From local to regional... to national?

Tower Hamlets Summer University was piloted in 1995 to help reduce youth crime in the borough during the summer holiday period. Since then, the charity has grown from strength to strength, inspiring many boroughs to pilot Summer Unis in London and nationally.

In 1993, Lord Young of Dartington commissioned two local 18 year olds to find out why youth crime increased each summer. Over 6 weeks, these researchers asked as many young people in Tower Hamlets as possible:

• What they were doing during the summer holiday
• What they knew was available to them
• What stopped them from taking advantage of these things
• And if they could do anything, what they would like to do

The message, loud and clear, was that local young people:

• Were fed up of current summer activities on offer, such as trips to Margate
• Felt left out of the regeneration going on at Docklands and Canary Wharf
• Wanted accessible, free activities on their doorstep with clear learning outcomes, and work experience

In 1995, the Education Business Partnership and the borough invested time and money in piloting a programme of activities for 14-21 year olds. This blue-print for Summer Uni was thoroughly documented with all results published in the autumn.

In 1996, two senior workers from the youth and arts sector were seconded from the borough to establish the Summer Uni programme. It was registered as a charity and company limited by guarantee ("Tower Hamlets Summer Education Ltd") in February of that year.

This pilot was additionally the blue print for the University of the First Age in 1996.

By 1997, Hackney, Brent, Newham, Islington and Southwark piloted their own programmes and in the next two years, other boroughs and other areas of the country followed suit. Funding from the Lottery and the New Opportunities Fund helped this momentum.

2006 and beyond

In 2006, Lord Andrew Adonis and the London Challenge team (part of the Department for Children, Schools and Families) singled out the work of Tower Hamlets Summer University as best practice in the delivery of summer activities to young people. They agreed to fund the charity to roll out the successful model to every London borough. The young participants of Tower Hamlets Summer University chose to call this project 'Summer Uni London', gave their ideas on logo design and voted on the logo they thought best represented London, Summer Uni and youth.

Summer Uni London was launched in June 2006 when there were 10 Summer Unis in operation. In 2007, we increased this number to 18 and in 2008, we're expecting all 32 boroughs to run a Summer Uni!

There is huge potential for expansion of Summer Unis beyond London we are open to the possibility of facilitating the provision of quality programmes to even more young people in the future.

Please contact us if you are interested in helping us continue to grow.