Careers team lands awards for student placement innovation

‘Involving students as pilots rather than passengers’ - that is the key aim of a University placement management system that has just won the Careers and Placement team an industry award. 

The prize for Strategic Innovation at the AGCAS Awards for Excellence was announced on Tuesday, 20 June. The award was handed to the team for the development of their Placement Pathways Project, which was set up with the aim to streamline the process of setting up students with experience in industry. 

Launched in 2019, the project saw the University digitise its placement administration. It also enabled students to gain a better understanding of the administration involved in finding their ideal placement as it gave them more responsibility and ownership in the process.   

The changes led to significantly reduced bureaucracy, allowing more time for supporting students. It also better prepared students for behaving professionally in the workplace and enabled the Careers service to work digitally through the pandemic.

‘Game changer’

 Tina Bhati, Placement Administrator in the School of Politics, Economics and International Relations, said the Pathways project ‘completely changed’ the way students placement administration was managed. 

She said: “The portal allows me to see each student’s progress quickly and easily, all on one page, and enables me to spend my time answering more bespoke queries and providing support to students. It is a total game-changer!” 

Impressing the judges 

Judges at the AGCAS Awards were full of praise for the Pathways project. Speaking after the award was announced, a spokesperson said: “This change in process is really empowering students, making them appreciate what’s involved and giving them responsibility.

“This is integral for a successful experience in the world of work. The team have efficiently streamlined processes to free up capacity for student support, and made the placement experience even more significant for students.”

Em Sowden, Head of Student Placements, who led the development and implementation of Placement Pathways, said: “The necessity to address our processes for placements while addressing the growing demand for administrative support gave us freedom to explore our relationship with students as partners and create a new system that everyone was happy to use.”

Placement success

The AGCAS award was not the first prize the University’s Careers and Placement team has won this year. 

In March, Reading was ranked top of the Best Universities for Work Experience Table 23/24 at the 2023 RateMyPlacement Awards.

The award was given based solely on student-written reviews. Students gave their views after reviewing the resources available to them in seeking work experience and the support they received from University staff.

Jacqui Payne, Director of Careers, said: “At Reading, we recognise that student careers begin from the moment that they set foot on campus. This award highlights how the tireless work of the Careers team can be of service at every stage of our students’ work experience journey.

“This would not be possible without the collaboration of our academic colleagues, our committed employers that we work with, and not least our truly talented students.”