Description

This is in two parts. The first to continues the current project into a third year This will continue the posts of the UWSU Liberation Campaign Organisers and the Belonging and Inclusion Advisor who create and deliver a range of activities. They provide opportunities for participation in student EDI networks and related activities, events and campaigns, including awareness campaigns. This work will be coordinated by UWSU.

The second element (across 22/23 and 23/24) is to add a new FT Communications Coordinator, based in the UWSU, who will work with the previously established posts to create and deliver tailored communications targeting specific student communities as well as the wider student community. This is to ensure that students are able to participate fully in the Community and Communities programme, especially its skills development and collaborative influencing elements.

This is based on the currently funded project “Fit for the Future: Bringing the Outside In to Transform Employability Outcomes at Westminster” and will increase the numbers of employers with whom students can engage, and transform the contexts in which students and graduates access opportunities, contacts and networks. It will ensure that this work continues until 29, MR is completed and should maximise opportunities for employer engagement created through the new building.

Additional activities include:

The expansion of self-employment and entrepreneurship support to ensure all students have access to the skills and networks to start up their own businesses. Costs include a consultancy support to build new programmes, plus student helpers and activity costs.

Employ Autism project, in partnership with Ambitious about Autism, to provide funded internship opportunities for autistic students and recent graduates and build their confidence in seeking paid employment.

More alumni role models within the curriculum across all 12 Schools; events to build new employer networks, with a focus on bringing students together from across disciplines involving collaboration from across different Schools; new partnerships with SMEs and the third sector to enhance curriculum-based opportunities for undergraduate students.

Two new posts in the Students’ Union – an Employability Coordinator whose role it will be to grow and develop the Union’s employability offer in line with the University’s. The second role is a Learning and Development Coordinator whose role it will be to build an annual cycle of training and development opportunities that the Students’ Union can deliver to bolster the employability of its student volunteers and leaders.

Two new posts in the University – two Employability Communications Officers to focus on communicating activities to students and recent graduates. They will tailor messaging to students on different courses / levels of study, creating content and case studies to support engagement with employability. These posts will be based within the University’s communications team, to ensure alignment with wider student and recent graduate communications. The postholders will work closely with colleagues in the University’s Careers and Employability Service and Business Engagement Directorate.

This project will modify the ground floor space at the Marylebone campus to create new social learning spaces. This will encompass the coffee shop seating area, the entrance to the library/student centre and the Learning Platform area adjacent to this. It will build on successful QHT funded projects to develop Students’ Union spaces in New Cavendish Street and Regent Street.

An integral part of the project will be to involve students in design in two ways:

• engagement of the general student body in developing a vision for the space
• engaging students from relevant disciplines (for example architecture students) in the development of the project.

This will also create a sustainable model for future partnership work with students.

This proposal will build on current good practice of working with community groups. It seeks to pilot a Student Community Service Programme helping students gain vital skills, tackle mental health, and help build confidence and employment skills while helping to revitalise the local communities. It will support a pilot project developing a scalable and comprehensive community service-learning offer across the University. Credit-bearing placements or experiences (the best way of managing service learning) will be piloted enabling students to access service-learning opportunities within the curriculum. It will draw on successful models from other HE institutions.

The project will be located within the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation (CETI), which supports colleagues to achieve teaching excellence through curriculum innovation and professional development.

This project will develop, through close engagement with the student body, fit for purpose prayer, spiritual, and contemplation spaces at all University of Westminster campuses to ensure adequate capacity and facilities for the University of Westminster students. These spaces will ensure the religious, spiritual, and cultural needs of students are met while attending the University. It will focus on three key areas:

The development of a new space at the Marylebone Campus where the current provision is not fit for purpose.
The refurbishment of existing spaces at the Cavendish, Regent Street/Little Titchfield Street and Harrow campus.
Ensuring spaces used for Friday prayer have the required facilities and storage in proximity close to the locations.

This will impact the student experience by contributing to the development of a ‘sticky’ campus which enhances students’ sense of belonging, and therefore their continuance; enhancing student satisfaction and wellbeing by embodying Westminster’s commitment to the ‘spiritual wellbeing’ aspect of a holistic education, and by improving the offering of dedicated space for prayer, contemplation, and reflection on all campus sites, available to students and staff of all faiths and none.

The new Centre for Employability and Enterprise at 29 Marylebone Road is intended to have a transformational impact for the student experience and employability outcomes, and will be open/accessible to all students from every/any discipline across the University. Specifically, the Centre will:

• Add a unique facility and associated services which will enhance the student experience.
• Bring together enterprise and employment-services into a single central facility, to maximise synergy for the benefit of all students and recent graduates.
• Substantially increase opportunities for employability-enhancing learning and enterprise development for students and recent graduates to transform graduate outcomes.
• Provide a purpose-designed, work-oriented environment to enable students to engage in cross-disciplinary teams on employer-led projects, supporting the University’s ambition to deliver authentic learning for all.
• Significantly strengthen relationships with employers.

This funding was offered to staff, on a competitive basis, for projects of up to £25,000, which must involve students. Projects were required to demonstrate innovative thinking among colleagues and students and must improve the student experience at Westminster and foster and promote student leadership. Ten projects have been selected, which span a number of areas within the University.

This is a continuation of the project which ran both last year and this in which staff bid for small grants during the year. The intention is to support ‘grassroots’ innovative thinking among colleagues and students to improve the student experience at Westminster. Bids can be for between £5,000 and £10,000.

This will continue the current grant to the UWSU whereby the funding can be used to hire pitches, engage coaching and use the money for a range of purposes to support sporting activities and promote engagement in sport for a wider student body.

Description

This project, QHT funding for which ended in December 2021, was very successful. This continuation is to support further innovation by creating a more bespoke, defined experience for students, by generating opportunities to ‘follow cases through’ in some services. It will increase the level of supervision in the immigration service so that students volunteering in this service can gain casework experience, rather than simply give one-off advice. Students will undertake OISC (the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) level 1 accreditation placements. A Student Experience Coordinator will ensure that all students volunteering in the Clinic benefit from closer supervision from one professional and receive one-to-one support to enhance their Clinic experience.

This builds on an established tradition of QHT funding field trips. These provide students with immersive opportunities to engage with industry, global communities, and the world beyond Westminster. The grant covers travel and accommodation costs for students. This is granted on the basis that it should be used preferentially for physical rather than virtual trips.