The University won the award for Best University Employability Strategy at the TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2020.
The award recognises Staffordshire University’s commitment to student employability with its provision built around a peer-to-peer coaching model which empowers trained student Career Coaches to truly understand the challenges that fellow students face.
Judging for this award was led by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales with a judging panel mainly made up of employers including Credit Suisse, BlackRock and Mott MacDonald.
Staffordshire topped the field in the category where the shortlist also featured Anglia Ruskin University; University of East Anglia; Goldsmiths, University of London; University of Greenwich; University of Hertfordshire; University of Huddersfield; University of Leicester; University of Northampton; University of Reading.
Martin Perfect, Staffordshire University’s Head of Student & Graduate Employability, said: “Employing students to deliver one-to-one coaching breaks down many barriers to student engagement we have experienced. This approach means we can then crucially nuance our Employability Strategy at school and department level and deliver at the scale required to have maximum impact.
“Our Career Relationship Managers work in close partnership with our schools to ensure students can achieve, learn, reflect and articulate themselves successfully.”
The University’s employability team works directly with academics to ensure that along with industry-specific skills, a broader range of transferrable skills are embedded into the curriculum.
The Careers team are embracing technology to better engage students, recent examples of this being the introduction of an online chat function and video interviewing software that utilises Artificial Intelligence to analyse interview performance and provide detailed feedback.
Being a Widening Participation University, Staffordshire strives to go above and beyond to ensure students are equipped for future success. Staffordshire operates in the 15th most deprived local authority in the country, with 55 per cent of students commuting to University.
The University supports students into the job market through a variety of initiatives including GradEX. This graduate exhibition flips the traditional concept of a Careers Fair on its head with final year students showcasing their final year projects to recruiters, Alumni and industry experts.
Across the last three years Staffordshire University has seen a significant transformation in the level of support offered to students in the area of Career and Personal Development.
This improvement has been a real factor in the University being awarded TEF Gold and being shortlisted in the prestigious ‘University of the Year’ category at the Times Higher Education Awards 2020.