We’re pleased to announce that a number of teams within our Careers and Employability services have been brought together as part of a recent restructure to create the Student Success Team.
Consisting of the Advice and Information team, the Training team and the Venture team and, moving across from Student Services, the Volunteering and Mentoring team, and led by Vikki Brockhurst, the Student Success team brings together several frontline and student focused initiatives to enable you to access a breadth of activities to enhance your experience, celebrate diversity, build flexibility in your career pathway, create a strong sense of belonging and enable you to have a positive influence on society.
The initiatives consist of:
The Chester Difference Award, a skills award which provides the opportunity for you to gain recognition for a range of extracurricular activities that you undertake and develop techniques to showcase your skills and experiences to future employers
The Venture Programme, which is designed to help you develop the skills, knowledge, confidence and connections to work for yourself; whether that’s starting your own business or building a freelance career
Careers Workshops, which give you the opportunity to develop knowledge and learn techniques to help prepare for and find a job, whether that’s whilst you are at university or after you graduate a
Volunteering and Peer Mentoring, which support you to get involved with a range of volunteer and mentor opportunities within the University and local community, enabling you to develop new skills, meet new people and have an impact and positive influence on your peers and society.
Bringing this all together under one focal point, where you have a point of contact, whether you want questions answered, advice on how to engage and get involved or advice on getting the most out of the initiatives, completing application documents as part of the initiatives or for the end process, the Advice and Information Team is dedicated to ensuring that Careers and Employability is accessible, supportive and welcoming.
The participation of students and graduates in these unique initiatives has already had an impact:
- Entrepreneurial students and graduates have been successful in securing a share of £5,000 start-up funding, courtesy of Santander Universities UK, as part of the University’s Venture Programme,
- The Volunteering and Mentoring team came together with students, staff and charities, in their yearly University of Chester Volunteering celebratory event, to celebrate the achievements and contributions to society throughout the year, including students who gave an impressive 8,461 hours to 112 organisations
- The Chester Difference Award which has over 1000 participants and 97% of Careers Workshop attendees providing feedback agreeing that the session they attended met their expectations.
Through the initiatives and support delivered through the Student Success team, the aim is to continue to break down those barriers for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, making opportunities and life goals accessible and support you to transition to graduate life and continue to have an impact on society.
The reorganisation of Careers & Employability into four teams and establishing the Student Success Team enables us to focus on improving student engagement and delivering activities that enable students from all backgrounds, particularly those from under-represented groups to make effective and successful transitions from pre-enrolment to entry into the graduate job market. We will ensure students’ voices are heard to encourage their participation, realise their potential and develop their social capital throughout their student journey.
Diane Appleton, Head of Careers & Employability
Want to know more?
For further information about the work of the team please call us on 01244 513066 or email careers@chester.ac.uk