University of Aberdeen extends two-year partnership with Aberdeen FC

The University of Aberdeen recently announced a two-year extension of its one-year-plus partnership with Aberdeen FC to provide support to school and community engagement programmes that encourage students to enrol in universities. 

The partnership which involved the university working closely together with the Aberdeen FC Community Trust (AFCCT) began in December 2018 and offered various support initiatives for communities throughout the north-east region. 

This includes the AFCCT Partner Schools Initiative which addresses poverty-related attainment issues at primary and secondary schools in Aberdeen city and shire. 

This collaborative initiative aims to attract youths from varied socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue higher education, engage AFCCT cohorts with scientific studies, and also to offer students at Aberdeen University with placement and training opportunities with the Aberdeen Football Club. 

Concurrently, the university will also provide professional development training for FC staff and more.

Other initiatives in the pipeline for this partnership include plans to bring pupils involved in the AFCCT to attend a campus tour at the university to further encourage interest in furthering their studies. This supports the university’s widening access and ‘open to all’ agenda. 

The partnership is also looking into providing a one-year work placement for a fourth year Sports and Exercise student within the AFCCT. 

 “I am thrilled that this partnership between two local institutions has already yielded tangible actions that are benefitting young people in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and it is great that it is being extended,” said the University of Aberdeen Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor George Boyne. 

“Our founding principle is to be ‘open to all’, and a huge part of achieving that is to take our people into schools to show how higher education is relevant, advantageous and achievable for young people. Working with Aberdeen FC and the fantastic AFCCT has allowed us to do that using the AFCCT’s established connections with local schools and the results have been very impressive. I look forward to growing our relationship with AFC over the next two years.”

“We are delighted at AFCCT to extend this partnership. Working in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen not only complements the work already being done in the local community but also adds real value to what we deliver,” added AFCCT Partnership and Business Development Manager Robbie Hedderman. 

 “In our Partner Schools programme, we work hard to raise young people’s aspirations to pursue a positive future. This approach strongly aligns with the University founding principle of being ‘open to all’ and assists them in attracting young people from a wide variety of backgrounds into higher education.”

“These young students will bring excellent knowledge from their University courses to support the delivery of our community programmes. In return AFCCT will be providing students with the required real-life work experience to support them in the transition into full-time employment,” he said.