Experience Student Life
As a PARTNERS student you will attend the PARTNERS Academic Summer School (PASS), which gives you an early introduction to life as a student at Newcastle University.
A taste of university life
You'll be introduced to as many aspects of university life as possible, giving you a taste of what it's like to study at Newcastle University.
You'll be taught using the same facilities and by the same lecturers as first year university. This means that by the time you start undergraduate study, you'll already be one step ahead, with knowledge of the university that other students won't have.
Meet other students
Over 1,600 students attended PASS 2023 spread across 33 different strand timetables. Each strand is subject-specific, which means that you'll be placed with students who have applied to the same (or similar) courses to you.
You'll also get to meet students early via the On Course to PASS series, a range of engaging online events in the lead up to the summer school. These are completely optional to attend, but are rated very highly by previous participants!
I really really enjoyed my whole experience of the PARTNERS programme. I’m looking forwards to seeing all my friends I made in September and all the subject sessions just made me more excited for the course.
Early access to university services
Where possible, all University services and facilities will be available to you during the Summer School, including:
- Your University IT & email accounts
- Canvas, Newcastle University's virtual learning platform
- Computing clusters
- Newcastle University Library
- Free access to the gym
- Student wellbeing bespoke support
- Students' Union
PASS is designed to reflect undergraduate study as much as possible. However, there are some differences between PASS and university life. For example, smaller subject strands may have fewer students than their undergraduate equivalents.
Increase your confidence
Students who attended PASS 2023 were asked the following question before and after the event.
How confident do you currently feel about studying your subject area at University?
| Very Confident | Confident | Unsure / Neutral | Not Confident | Not Confident At All | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before PASS | 15% | 65% | 18% | 1% | 1% |
| After PASS | 48% | 41% | 10% | 1% | 0% |