What do an A-level physics teacher in India and a final year International Baccalaureate student in Spain have in common? They have the same passion - aerodynamics. And by talking about it together in detail, they’re preparing that student for interviews at the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.

For students who choose higher education as their next step after school, we know that university interviews can be a source of trepidation - especially if they are applying to sought-after destinations.

As an international school group with more than 100 schools in 25 countries, we have a huge array of deep subject matter experts with the knowledge and skills to help students navigate this process.

This year we launched a group-wide mock interview programme for graduating students who are applying to the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. The programme provides them with tailored feedback to help them refine their approach ahead of their real interview.

Supporting students with university interviews

The approach was truly global, with teachers from Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the UAE and India supporting with interviews on engineering; law; land economy; natural sciences; maths; linguistics; politics, philosophy and economics; English literature; and Classics.

To ensure that we matched students with the right experts from across the group, we used our network of International Schools Partnership Future Pathways Advisers. We have over 100 colleagues trained and dedicated to supporting students with their next steps, who bring a wealth of diverse experiences and global networks from across the higher education and careers landscape.

We identified more than 30 students to take part: not only those with existing offers from Oxford and Cambridge but also those at earlier stages in the application process who would benefit from the mock interview process.

Our schools completed expressions of interest to help with mock interviews. While we initially focused on colleagues with experience of teaching those applying to university, we were pleased to also have interest from colleagues newer to the process.

We matched students to interviewers taking into account the student’s application subject, the interviewer’s experience and time zones. For example, we paired a teacher in India with a student in Dubai and a teacher in Dubai with students in Spain.

In some instances, we reached beyond our teaching colleagues. A member of our legal team - a University of Cambridge graduate - helped a student in India prepare for a law interview, and we used our networks to connect a student in Dubai with an alumni network at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Confidence through preparation

Our advisers receive training on the admissions process directly from the international team at the University of Cambridge - including on what to expect, and how to best support students with their application.

We supported students with resources such as videos of mock interviews at Oxford and Cambridge, examples of interview questions and style, and a feedback template.

With all this in place, we helped them prepare by thinking about interviews as a high-level conversation about the subject for which they are applying. We encouraged them to expect the conversation to move in different directions, with the interviewer exploring how they are responding to new ideas, and how they develop feedback into their thinking.

This was also a great learning experience for our staff. Teachers reflected on how the programme helped them to better understand the expectations that universities have for students, and how they could embed this further into classroom practice.

Setting students up for success

We empower and support all students to select their next steps after school - whether that be further and higher education, or straight into their career of choice. In 2024, 93 per cent of our students reached one of their top three destinations.

By connecting students to experts using our global network, we boosted their confidence to apply to the world’s most selective universities, and provided a space for teachers and Future Pathways advisers to share insights and learn from each other.

With this reciprocal learning in mind, we are expanding the programme to include more students and draw on a broader range of experts from our community - with the aim of better supporting every student’s journey.

Chris Kelso is group head of student futures at International Schools Partnership

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