Hundreds of pupils, the majority of them from "non-traditional" backgrounds, will benefit from challenging Summer Schools run by Cambridge Admissions Office and individual Colleges in the next two months.

All places are free of charge and travel costs of all participants of courses run by CAO are covered, as are those of many of the pupils attending courses run by the Cambridge Colleges, to help remove barriers to participation.

The largest single group (almost 200 pupils) will be taking part in a range of subject-specific summer courses during July supported by the leading educational charity, the Sutton Trust, and targeted at pupils who meet certain criteria.

All participants are high-achieving pupils at non-selective state schools. Most will be the first generation in their family to attend university and will have parents in non-professional occupations.

All academically-able Year-12 students in receipt of Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) are eligible for the Sutton Trust Summer Schools. Post-16 students from households with a joint income of under £30,810 are eligible for EMA on a sliding scale.

This year more than 800 pupils applied for places on the Sutton Trust Summer Schools with particularly high demand for the new Biological Sciences course - over 150 applications for just 22 places.

Several of the undergraduate mentors on the Sutton Trust programmes came on the scheme themselves, either at Cambridge or one of the other universities which take part in the Sutton Trust scheme.

Lucy Collingwood, a third year law student at Gonville and Caius College, took part in the scheme at Cambridge five years ago and has helped with Sutton Trust Law Summer School for the past two years.

"When I came on the Summer School I was at St Thomas More RC High School, a comprehensive in North Shields. Neither of my parents had been to university so I knew very little about higher education and had never visited Cambridge before," she said.

"The experience gave me a taste of academic and college life that definitely encouraged me to apply. The group I was part of kept in touch so that was really supportive too."

Individual Colleges running summer schools generally focus on their link areas - the local authorities with which they are matched under the link areas scheme. They include Corpus Christi, Gonville and Caius, Jesus and Pembroke, to mention just a few.

A total of 50 students from Essex, Sheffield and the North West will take part in a Summer School jointly organised by three colleges - Emmanuel College, Fitzwilliam College and New Hall - from 29 June to 2 July. The Year-12 pupils, from around 10 schools, will benefit from a mix of academic, cultural and social activities.

“I hope the programme will dispel some on the myths about Cambridge and will show the visiting students that Cambridge is interested first and foremost in their capabilities and not where they come from,” said Subo Wijeyeratne, Schools Liaison Officer for Emmanuel, Fitzwilliam and New Hall.

At the start of July Pembroke College and St Catharine's Colleges will be running a summer school for 70 students, the majority of whom come from the Colleges' link areas in the Midlands and East Anglia. Hanna Weibye, School Liaison Officer for the two Colleges, said that residential programmes were enormously effective in de-mystifying Cambridge for state school pupils.

She explained: Many of our participants lack the confidence to consider Cambridge, despite having outstanding academic records. Often they believe that it is impossibly difficult to get in or more expensive than other universities. We hope that our programme of lectures, admissions information and social activities will convince them that this is not the case."

The same week Jesus College will be hosting a total of 120 pupils from Tyne and Wear in the space of four days. Selina Hawkins, School Liaison Officer for Jesus, Christ's and Homerton Colleges, said that the summer school was now an established part of the calendar for many Tyne and Wear schools and colleges.

"Although we've been working with these schools for some time, it's important for each cohort of students to see for themselves that Cambridge is accessible and attainable," she said.

Later next month, Corpus Christi will be welcoming 44 sixth formers and 15 teachers from Northern Ireland as part of a programme that has been running for six years.

Dr Melanie Taylor, Admissions Tutor at Corpus Christ, said: "The Summer School is the culmination of a series of events throughout the year which inform and support potential applicants. The academic focus of the Summer School allows students and teachers to get a real sense of what studying specific subjects at Cambridge would be like. It also gives them the chance to experience other aspects of student life, including a formal hall."

Gonville and Cauis, which ran its first ever residential summer school last year, received around 600 applicants for 100 places for its 2008 programme. The summer school is aimed at pupils at maintained schools and colleges in the College's link areas which include Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire and several London boroughs. Gonville and Caius is able to offer the programme thanks to the generous support of Thomas and Helena Young, parents of Caius alumna Alice Young.

Dr Andrew Bell, Admissions Tutor at Gonville and Caius said: "We're thrilled by the response we've had after such a short time. It just shows how keen sixth-formers are to take up opportunities. The objective is to give students who may well not be at all familiar with Cambridge an introduction to our courses, an understanding of how we teach, and guidance on how to develop their interests and abilities."

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