A group of 25 students from the University of East London have begun training to become money mentors to their younger counterparts.

Their training is part of a partnership between UEL and London Citizens. It will involve 12 hours of training at the end of which they will receive an ASDAN, Award Winning Development and Accreditation Network, accredited certificate.

The students will be delivering money awareness workshops to year 12 students in the local community. The schools participating in the programme include New VIc in Plaistow and St Bonaventure’s’ and St Angela’s Sixth Form in Forest Gate.

John Joughin, Vice Chancellor of UEL said: “UEL is a university committed to issues around social justice and we were one of the first universities in the country to campaign against payday loans. Our students are change agents who are going back into the community to make a difference. This is a great pioneering scheme.”

Professor Tim Hall, Principal Lecturer at the School of Law and Social Sciences at UEL said: “The purpose of the project is to enhance financial awareness of pre-university students and it forms part of a broader campaign which includes raising awareness of the perils of using short term high interest loans.”

Last year researchers at UEL found that 1 in 10 of its students had had recourse to payday loans during their studies and the university took the unprecedented step of banning advertising from payday lenders on the campus.