Surrey wins award for best university work placement service for third straight year

In the last academic year the University of Surrey’s pioneering Professional Training placements gave over 1,200 students the opportunity to spend a year working in industry and other organisations to develop their professional, academic and personal potential. The University places particular emphasis on these placement years as a means of increasing employability, enabling students to be more adaptable, resilient, globally minded, confident, entrepreneurial and digitally savvy in the workplace.

In handing the award to Surrey, judges noted the “outstanding University-wide commitment to employability”.

Frances Gow, Head of Employability and Careers at the University of Surrey, said:

“To win this award three years in a row is a truly remarkable achievement. Our success stems from a community approach, with responsibility for student outcomes shared between the specialist Placements team within our Employability and Careers team and the Directors of Employability in the schools and departments our students study in.

“It is the way placements are embedded into the fabric of the University of Surrey’s courses that makes Surrey hard to beat and the envy of its peers when it comes to quality of student experience and the high percentage of students with successful outcomes.”

The most recent annual Graduate Outcomes survey, published by the UK’s Higher Education Standards Agency (HESA), ranks the University of Surrey’s graduates 12th in the country (against other higher education institutions), with 96 per cent finding work or going on to further study after graduating (UK domiciled, undergraduate full-time students).

The winners of the 2021 National Undergraduate Employability Awards, organised by RateMyPlacement.co.uk, were announced on Thursday 25 February 2021. Five hundred professionals working in and with university careers services across the UK came together virtually to celebrate the outstanding achievements of employers, agencies, universities and students in undergraduate work experience. Special Guest Speaker and Co-host of the Awards, June Sarpong, OBE inspired the audience with her journey on becoming an internationally renowned broadcaster, writer and campaigner on diversity issues.