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Academic Sessions

The academic sessions during the summer school are subject-specific, and spread across 20 to 30 academic contact hours.

The academic sessions form the backbone of PASS and are taught by a team of over 100 undergraduate lecturers.

You are assigned to the academic subject strand that is most related to your chosen (firm choice) degree choice. As there are over 200 degrees at Newcastle University, each subject strand may include people from a number of related degree programmes.

Attendance is compulsory at all academic sessions during PASS and the details for each one will be confirmed when you recieve your timetable in May.

An early introduction to university study

Academic sessions are taught in the same style and by the same lecturers as first-year university study.

This means that you'll get a taste of what university is going to be like before you start in September.

My subject strand leader was amazing throughout. He was passionate about the subject and also the value the PARTNERS programme can add to my study at the university.

PASS 2024 Attendee Feedback

How many students take part?

There were 2,104 attendees at PASS 2024. This resulted in between 245 (Business) and 3 (French) students on each subject strand.

If there are three or more students within a subject area then we will host a bespoke subject strand.

Subject strands available

There are over 30 subject strands available, each of which has its own specific Summer School timetable:

  • Archaeology and Classics
  • Architecture
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Chemistry
  • Civil Engineering
  • Combined Honours
  • Computing Science
  • Dentistry
  • Education
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • English Language and Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • French
  • Geography
  • Historical Studies
  • Law
  • Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology
  • Media
  • Maths, Stats and Physics
  • Medicine
  • Music
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Politics
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Sciences
  • Sport and Exercise Science
  • Urban Planning