Aimhigher is a three-year marketing campaign providing information to young people aged 13-19 about going to university and the benefits of higher education.

It has a particular focus on reaching young people from families and communities who do not have a tradition of entering higher education, raising expectations of students and teachers alike.

The campaign will also provide information about the financial support available as well as piloting new forms of extra financial help for bright young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Aimhigher is a key strand in the Government's Excellence Challenge programme. It will also play an important role in helping meet the Government's target for participation of 18 - 30 year olds to reach 50 per cent by 2010.

The Excellence Challenge is a 3-year programme that will commit over £190m to increase the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who apply for and enter higher education. A key purpose is to improve links between universities, colleges and schools.

To promote the campaign, eleven graduates from The Football Association, 'managed' by F.A. Technical Director Howard Wilkinson, recently took part in a photo shoot in the Soho Square Media Centre.

The shoot showed some of the F.A. employees 'behind the team', with roles as diverse as the Technical Director through to a Brand Manager, Media Relations Officer, International Development Administrator and head of National Football Development, all of whom have higher education qualifications.

The F.A. also launched its Graduate Scheme in 2000, looking for graduates who have "the intellect and strategic grasp of enterprise coupled with the energy and enthusiasm to progress swiftly in our dynamic culture."

Research among visitors to the Aimhigher road shows has shown a marked improvement in students' enthusiasm for going to university. Before the road show, around 50 per cent of pupils said they were interested in, or definitely going to university.

Afterwards, this had risen to 71 per cent. Margaret Hodge, Government Minister for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education welcomed the findings at the launch of the Nottingham Road Show. Mrs Hodge said: "This data shows we are winning the battle to raise aspirations and this will help us raise the proportion of non-traditional pupils going to university as we work towards our 50 per cent target."

"England's winning World Cup team is packed full of sporting genius. We would all love to be sporting superstars ourselves, but we also need to realise that there are important people behind those stars and they will often need higher education qualifications. We can all aspire to be part of an important 'Team behind the Team' and higher education can often make it happen."

For more details see the website at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/aimhigher