TEENAGERS experienced life as a university student. 

Young people aged 14-to-16 gave up three weeks of their school holidays to “enrol” at the first University of Bolton Summer School. 

Sixty-six young people are taking part in the first STEM — science, technology, engineering and maths — Advantage Summer School, which runs until the end of the month. 

It is designed to raise aspirations of the those in their GCSE and A-level years, and introduce them to employers as well as using “real world” project to teach science and maths and contribute to the preparation of their UCAS personal statements. 

As well as classroom-based teaching, the teenagers are taking part in science based employer projects, a residential weekend for leadership and teamwork training and a final graduation evening. 

Employers taking part include Electromech, Vernacare, Lego and Vex Robotics, Bolton Wireless and F1 in Schools. 

Dr Zubair Hanslot, Provost of the University of Bolton and project director for the proposed UTC Bolton, said: “We’ve been delighted by the number of young people who have signed up for the summer school. 

“The students are having a lot of fun, designing and building 1/20th scale racing cars and playing games with robots. 

“But at the same time they’re developing their understanding of maths and science.”