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It’s the first day of our , launched to raise awareness of the opportunities available to students studying at the university and to showcase the positive changes that we have made as a result of your feedback.

For many, university is the first step on the career ladder. To ensure our students are best prepared for the world of work, the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Careers Team has updated its offering and launched new initiatives.

Based on your feedback, the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Careers Team has:

-        Rebranded themselves from ²ÝÁñÊÓƵWorks to the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Careers Team to give students a clearer indication as to what the team’s function is.

-        Opened the Careers Hub, located on the ground floor of the Hugh Aston Building. This space is available for students to drop in whenever they need support from the team. In the first week of the launch, more than 300 students dropped into the space seeking career advice.

-        Started recruiting students to the advisory panel, allowing them to directly feed ideas into the service to ensure that the team is delivering events and activities that students want.

-        Kept a mixture of face-to-face and digital appointments to make it easier for students to access the support they need, when they need it.

-        Purchased the headset and software to ensure students have access to the latest in AI soft-skills training.

The brand-new ACE Internships initiative has launched to offer students the opportunity to gain six weeks of paid work experience in the summer of 2024.

There are more than 100 hybrid, on-site and remote ACE Internship roles across a range of disciplines at businesses based in the Midlands, including Leicester Riders, Leicester City Council and right here at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ.

This new initiative runs alongside our Frontrunners and Graduate Champions schemes, giving students and recent graduates even more opportunities to gain real-world experience.

For entrepreneurial students, the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship team – part of the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Careers Team – offers some of the best support in the country.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ has been ranked in the Top 10 of British universities supporting student and graduate start-ups for the third year running, and earlier this year, the university hosted its annual awards evening to celebrate the work students have put into creating their own businesses.

As a university, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ is very proud of its careers team and the work it does with students.

This term, the team has introduced the Placement Graduation Event, which celebrates the successes and contributions that students made during their year-long placement. The evening allows students to network with local and national businesses, and collect awards for their work.

The Lead and Inspire programme, now in its third year, started earlier this term too with 70 students signing up. The six-week scheme is designed to help Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students from the Faculty of Business and Law (BaL) practice their pitching, networking, selling and interviewing skills through a series of workshops, interactive games and seminars.

The scheme was nominated for an Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) Award for Excellence in Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity.

Finally, nearly 1,000 students attended the Plan Ahead, Value Employability (PAVE) Conference and had the opportunity to speak to organisations about job prospects. The annual event plays host to a widerange of keynote speakers and workshops to give students in the university’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences (HLS) the opportunity to engage with prospective employers.

To find out more about the ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Careers Team, visit the Careers Hub or book a one-to-one careers appointment through MyGateway.