It's official – UWE Bristol's careers and employability service is the best in the country. The team won the prestigious National Undergraduate Employability Award 2014 for Best University Careers/Employability Service in recognition of the outstanding contributions they make in helping students make the most of work experience opportunities.
UWE's service was judged the winner from more than 90 nominations in this category, beating the other finalists from the University of Exeter, University of Leeds and University of the Arts London.
UWE's submission highlighted the achievements that the University has had in recent years, including:
• being ranked eighth in the country by the Daily Telegraph for 'getting a job'
• providing over 1,000 paid graduate internships with regional businesses in the last three years
• its innovative partnership with the local chamber of commerce in the form of a web-based jobs and placement service, Graduate Talent West
John Clarke, UWE's Director of Student Services, said, “The whole team is to be congratulated on their achievement, gaining this national recognition for the excellent work they are doing to support our students. The award recognised the scale, diversity and innovation shown in the team's activities at UWE, as well as its links with the UWEs 2020 strategy.”
“Partnerships, internally with faculties and services and externally with large and small employers, and with bodies such as Business West and the Association of Graduate Recruiters have been critical to this success.”
The National Undergraduate Employability Awards (formerly known as the National Placement & Internship Awards) were held in London. They were sponsored by PwC and supported by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS). This year's ceremony was also run in association with The Guardian.
The Awards were attended by over 400 representatives from both the corporate and higher education world. Special guest speaker, Sahar Hashemi, OBE and co-founder of Coffee Republic, who presented the award, gave an inspirational speech about her path to success and the importance of entrepreneurial spirit within organisations.
More information on the Award winners is here.
