Applications have flooded in from teenagers eager to take part in the Carlisle News & Star’s New Horizons campaign.

The paper joined forces with education charity the Sutton Trust to launch the campaign, which is encouraging talented state school pupils to aim for the top universities.

The scheme will allow applicants to spend a week at either Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham or Bristol university to get a taste of what university life is like.

Applications to university across the UK are lower from youngsters from less wealthy backgrounds, and in Cumbria the numbers staying on to higher education is lower than the national average.

Many youngsters who get good enough grades are put off by the image of university, and especially of Oxford and Cambridge which are seen as elitist, posh and full of public school pupils.

Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, says that giving youngsters the chance to try university life for a week can boost confidence and raise aspirations.

And around one third of students who go on the summer courses later get places at the university they attend – giving them a higher than average chance of getting in.

It is the first time the scheme has been offered through a regional newspaper, and New Horizons has drawn the backing of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Cumbrian Peer Lord Bragg.

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