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Right advice and experiences
Does the organisation provide access to the right advice and experiences at the right time to unlock opportunity through a person’s life? The University hosts open days, placements and careers fairs in partnership with schools, colleges, and employers. Alongside this, students can access work experience and volunteering opportunities both within the University and externally across a range of different partners. It enables access to placements in business, education and healthcare, plus paid internships, ambassador schemes, insider career mentoring and business innovation programmes. There are two mentoring options available: enterprise mentoring and diversity mentoring. In partnership with Future Learn, the University provides free online learning programmes, covering a wide range of subjects including digital marketing and web science.
Our Centenary Building
Does the organisation support young people and adults to have the choice of a highquality route in education, employment, or training? The University of Southampton works extensively with students from underrepresented groups through Access to Southampton (A2S), a sequential programme for years 12 and 13, supporting them in considering Southampton as a compelling option for them. Each year 100 students register for A2S. Data from the last five years shows that good degree outcomes for students who attended A2S are 11 per cent higher than those of the general population. Meanwhile, research in the Southampton Education School has helped to improve the quality of apprenticeships across the country and has informed national vocational and education training policy. With its partners, the University provides several scholarships and opportunities for undergraduates and postgraduates. The University houses Southern Universities Network (SUN), an award-winning Uni Connect partnership which links universities and colleges in the region to support students from underrepresented backgrounds in a collaborative and mutually supportive way. Since Southampton is a City of Sanctuary, the University is working towards becoming a University of Sanctuary. As part of this pledge, several fully funded postgraduate opportunities will be made available for people seeking refuge and asylum. The University works with a number of partners to provide a greater level of support for young people in the local area including the Brilliant Club, which aims to widen access to university for students from underrepresented groups. The University has collaborated with the club on a scholars’ programme. Recent data shows that many of the students in attendance are target pupils, based on widening participation criteria, with an average of 76 per cent of pupils across all the schools meeting these criteria.
The University’s Ignite Programme offers guaranteed first-year internships for 31 students from postcodes in the lowest quintile of the Indices of Multiple Deprivations (IMD) measurement or those who are care experienced. There is also ongoing support for second-year students to help them access competitive intern schemes. Ignite students are mentored by a peer in their first year, a recent graduate in their second year and an alumnus who is established in their career in year three. The programme aims to offer students the perspective of those with similar lived experience. Furthermore, the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme provides the opportunity for students to experience learning at a university level, giving them transferable skills and allowing them to work with a mentor. In addition to enterprise and diversity mentoring programmes, the University also offers e-mentoring, which provides students with access to a supportive online community of more than 2,500 alumni mentors around the world for career advice and support. E-mentoring is available to all students and recent graduates, who can use the platform to connect with volunteer alumni mentors, working in hundreds of industries and companies spanning 80 countries. This enables them to ask career-related questions, seek mentoring and build professional networks. The Graduate Ambassador Scheme involves 40 recent graduate volunteers, who give their time to support the University. Graduate ambassadors support a range of student-focused activities, providing authentic experiences and insights from their own journeys in order to help students succeed. In return for giving their time, graduate ambassadors are enrolled in a skills development programme, which includes workshops and speaker events, to help them improve their own employability and career prospects as a result of volunteering. Graduate ambassadors are from a range of backgrounds, subject areas and levels of study, representing the diversity of the student body.
The University has sponsored an IntoUniversity centre in Redbridge, an estate in Southampton with low levels of progression to higher education. The centre provides homework clubs, mentoring opportunities and organised visits to the University. In 2020/21 it worked with 843 young people. The University has also worked with IntoUniversity centres in Brighton and Brixton.
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Key Key strengths: audit strengths
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Further talks, seminars and events are also available from the University of Southampton via its lifelong learning podcast. Also, the University’s Public Engagement with Research unit (PERu) is a conduit for a range of engagement and learning activities for all ages.
