Although the Press has stated that Queen’s University Belfast is “closed”, work still continues and academic work still continues - albeit remotely from home - and we’re please to be able to say that the Pathway Opportunity Programme is still continuing, full steam ahead!

For the 47 Pathway students currently studying at Queen’s, they are all completing their term virtually with online classes and coursework.  The Pathway team continue to stay in touch and support them.

For the 170 Pathway students currently in their year 14 and completing their A-Levels and hoping to head to University in September, this is a very anxious time for them. As the A-Level exams have been cancelled, Queen’s admissions is currently finalising the methodology for assessing the students based on the rest of their UCAS applications, without the final A-Level grades, so the students should know the outcome of their application decision soon.  As usual, the Pathway students will reap the benefits of having been on the Pathway programme including the grade reduction in their offer.

Our current cohort of 239 Pathway students (Year 13 students) were welcomed to Queen’s on the 28^th of January for a Welcome and Orientation event and a chance to meet the Pathway Team, meet each other and meet the academics in their various Pathways.  They then proceeded on a 2-week virtual course in their chosen subject area online through our Canvas Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Having successfully completed that, the students were gearing up to the 7^th of April when they would spend a day in the seminar rooms, laboratories, lecture halls and moot courtroom of their Pathway Subject, but then things changed! 

But we’re not holding back. On Tuesday April 7^th, the students are all participating in virtual conferences, online coursework and online activities.  Although not receiving the face time, the students will certainly be brought up to speed on their subject in preparation for the Residential Summer School. 

"Can you do the Residential Summer School?” you ask. The answer is yes, in a way! Most likely the Summer Schools will not happen on campus in June/July this year. 

The summer school has two major elements for the Pathway students;the first is the subject coursework and an assessment at the end of the week. The Academics in charge of each Pathway are already starting to plan for an engaging and challenging programme of work for the students to motivate them to take the subject further as a course at Queen’s. 

The second element is the social element and getting used to the idea of living and working away from home in Belfast. Although we may not be able to do the full week residential as planned, we’re hoping to get the students out to a 2 or 3 day residential later in the year to experience it, meet friends and gain confidence in the idea of living at Uni.

So to sum, the Pathway Opportunity Programme is still continuing - full steam ahead!