The interventions included in this Toolkit were recently trailed by four UK universities as part of project entitled Levelling the Playing Field through Work-Based Learning. This project was funded through the Office for Students Addressing Barriers to Student Success Programme. The Universities included Ulster University, Aston University, City, University of London and Birmingham City University.
The project’s objective was to reduce the gap in higher education outcomes between different student groups, with a particular focus on Widening Participation students, by scaling-up and re-focusing existing proven employability interventions. In the context of this project Widening Participation students were defined as those from low socio-economic backgrounds, disabled students and black and minority ethnic students (BME). These students are historically less likely to complete work placements than their non-WP counterparts, and thus experience dispraportinately poorer graduate outcomes. The four institutions chose to work together due to their high proportions of WP students in their overall population.
The employability interventions targeted approximately 2,000 undergraduate students across a range of degree programmes over an 18 month period. The interventions included:
- Accredited employability modules
- Speed networking
- Talent bank
- Professional mentoring
- Micro placements
A second strand of the project involved trialing the extent to which these interventions were transferable to other institutions. Two initiatives were chosen to be trailed elsewhere, speed networking at Aston, City and Ulster and Talent Bank at Birmingham City University. Further details on each intervention are contained within this Toolkit, including information and resources required to implement the interventions. The interventions were evaluated using a number of measures, and results from the evaluation exercise are also contained within the Toolkit.