University in the inner city

The traditional university often has a world class reputation for teaching and research. Equally often it is centrally sited in established cities through which the winds of economic change have blown viciously, leaving ivory towers surrounded by neighbourhoods of underprivileged communities. Within these communities, junior and high schools do their best to battle against under-motivation and lack of expectation in the literal shadow of elaborately resourced institutions populated by secure and highly educated staff, teaching students from more affluent backgrounds who look forward on graduation to similar levels of security in employment. For modest investment, we demonstrate that it is possible to bridge the gap between these two communities. An exercise which commenced as a tightly funded service to a small number of inner-city schools has grown to serve a larger number. Of more interest, it has demonstrated the potential to be of direct benefit to a range of students of the university in a way that could not otherwise be provided.