A true focus on employability
Our workplace learning provision across our undergraduate programme benefits students and provides an outstanding work-ready talent pool for local employers. This pledge is part of our broader approach to shaping students' futures by preparing them for whatever they choose to do; whilst working with employers to ensure that learning sees graduates well placed to become future leaders.
The University has a strong track record in prioritising employability and enterprise, with 94% of our students in work or further study six months after graduating. We work with over 1,000 organisations to deliver 24,000 placements and real-world projects every year, from the BBC, Sony, Adidas and Disney to the NHS, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Sheffield United FC.
Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) covering the 2018/19 academic year showed that ninety-four percent of Hallam graduates are in employment or further study 15 months after graduating, and 1,930 graduates were in highly skilled employment, such as managerial, professional or technical roles. This is more than any other post-1992 university in the country, and second amongst all UK universities, highlighting the transformative impact of Hallam's teaching offer and that of higher education more broadly.
Hallam's Highly Skilled Employment initiative is a key route through which we are continuing workplace learning provision. The project has already seen all 350 undergraduate courses reviewed and re-designed with a focus on highly skilled employment outcomes so that every Sheffield Hallam student benefits from real-world work-based learning.
An award-winning approach
The University’s sustained investment in this area has seen entrepreneurship and employability principles embedded throughout the whole organisation culminating in the University being named Outstanding Entrepreneurial University of the year at the 2021 Times Higher Education Awards.
Initiatives in recent years include the above-mentioned highly skilled employment initiative as well as the establishment of the largest free student consultancy service in the UK, which sees students offering their skills to support local businesses and community groups on a range of projects, contributing nearly £5m to the local economy over the last seven years.
