This series of online events focuses on cross-sector collaborative approaches aiming to improve access to careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG), strengthen progression pathways, and address inequitable access to meaningful jobs and careers.

Through sharing effective practice in developing collaborative partnerships, the series will consider how to create more co-ordinated and inclusive support that helps young people from underserved groups realise their potential and successfully enter the labour market.

In this session speakers from employer organisations, higher education, and the third sector will share practices focused on supporting students into meaningful employment.

• UCL Careers Extra - building bridges to career success, Penny Longman, Senior Careers Consultant, UCL
• Beyond Financial Support: How Tech-Enabled Employability Partnerships Help IMDQ1 Students Stay, Thrive and Progress Alex O'Connor, Head of Education Pathways, Zero Gravity & Kim Mulholland, Student Success Development Manager at University of Kent
• Mapping the Missing Door: Collaboration Between Employer and Higher Education
• Navjot Kaur Virk, University of Derby
• Part-time work exchange: Enabling students to achieve educational and career aspirations Jo Slater, Engagement Manager, HEppSY & Scott Cotterill, Employment Services Agency, Sheffield College

UCL Careers Extra - building bridges to career success, Penny Longman, Senior Careers Consultant, UCL - This practice example showcases UCL Careers Extra - an APP-funded programme of enhanced careers support for students from under-represented backgrounds. This opt-in programme encourages and empowers students to enjoy a sense of community within Careers Extra and of belonging to the institution as whole. This in turn builds engagement with wider opportunities which contribute both to academic and career success.

Careers Extra is a coherent programme designed for the particular environment, position and demographic of UCL, where students from under-represented backgrounds can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the wealth of experiences, contacts and career knowledge enjoyed by peers. It includes dedicated internships, alumni mentoring, priority booking for a range of UCL Careers activities, ring-fenced one-to-one advice and guidance, and a ground-breaking partnership with PhDs and Early Career Researchers to provide mini-research projects.

Co-creation with students is integral to the programme, with a steering group of students recruited each year to ensure student voice is at the heart of its activities. Engagement with employers provides opportunities for them to reach a diverse audience, with the internship scheme not only offering tangible experience to students, but also enabling employers to enhance diversity and inclusion within their organisations, informed by the insights students bring.

Beyond Financial Support: How Tech-Enabled Employability Partnerships Help IMDQ1 Students Stay, Thrive and Progress, Alex O'Connor, Head of Education Partnerships, Zero Gravity & Kim Mulholland, Student Success Development Manager at University of Kent - Universities are investing significantly in widening participation - yet financial support alone is failing to close stubborn retention, completion and graduate outcomes gaps for students from the most underrepresented backgrounds. This presentation draws on Zero Gravity's active partnership with the University of Kent to examine what it takes to complement financial intervention with scalable, tech-enabled employability support.

At Kent, IMDQ1 students face completion and progression gaps vs their IMDQ5 peers — despite substantial scholarship investment through the Kent Ambition Scholars programme. Zero Gravity's hybrid model combines a digital platform (industry mentoring, AI careers coaching, employer-led learning, and an exclusive jobs board) with in-person activation events and employer insight days, all ring-fenced for UoK students from underrepresented backgrounds.

This presentation will share emerging evidence on what changes when students can clearly see where their degree is taking them - and how collaboration between HEIs, employers and Zero Gravity can build the career aspiration and belonging that financial aid alone can't. It will explore practical strategies for HEIs seeking to meet OfS Access and Participation Plan targets, reduce dropouts, and improve graduate outcomes for the students who need it most.

Mapping the Missing Door: Collaboration Between Employer and Higher Education, Navjot Kaur Virk, Head of Subject- Midwifery, Children and Professional Practice, University of Derby - This session explores how collaborative partnerships between healthcare employers and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can create inclusive and flexible workforce development pathways across the healthcare career continuum. Using a “No Wrong Door “approach, the presentation will examine how co-created educational provision from access routes and apprenticeships through to specialist and postgraduate programmes, which can support staff progression, retention, and professional advancement.

The session will highlight examples of employer-informed curriculum development, including modular and credit-bearing learning opportunities. Participants will be invited to reflect on where “missing doors” exist within current workforce pathways and how stronger collaboration between employers and HEIs can help build more equitable and sustainable healthcare careers.

Employment Services Agency: Enabling students to achieve educational and career aspirations, Jo Slater, Engagement Manager, HEppSY & Scott Cotterill, Employment Services Agency, Sheffield College - A match-funded and innovative collaboration between HeppSY and Employment Services Agency at The Sheffield College, which is enabling students to achieve their educational and career aspirations through access to part-time work and relevant placement experiences. The Agency and Partnership has developed year on year and continues to make significant impact on both its students and on a strategic level. This unique project is a model, which could be rolled out in other FE/HE landscapes, where the agency empowers learners to stay committed to their goals, encourages learners to consider progression to HE, promotes long-term success and personal growth.

This event will be held online, 14.00 - 16.00.

Speaker biographies: