Using the power of partnerships to boost student success
A recent survey of more than 7,000 students and graduates has highlighted the importance they place on training and work experience in their success beyond further education. Yet many also feel that opportunities are lacking, and there is an increasing onus on businesses and universities to do more. So how can you boost students success?
What are students telling us about the barriers to success?
The Prospects Early Careers Survey 2021, revealed that:
- 45% of university students feel unprepared for work
- The biggest barrier for university students when searching for a job is having the required work experience
- A quarter of students interested in apprenticeships are struggling to find suitable opportunities in their area.
How can we help our students improve their employability?
With intense competition for the best jobs, universities and businesses needs to work smarter together to help students progress – to gain the skills and business acumen to improve employability and help them to stand out from the crowd as they look to enter the world of work.
One of the ways Sodexo looks to boost student engagement and success in higher education is through links with organisations and charities. Collaborations with partners who share common goals reinforce our Social Impact Pledge and its commitments to offer mentoring, career advice, internships and job opportunities to students.
What form of support can inspire and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs?
Over the past two years, students have been able to build a stronger insight into the business world through our work with Enactus UK, a social enterprise and educational charity which encourages young entrepreneurs and the next generation of socially responsible leaders.
Enactus has been working in the UK since 2001 and currently engages with around 3,000 students across 60 universities annually, partnering with large businesses like Sodexo, to help deliver its vision.
Lois Nash is one of those students – a project lead for Enactus UK at the University of Hull and currently studying for a Business Management and Marketing degree. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a two-fold benefit from the Enactus and Sodexo connection.
Firstly she secured funding from Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation to support a social enterprise project she had piloted in the city. That initiative then neatly led to her to a summer’s internship with our schools and universities marketing team.
Armed with these new skills Lois and her project team then took part in a Sodexo-sponsored ‘Dragon’s Den’ style competition to secure further funding, and was one of 10 universities to put forward a successful pitch. “We were given £650 which will really help us to expand our business model,” she says.
The support from Sodexo will help Lois and other winning projects to grow, but the benefits are designed to push far beyond the funding. “Sodexo will also be mentoring us in areas we need support with, like accounting and finance,” explains Lois. “How do we capitalise on the money we’ve been given and make the business sustainable for the future? Having advice from people in such a big business will steer us.”
The importance of work experience opportunities as we emerge from the pandemic
The Prospect Survey feedback also revealed that 38% of university students are more uncertain about their plans now due to the impact of Covid, and the restrictions on social distancing and travel have resulted in work experience opportunities being cancelled or postponed.
Lois experienced this frustration herself. “My original plan for summer 2021 was to join Camp America but with the US/UK travel ban in place I had in the back of my mind that it wouldn’t happen.”
Knowing she didn’t want to sit around all summer, she connected with Tom Laskey (Sodexo Schools and Universities Marketing Director) on LinkedIn and he offered her a three-month summer internship as a digital marketing executive.
“I’m finding it really interesting and challenging,” says Lois. “It’s educating me as to how the working world works. I’m going back into my second year of study with more confidence in myself and hoping to use this experience to get a year-long placement, hopefully with Sodexo.
“Being part of an entrepreneurial project with Enactus is fantastic for me as a business student, and my involvement with them opened the door to a real opportunity for me at Sodexo.”
Sodexo Universities
Sodexo’s partnership with Enactus is just one of the ways we aim to support job creation and skills development across the communities we operate.