Oxford University launches project to help local public schools.

After centuries of building walls to prevent the " townies " out of the University of Oxford is to build some bridges through an innovative initiative to improve the public schools of the city.

The Dean of the University of Oxford - as the project is called its official launch on Tuesday - is the oldest university response to suggestions that he should do more for education funded by the state in its backyard.

While some universities - as Birmingham and UCL - have sponsored academies or free schools , Oxford has resisted pressure to do so , citing the damage that a school with college would imprimatur . The demand study would be colossal Oxford brand.

Instead , the university has embarked on an ambitious effort to raise the profile and the overall level of schools in the state sector of the city.

Teachers in secondary schools in the city will be the first to benefit directly , through links with the education department and scholarships offered professional development.

Katherine Ryan , director of the Matthew Arnold School in West Oxford, said the plan was part of a campaign to raise standards in local schools - and demonstrated that efforts to improve education in schools does not only come from the government center .

" The Dean brings a lot of things together. Want young people to have a good education, we have a high level and focus on the attainment and achievement. Deanery is a great framework to explore some of these ideas and make them happen " Ryan said.

Matthew Arnold School is one of seven high schools in the city are the original signatories to this agreement , along with three special needs schools and a vocational training center . The plan is that the Dean of building links with other secondary schools in the state of Oxfordshire in the next five years and , finally , some of the primary schools in the city .

Professor Andrew Hamilton , vice chancellor of Oxford , said: " All departments of the university provide a community of experts to be shared among teachers and students in our local community are going to put more of our resources available to stimulate learning and give young people . horizons and possibilities. "

The association potential research partnerships , according to Ian Menter , professor of teacher education at the university department of education, as a recent project that examined the perceptions of 13 years of age will also increase living in the city for higher education.

Course Teacher Training College graduate has been working with local schools for 30 years, and the Dean will encourage the professional development of more experienced teachers , according to Menter .

"We see it as a sharing of what is already happening , all with a view to making college increasingly in contact with the local community," Menter said.

In the longer term , students should be able to get a closer look at the work done on the buildings that surround them.

"We have a lot of research going on in Oxford, in all kinds of areas of doubt , we can bring our teachers - . Which communicates directly with young people - in touch with those who are researching the facts above - to date," said Ryan .

" That's what we have at this time. Happens informally, on an ad hoc basis , depending on who knows who. Deanery But I think gives us a great opportunity to collaborate and share the wealth of knowledge and experience within of the city . "