Hundreds of sixth-formers from deprived backgrounds will be matched with young mentors today to learn how to compete for university places.

Recent graduates will give advice, practical help and tutoring, under the Higher Education Access Programme (Heaps) which has achieved remarkable success in pilots.

Some who benefited from a trial of the scheme won places at leading universities including Cambridge.

The graduates have completed two years teaching after being parachuted into inner city schools straight from university, as part of the Teach First scheme.

Afterwards they stay in teaching, often reaching senior positions, or join fast-track management schemes in other professions.

Now they are being encouraged to volunteer as mentors to bright but disadvantaged teenagers, taking them on residential visits to leading universities.

The programme has helped more than 250 pupils in its first 18 months. Figures seen by The Times show the success of the programme. More than two-thirds of the first trial group achieved a university place (with a quarter attending a Russell Group university). Most of the remainder took a gap year.

Today it almost doubles in size with another 200 teenagers, who would be the first in their family to go to university, matched with mentors.

It will also expand outside London for the first time, with a separate scheme for those in Year 11, in Manchester and the East Midlands.

The mentors will meet sixth-formers over the next 18 months to provide motivation, training in how to apply to university and mock interview sessions, and take them to university residential courses.

Sarah Connor, director of alumni at Teach First, said: “This started because we really wanted to harness the skills and experience of Teach First alumni.

“So few young people from challenging backgrounds progress to university.

“The programme raises aspirations and academic achievement, and access to opportunity. We’re trying to create a community of ambassadors who’ve done their two years teaching, and continue to have an impact on education for the better.”

Heap arose from a focus group held with Andrew Adonis, then an education minister, on why low numbers of talented children from poor backgrounds were going to university.

Schools are encouraged to identify two gifted students who will benefit from the scheme, and do not have anyone in their family who has gone to university.

Ms Connor said the mentors helped sixth-formers to “navigate all the information out there on different university websites and on funding.

“They build confidence in an interview situation and develop personal skills, organise access to libraries for them, plus career information evenings, and events for parents around funding.

“It’s about bridging the gap between urban schools and the best universities.”

One part of the scheme is a four-day residential course at Cambridge University, at which the teenagers sit-in on lectures and debates, and visit museums.

The new Year 11 programme for 15 and 16-year-olds aims to get teenagers thinking about university choices before they start their A levels. They attend day-long events to raise aspiration and solve problems.