Annual programme report and data

The UHI STEM Outreach Programme is a three-year, funded initiative aimed at engaging early years and primary school children in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), while also building confidence and capacity among primary school teachers.

The year was filled with enthusiasm, fun and inspiring hands-on STEM activities designed for our region where rurality and access are key issues. Our Outreach Coordinators are based across our region with our local academic partners (and more recently with NESCol Fraserburgh), and our talented and brilliant team are dedicated to supporting teachers and inspiring the next generation of learners.

We are unique in that we cover the whole of the UHI region - the Highlands and Islands including Argyll and Bute, Moray, Perthshire - and, in addition, we are working with colleagues in NESCol, Northeast Aberdeenshire. We hope the annual review illustrates not only the effectiveness and efficiency of our programme given the scale of our geographical coverage, but also the scope for leveraging the benefits of coordination, and the impact the UHI STEM Outreach Programme is having on our STEM education eco-system.

Our industry partnerships are key and links directly with regional economic growth - i.e. local industrial literacy - where industry is 'investing long term in future human capital' to address future skills and workforce requirements. Without financial donations from industry this programme would not have been possible. Using our innovative 'pooled budget' approach we have also been able to leverage additional funds to specifically purchase additional STEM equipment and create and develop new STEM 'Discovery Kits' as requested by our schools. We believe we have been able to transform the landscape of STEM education across our region and this is only the beginning. Thank you so much to our current funders and a very big thank you to them for enable us to demonstrate that our outreach model works across our region.

Another key aspect of the programme has been the facilitation of local STEM networks both geographically (based around our UHI partners) and with communities of interest. This is to ensure effective information exchange and to support the development of collaborative partnerships that will help plan locally focused STEM activities across the whole of the education journey.

We are now keen to develop the next phase of the UHI STEM Outreach Programme from academic year 2026/27 to ensure progress and sustainability and welcome any thoughts and feedback. Please contact us at STEM@uhi.ac.uk to discuss further.