School-university collaboration: Disadvantaged pupils and higher education

This article addresses the potential of joint high school-university programs to improve education in disadvantaged areas, and promote talented pupils to higher education. The observed program provided complementary studies and enrichment activities to 10th-12th grades pupils from seven schools. Data was collected through documenting the mentors’ meetings with the teachers and principals, interviews with pupils, and feedback questionnaires. The study showed that cooperation between the school and university is significant not just for improving
learning design, but also for building the confidence of pupils, teachers,
and school collectively, that achieving university entrance is a realistic target. However, the effectiveness of compensatory studies, enrichment activities, or teacher tutoring, primarily depends on adapting the program to the context of each school and building trustworthy cooperation between school staff and university partners, rather then by top-down decisions.