Many of us at Macquarie will remember 2020 for the extraordinary way we responded to the needs of students through a year of great change.
Every team at the University has gone above and beyond to support Macquarie students through the COVID-19 crisis, and the Widening Participation team has now extended this support to some of the state’s most vulnerable HSC students.
For the first time, the team is offering free access to the Macquarie HSC Study Lab program for a number of rural and regional partner schools throughout NSW.
The online Study Lab program was first created at Macquarie in 2015 to support Year 11 and 12 HSC students who needed extra help with their assessments, exam preparation, revision or simply understanding some of the more difficult concepts in their subjects.
Stuart Upton, Interim Manager in the Widening Participation Unit, says the University’s focus on supporting student success drove the decision to offer the free support in 2020.
“Understanding there were a number of HSC students who were feeling worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their HSC success was a major consideration in the decision to offer the HSC Study Lab courses for free,” says Stuart.
“Our partner schools were thrilled with the opportunity to offer this support to their students, particularly at such an uncertain time.”
Working closely with careers advisors in our regional and rural partner schools, the Widening Participation team offered HSC Study Lab courses in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Business Studies.
Almost 2000 students from the Mid North Coast, Upper Hunter, Broken Hill and Riverina regions benefitted from the course. Michelle Yip, Product Manager for HSC Study Labs, says they were able to get the offer up and running quickly.
“It’s been fantastic to be able to offer Study Labs for free to our partner schools who have supported us for many years, and especially to this particularly vulnerable group of HSC students who really need it,” explains Michelle.
“At a time when there was a rush to develop and upload material online, the fact that this resource was already established allowed us to quickly activate the offering, which was greatly appreciated by school staff and students.
Learn more about the Macquarie HSC Study Labs program.
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