Collaboration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Future Me programme was developed at pace during the COVID-19 lockdown in response to the lack of meaningful encounters with employers and higher education students available for secondary school-aged students . The programme was developed collaboratively between Uni Connect Pathways , the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership and the University of Leicester outreach team . Complete Careers were commissioned to write the content .
The Future Me programme comprised 12 bi-weekly one-hour virtual sessions using the Zoom platform and provided information and advice about local growth sectors and the employment skills students will need to develop to become successful in the workplace . Along with this information and advice from the Future Me delivery team , guest employers also presented at one of the weekly sessions , and undergraduate students presented at the other , with both sessions providing opportunities for attending students to ask questions . Weekly employer challenges were set for students to complete voluntarily , and individual and school prizes were awarded to the winners .
A mixed methods evaluation concluded that Future Me successfully protected students ’ experiences of careers and higher education during lockdown , and that Uni Connect and local companies collaborated successfully . Students ’ reports were extremely positive , including praise for the variety and usefulness of the content , the interactive delivery methods , the weekly employer challenges , and the additional resources such as worksheets and website links . Whilst most students would have preferred a face-to-face experience to a virtual one , they were very pleased with the online delivery ; indeed some preferred it .
Aim : Contributing to a stronger evidence base around ‘ what works ’ in higher education outreach and strengthen evaluation practice in the sector
Evaluation Uni Connect national evaluator CFE Research examined 52 sources of evidence submitted by Uni Connect partnerships in the first Phase 2 call for evidence . It concluded that this “ represents a significant step forward in the development of the evidence base .” 19
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Uni Connect : Evidence Meta- Review . A report for the Office for Students on the findings from the second call for local evaluation evidence ( October 2020 ). P1 . 19