The EY Foundation supports students in University of Warwick project
Working in collaboration with University of Warwick, EY independent charity have supported and provided a group of year 12 students in the Midlands with a unique and valuable learning experience, working at the University of Warwick's newly rejuvenated Arts Centre as part of the EY Foundation’s Smart Future’s Business Experience programme earlier this year.
The students were tasked with working alongside the University’s Organisational Development team and Warwick Arts Centre leadership team to come up with a plan to promote the venue’s paid and unpaid employment opportunities. This included attracting performance stewards, volunteers, and restaurant team members, from the local community, with a focus on appealing to a diverse range of candidates.
Kulbir Shergill, Director of Social Inclusion at the University of Warwick, said:
“The EY Foundation’s programmes are hugely important in supporting social mobility for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve their career aspirations.“We were really pleased to have been able to support the Foundation in its aims, giving these inspirational young people valuable work experience and importantly access to our facilities and staff to undertake this project. This opportunity also supports our own ambitions to ensure that the University’s team members represent the diversity of our local communities in and around Coventry.”
The EY Foundation works with young people, employers, and social entrepreneurs. It helps young people from low-income backgrounds to realise their career ambitions and transition into work, higher education or self-employment. Smart Futures is one of the programmes offered by the EY Foundation and is designed to provide young people with real hands-on experience of the working work. The programme provides paid work experience, training and interactive workshops, and mentoring relationships, helping students to develop a wide variety of transferable skills.
Anu Law, Midlands Hub Lead for the EY Foundation said:
“We were absolutely delighted to work with the University on this project, to help bring business experiences to life for our Smart Futures students.“The students gained valuable business insights and really enjoyed the activity. We’ve already seen some positive outcomes with one of the students having been accepted onto the University’s Warwick Scholars programme.”