You will stay in the Orlando Village Hall of Residence, where you will be expected to purchase and cater for some of your own meals. However, most meals will be provided for you, at no additional cost throughout the duration of the three-week programme.

You will be expected to shop for your own groceries and prepare some of your own meals at the self-catering Halls of Residence. Learning to use a kitchen, be self-sufficient and in some cases experience the “coming of age”. There are cafés and restaurants across our Campus buildings where you can also purchase meals and refreshments.

You will attend academic sessions led by leading academics related to your chosen subject stream. You will benefit from a range of skills development and social activities, including; Leadership, sports activities and more. You will also complete a group project with several of your fellow participants.

The evening social activities aims to provide you with a variety of opportunities to get to know the Student Ambassadors and other participants, while exploring more of the university experience and developing further skills. The third week finishes with the UoB Summer School Gala Dinner – the perfect end to three weeks that you will never forget. Feedback from UoB Summer School alumni have often described the gala-dinner akin to a celebrity wedding or the Oscars.

The UoB Summer School is a residential experience where participants can explore the campus and experience student life for themselves.

The cost to attend the UoB three-week Summer School Programme is £3,200 per student. This fee includes your tuition, accommodation, some meals (approximately 70%) and trips to various locations throughout the UK. This fee does not include cost of flights, or transport to and from UoB. Any person coming to the UK for three weeks will most likely pay more than £3,200 just for hotel accommodation. Hence the UoB Summer School is excellent value for money, a place where you will return home as a different person, much more ambitious, skilled in public speaking and presentation and most of all you will have made lifelong friends, connections and memories.

All of our Student Ambassadors are current UoB students at the University, so they fully understand the kinds of choices you are now facing. They can tell you about why they decided to come to UoB and their graduation plans as well as answer any of your questions about university life in general. Some of the Student Ambassadors are UoB Summer School alumni, current students and after graduating they will progress to have a career either with the University or in another organisation in the UK. As an example, one of the University of Bolton’s international students is from India, after qualifying they secured a job with the University and progressed with an academic career to becoming a Deputy Vice-Chancellor. UoB Summer School, an incubation space for you to realise your dreams.

If you need to cancel your course, please email us as soon as possible. Requests for a refund will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• If you cancel before 14th June 2024 inclusive, you will receive a full refund less £200 administration fee.
• Any cancellation made on or after 15th June 2024, no refund of any fee will be made.

Exceptions
Where there are extenuating circumstances (for example, illness which prevents you from travelling, bereavement etc.)
Visa application refusal – however refunds will not be considered if visas have been applied for too late or are the wrong type.

Courses cancelled by UoB
We require a minimum number of students for our courses to run. If there are not enough students, the course will be withdrawn, and you will be able to choose a different course or receive a full refund of your tuition fee.
We will make any refund using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of any refund.

Groups of 30 or more get a discount per student, for more details please contact our Summer School Office to discuss your options.

You should start preparing as soon as you receive your Offer confirmation. This will be at least four weeks before the start date at 3rd August 2024. We will also provide a letter with your details confirming your registration at the summer school and where appropriate, this will help you to apply for a visitor visa to the UK.

We require a minimum number of students for our courses to run, we therefore do not recommend you to book any flights until you receive your Offer confirmation, any expenses (other than fees paid to the University of Bolton – tuition fees) incurred by you will not be reimbursed if a course needs be to cancelled.

If you are only studying in the United Kingdom for 6 months or less and you have a standard visitor visa for study, you will need to obtain private medical insurance as you will be liable for any NHS health services that you use. Medical costs are not covered by the UoB Summer School and can be very expensive.

If you already have medical insurance in your home country, check whether you can extend it to cover your stay in the United Kingdom, as well as looking at options available from United Kingdom insurers.

You may require a Standard Visitor Visa. Please check with the UK Border Agency regarding visa requirements before you make your booking.

You can apply online for a visa up to three months before your date of travel to the UK and you should get a decision within three weeks. For guidance on applying for your visa you can email our Summer School Office.

Please allow yourself plenty of time to prepare your documents and submit your application, as in case of a delayed answer it might prevent you from joining us.

In case of a visa application refusal, we can do a full refund of your tuition fee after supporting evidence is requested. However, refunds will not be considered if visas have been applied for too late or are the wrong type.

The closest international airport to UoB is Manchester.

You can easily travel from the airport by coach or train from Manchester airport to Bolton.

Please note that we do not usually arrange airport pick-ups unless you are travelling as a group of 30 or more.

Check In
You can check in to our accommodation from Saturday, 3rd August, or Sunday 4th August before the start of your course.

Orlando Village accommodation has a 24-hour reception. If you will arrive late in the evening, please let us know in advance so that we can inform the accommodations team to expect you.

Check out
You are expected to leave Orlando Village accommodation by mid-day on the day after your summer school course finishes.

Our accommodation is self-catering, which means you cook your own food. Kitchens are shared and are equipped with basic utensils. You can buy any utensils you need that are missing from your kitchen at low-cost shops in the town centre – please ask your Student Ambassador.

You can find food to buy at the local supermarkets which are a short walk from Orlando Village Halls of Residence. You can also eat at any of the on-campus outlets and there are lots of places where you can eat around Bolton.

The weather in August is generally dry, but this is Greater Manchester and it is likely to rain at times. The average temperature in August is 19°C but it can get to around 26°C to 28°C. We recommend coming prepared for both warm, dry weather and cooler, wet weather.

Bring light, comfortable clothes which you can layer, a pair of sturdy walking boots, socks, sneakers and a raincoat/umbrella. All of our courses include outdoor activities and the weather here can be unpredictable.

You will be attending a Gala Dinner which is a formal event hosted within prestigious surroundings, please ensure to bring suitable formal clothing for this spectacular event.

For example:

Ladies: Cocktail dress / Traditional cultural wear / Evening gown

Gents: Suit and Tie / Traditional cultural wear / Black Tie

We welcome and appreciate the diversity of cultural attire among our guests. Please feel free to wear attire that is meaningful to your heritage.

In general, our courses run from Monday to Friday, from approximately 10am to 4pm with a lunch break in the middle and during the evenings we include different social activities.

The schedule for your course will be shared with you on our Summer School website as soon as it’s available.

Most teaching materials will be provided and included in your tuition fee. It would be useful for you to bring a notebook or your laptop with you, in case you need to keep some notes. If you need to bring something specific, we will let you know in advance.

Many students use the opportunity to go travelling within Europe after the programme has ended. In order to do this, you need to ensure that your visa, if you need one, would be valid for each country you wish to visit. You can do this by checking visa rules for each country on your own government information.

Whilst we can help you to look at places and talk about our own experiences of travelling in the UK and Europe, we are unable to help with any visa questions or the booking of transportation or accommodation.