University of Bradford and Morrisons have an established track record of working together on a range of employability and employment activities. Through the OfS funded Graduate Workforce Bradford initiative Graduate Workforce Bradford – Careers – University of Bradford Morrisons have collaborated with Career and Employability Services (CES) to develop and offer students and graduates work experience and higher skilled employment.
As part of the University of Bradford’s (UoB) Business and Community Engagement Strategy, Career and Employability Services (CES) reaches out to companies across Bradford inviting them to collaborate with the University in supporting students to enhance their employability and career prospects by offering opportunities to gain experience in a real-life work environment through the University’s’ summer internship programme. This also provides exposure for the companies to students who may become their next generation workforce.
The University of Bradford has forged a robust partnership with STRI Group, a renowned design and management consultancy specialising in sport surfaces. STRI Group is widely recognised for their scientific research and analysis expertise pertaining to sports turf surfaces. This collaboration has provided valuable opportunities for students, including work-based internships, mentoring, guest lectures, and work-based learning experiences. Recently, the partnership took a significant step forward by participating in the Brad-ATTAIN project, which seeks to address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in postgraduate research studies.
The University of Bradford’s Centre for Diversity and Inclusion offered an opportunity in 2022 to apply for a grant to run new initiatives to support the institutions Access and Participation Plan (APP). Careers and Employability Services successfully applied for funding to develop a pilot programme, ‘In Bradford’, which aimed to engage a group of 10 first year undergraduate students, with widening participation characteristics, in week of work experience, employer engagement and employability activities.
Yorkshire Universities Executive Director, Dr Peter O’Brien, has today welcomed the announcement of Phase 1 funding for the Yorkshire and Humber Policy Innovation Partnership (Y-PIP). Commenting on the award, Dr O’Brien said:
This event was held due to feedback from both staff and Huddersfield’s large body of international students that international graduates are struggling to gain UK-based, graduate-level employment, often due to employers stating that they need to have the right to work in the UK and not require sponsorship.
In November 2022, the University of Huddersfield invited three other regional institutions to collaborate together to deliver an online ‘Mega’ Careers Fair. The aims of the fair were to work in partnership with regional HE institutions; provide wider choice for students by attracting more employers than one institution could do alone and thus boost student engagement; and assist busy employers by bringing four institutions’ students to one event.
Government funding became available to deliver Kickstart programmes to reduce unemployment within the region. The University signed up to the scheme in October 2020 initially taking 30 Kickstart placements across the University for a period of 6 months. The aims behind this project were to identify unemployed graduates to provide in-depth employability training and work experience and to identify a talent pipeline for the university.
The Sheffield Impact Programme ran as a pilot activity between Monday 6th June and Friday 1st July 2022. Activities were targeted at students who meet Equal Opportunities (Widening Participation) criteria, although the activities were open to all students. The first week of the programme consisted of Knowledge exchange workshops to prepare students to make the most of their work experience. Students then completed a virtual work experience through a variety of different platforms. Several optional activities were also offered through the programme, for example, an introductory session, programme debrief and a face-to-face networking session.
Transforming and Activating Places (TAP) is a student Knowledge Exchange (KE) programme exclusively for widening participation (WP) students. Since its inception in 2020, it has recruited over 200 undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds studying arts and humanities or social sciences (SHAPE) subjects and paired them with 70 businesses, community, cultural and heritage organisations through enhanced work internships. TAP exists to address evidenced issues of equality of opportunity and diversity and inclusion within KE activities. It seeks, through co-production with students and partners, to identify barriers to KE experienced by underrepresented students and discover ‘what works’ for equitable, mutually beneficial KE internships and projects.
