Hello, I'm Samina Khan. I am the director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach

from the University of Oxford. I don't
think many people realise that actually

I started my career as a science teacher
working in state schools. I worked in

schools in London and in Birmingham and my last teaching post was in an FE

college. And that's why I think I'm
always interested in what is happening

in schools and colleges, um what is
working well, what are the challenges and,

you know, let's face it since March 2020
we've seen so many different challenges

that we would perhaps never have 
imagined. Many of these have been

addressed but some of them are still
with us and we're working our way

through them. We've noticed some of
these issues with some of the students

that we work with. We do lots of outreach activity from Oxford and we work mainly

with students who are in their six form.
So, year 12 and year 13, and what we've

noticed from working with students and
also from the data and the information

we collect from our outreach activities,
that some students need perhaps more

support, more help to catch up with their
peer group, and this is why I am

absolutely delighted to announce a new
programme that will be targeted at

keystage four, so students going into
their GCSEs. And the programme is called

BeUNIQ, because we are really, really
interested in the students being their

true authentic self and we want to
support them. Through the programme's bespoke

engagement with schools, families and
communities, we aim to foster a long-term

and sustained impact and to widen access to higher education, and in particular to

Oxford. Initially BeUNIQ will work
closely with students from Bangladeshi

and Pakistani heritage, and from specific regions of the UK that are currently

underrepresented at Oxford. But we hope over time it will also bring wider

benefits to the whole school community,
where Oxford becomes part of the normal

chatter. Once students have completed the BeUNIQ program they'll be encouraged

to apply to UNIQ, our program for six
formers. UNIQ is the natural next step,

as it builds on the themes of the BeUNIQ programme,

and provides further support and insight
into what it's like to study at

university, and in particular what it's
like to study at

Oxford.