from the Saffron Lane estate in Leicester and has completed a masters in medical research.
He said: “I grew up in a single-parent family, caring for my mum and my nan when she was given a terminal cancer diagnosis, so joining a medical degree felt like the last place on Earth for me.
“But that experience of the healthcare system led me to medicine.
“I wanted to be a force for good, I just didn’t have all the necessary resources on hand to make it happen.
“The foundation year gave me the opportunity I needed and thankfully I’ve been able to realise my potential.
“The university has completely changed my life. It’s where I met my now fiancé, got an MSc and now working with the Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare.”
Connor’s Leicester education – a degree in physics followed by a PhD gamma-ray astrophysics – has led to him spending a year at the South Pole as a research scientist observing astrophysical neutrinos.
He said: “The isolation of winter brings with it a host of difficulties, but the experience of living and working in this environment is oncein-a-lifetime and one that I couldn’t have experienced without the help of many people throughout my academic career.
“I found studying physics exciting, enthralling and thoroughly enjoyable, which brought with it the desire to do well and try even harder.
“Luckily, Leicester was a great environment for learning from one another and working together to ensure we understood and succeeded throughout the entirety of our degree.”
Joining Connor and Harry on the 100 Faces list is Leicester-born race equality campaigner, Lord Simon Woolley, who received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Leicester last year.
Research has found over 40 per cent of first in their families graduates could not now have afforded to go to university.
Universities UK is calling on the government to reinstate maintein nance grants and increase support for future students.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “There are those who say that too many people go to university.
“I disagree. These stories tell you why.
“In this country you are still twice as likely to go to university if you are from the wealthiest background, compared to the least wealthy. That’s not right.
“The experiences of students who are the first in their families to have been to university tell a powerful story.”