Levelling Up: Computer Science FAQs
Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are here to support universities participating in Levelling Up: Computer Science.
If your question isn’t answered below, get in touch with us on levellingup@bcs.uk.
Delivering Levelling Up: Computer Science sessions
Once you have signed the participation letter, you will receive an introductory email with the course content and next steps. The programme funder, Tony Hill, will be copied in on the email and will contact you directly regarding the funding.
The university-led sessions could include a careers talk, something on the university application process including personal statements, and any other outreach activities your university already offers.
The sessions can be hybrid, virtual or on your own campus, depending on what works best for your university. At least one visit to campus should be included and arranged by the university.
We have found that the best time to run sessions is in the summer term, however you can start earlier if recruitment, DBS checks and payments are completed sooner. The deadline for funding to be gifted to the university is by the end of the academic year.
You can decide how this would work best for your university to fit with both the tutors and the students. Some universities are running the sessions as a summer school, with students coming on to campus for 2 or 3 days, while others are running one hybrid session a week on weekday evenings or Saturday mornings.
Tutors and session leaders
The academic sessions are run by undergraduates (known for this programme as tutors) with support from academics.
The tutor notes can be used for training, alongside mentoring from an academic.
We would recommend 1 tutor (undergraduate) to every 4 students, so 5 tutors (undergraduates) for 20 Year-12 students with at least 1 academic supporting the tutors (undergraduates). However, you know your undergraduates best, so please adapt ratios to match their skills and abilities.
We would prefer the tutors to be female undergraduates and if this is not possible, tutors could be female postgraduates. Male undergraduates supported by female staff should be used as a last resort.
Student participation
The sessions should be called Levelling Up: Computer Science.
You are responsible for recruiting students from your local area. If you need support, BCS does have contacts through its Computing at Schools community.
The sessions are open to female students from both sixth form and further education colleges.
Ideally, 20 female students would take part in the programme at each university and the funding would reflect the number of students each university thinks it could attract. Funding agreed will not be clawed back if the target number of students is not reached.
This programme is open to all students that identify as female or non-binary. This also applies to the tutors (undergraduates).
Funding
The funding is to pay tutors (undergraduates) for delivery of the sessions, and DBS checks. It could also be used to help the Year 12 students with travel costs and catering when attending your university campus.
We do not recommend using the funding to reward students by giving vouchers if they attend all sessions.
Once the signed participation letter has been returned and the gift agreement has been finalised, the funds will be with you within 48 hours, on average.
We recommend that tutors (undergraduates) are paid by the hour. We anticipate each session lasting 1.5 hours with an hour's preparation time. In total there are 9 session, plus the campus visit. £18 is just a guideline for the hourly rate and if you already have an undergraduate hourly rate and would prefer to use that, please do so.
