Lancaster University Careers & Employability service has been shortlisted for the “Supporting Student/Graduate Employability” award at the AGCAS Awards for Excellence, taking place during the AGCAS Annual Conference in Sheffield on Monday 10 June 2024.

The “Supporting Student/Graduate Employability” award category highlights services who show effective development and implementation of an initiative with the aim of improving the student/graduate outcomes and learning gain. 

Lancaster University’s award entry focused on the redesign and ongoing development of the University’s Central Placement Year Scheme, a project which came about due to the significant rise in students undertaking placement years, which created the need to improve the efficiency of the service and respond to student feedback.

Jo Hobbs - Placement Year Manager and Careers Consultant in the Careers team said:

“This has been a long-term change project spanning the past 4-years in order to meet the growing demand for our placement degree offering whilst being mindful of the staff resources available to deliver this placement provision. I am a strong advocate for the value of undertaking a placement as part of a degree and the most important aspect for me when leading the redesign of our Central Placement Year Scheme was the input of the student voice.”

The student view formed much of the redesign around the placement year module provision which was then subject to the appropriate internal academic module approval processes. The new work-related learning module for placement year students has run for the first time this academic year.

Jo Hobbs also said:

“Me and my Placements team look forward to working with increasing numbers of students as additional academic departments are due to offer placement year degree variants here at Lancaster University over the next few years.”

The AGCAS Awards for Excellence encourages, rewards, and shares good practice amongst Higher Education (HE) careers and employability practitioners and their partner organisations, by promoting quality, innovative and collaborative projects and high professional standards across the full range of HE careers and employability work.

Lancaster University has been shortlisted along with 3 other universities; the winner will be announced at the AGCAS Awards for Excellence ceremony, taking place during the AGCAS Annual Conference in Sheffield, on Monday 10 June 2024.

Lancaster University Careers Service exists to support students in their next steps. If you are a student at Lancaster University and are looking for advice on placements and internships, visit our website to learn more about how we can support you. We would love to speak to you, whatever stage you are at in your career journey. You can also log into CareersConnect and see all our opportunities to meet the team in 1-1s and events, and focus on your future today.