SIXTY teenagers were asked to solve a fake murder mystery when they visited an Oxford college as part of their introduction to higher education.

The 14- and 15-year-olds from across the South East stayed at Pembroke College off St Aldate’s as part of the Government’s AimHigher programme.

The scheme aims to encourage state school pupils, and youngsters in areas where participation in higher education is low, to consider going to university.

Students in the group at Pembroke College included pupils from Oxford School in Glanville Road, East Oxford.

They were asked to ‘investigate’ a murder in a quad at the college, and discover the killer’s identity.

Sinead Gallagher, access officer at Oxford University, said pupils came from schools across the South East, including Oxford, Brighton, Ramsgate and Canterbury.

A group of actors called the Oxford Imps were asked to act out the murder scenario for the teenagers.

After being confronted with the “body” of actress Kristin van Zwieten, pupils took part in a series of exercises, including examining samples from the victim’s clothing in a chemistry laboratory.

A series of clues were presented to the pupils throughout their three-day stay, with the murderer’s identity revealed at a farewell formal dinner.

Ms Gallagher said: “This is the second year we have run this exercise, and we think it’s a fun and unusual way for these pupils to explore the university.

“With the TV series Inspector Morse and Lewis, Oxford has a reputation for murder, so we thought we should take advantage of it. The pupils stay in the college for two nights and this gives them an opportunity to explore the social and academic side of university life.”

Nasrin Sathar, 15, of Greater Leys, Bianca Gulukanda, 15, of Blackbird Leys, and Iptisam Mbarouk, 14, from Iffley, Oxford, all pupils at Oxford School, attended the AimHigher event.

Nasrin said: “I haven’t had a chance to look round an Oxford college before, so I think this is quite cool.”

Bianca added: “The murder mystery was a bit of surprise.

“When our school told us about this opportunity we all volunteered and got picked.”

Iptisam said: “When I first got here I felt nervous, but after a while I started to feel more relaxed and I have really enjoyed it.”

Spring residential courses for 14- and 15-year-olds have been run by Oxford colleges for the past 10 years, said Ms Gallagher.

Ms van Zwieten, 27, a postgraduate law student from Magdalen College, said: “We want to give the pupils a fun introduction to higher education and I think this is a great way to do it.”