What is the Warwick Award?

It’s never too early to start thinking about what you might do after graduation, and what skills you need to do it. The Warwick Award can help you do just that.

On this page, we've together a range of information to help you better understand what the Award is and how is works. Specifically, you'll find:

An overview of the Warwick Award and the 12 Core Skills it is built around
An explanation of what Core Skills Points are and how they fit into the Award
Videos from students already registered for the Award explaining why they got involved
Full details of the different levels of the Award
A range of FAQs about the Award

Pulling from your academic modules, as well as anything else you get involved with - such as societies, sports teams, volunteering, internships, placements, or even part-time work - the Warwick Award recognises and showcases the skills you’re building through those activities. It also highlights training and development opportunities so you can craft a full range of skills to help set you up for a fantastic start to life after graduation.

The Award can be personalised to allow you to shape your own employability skills development. It is free for all undergraduates and taught postgraduates - as well as exchange and degree apprenticeship students. For undergraduates, it will appear on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) transcript, while all students who complete the Award will be issued with a digital certificate and digital badge by the Skills Team.

This video features some of our students explaining why they registered for the Warwick Award:

The 12 Core Skills

The Award is based around 12 core employability skills that we’ve worked with a range of employers to identify as being crucial for the next step in your journey. These skills are: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Self Awareness, Communication, Teamwork, Information Literacy, Sustainability, Ethical Values, Digital Literacy, Intercultural Awareness, Organisational Awareness, and Professionalism.

Every student completing the Award will likely want to focus on different skills, as this video featuring students already registered for the Award shows:

Core Skills Points

For each Warwick Award-accredited activity you complete, you will earn Core Skills Points. These points help you track your progress towards the Award and your development of the different core employability skills it covers.

Each activity will be worth a different amount of Core Skills Points, based on a number of criteria, including how much time is spent developing a skill, how intense that development is, and how much opportunity you have to practise that skill. The Core Skills Points value will be listed next to the name of all Warwick Award-accredited activities.

Some examples of activities that will earn you Core Skills Points towards the Warwick Award are:

Academic modules from your course – if they give you the opportunity to develop the Warwick Core Skills.
Skills training – whether online of face-to-face.
Work placements, internships, or study abroad visits.
Leadership roles - such as SSLC representative or Society executive - that have allowed you to develop or practise employability skills, or involvement in focus or action groups, such as the WP Student Network.
Paid employment and part-time work.
Caring responsibilities.

One (1) Core Skills Point equals approximately five (5) hours of learning effort, and you will need sixty (60) Core Skills Points to complete the Warwick Award Gold level – more information about the different levels of the Award is provided below.

60 Core Skills Points is equivalent to 300 hours of activity throughout the whole duration of your time at Warwick. Therefore, we expect most Gold Awards to be earned over the course of a three or four-year undergraduate degree. However, if you’re a Masters, Exchange, Degree Apprenticeship, Foundation or part-time student then don’t worry; other award levels are available with a lower points threshold to ensure you can still earn a Warwick Award during your time as a Warwick student.

Please note, a lot of the activities that you can earn points from will be things you’re already doing – academic modules, societies, part-time work, etc. You don’t need to find hundreds of additional hours on top of your degree to earn the Award – as much as possible the Award is about extracting the skills development from what you’re already doing.

For students registered for a 2+2 degree pathway, whilst your first two years are normally taught at a local college, you will still be a Warwick student from the start of your degree and eligible to enrol for the Warwick Award.

For part-time students we recognise that you complete the same quantity of work undertaken by full time students, but this work is spread out over a longer period, so you also have a longer period to work towards your Warwick Award. If you are in work, core skills development that occurs in a workplace setting will be considered for Warwick Award recognition as long as you are able to provide the required supporting evidence. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to email us.

The different levels of the Award

We know different students are with us for different periods of time, so we’ve created six different levels of the Award, so you can choose the one that suits you.

Each requires a different number of Core Skills Points to be earned and, therefore, different amounts of activity.

Warwick Award (Gold) – 60 Core Skills Points (300 hours of activity): This level is aimed at students who begin the award at the start of their course and have at least three years to take part in 300 hours of activity.
Warwick Award (Silver) – 30 Core Skills Points (150 hours of activity): This level is aimed at students who begin the Award part way through their course, or those who don't manage to accumulate 300 hours of activity.
Warwick Award (Postgraduate) – 20 Core Skills Points (100 hours of activity: This award is aimed at PGT students who are new to Warwick, as well as those who studied at Warwick as undergraduates and previously earned the Silver or Gold Award, but who want to continue to develop their skills.
Warwick Award (Exchange) – 20 Core Skills Points (100 hours of activity): This level is for incoming exchange students, who are generally with us for one academic year.
Warwick Award (Apprentice) - 20 Core Skills Points (100 hours of activity): This level is aimed at apprentices and includes recognition for the skills developed in the workplace setting.
Warwick Award (Foundation) - 20 Core Skills Points (100 hours of activity): 20 Core Skills Points (100 hours of activity): aimed at all Foundation students. If this is you, you will be automatically entered into this category when you register for the Award. And, for Foundation Students who progress to undergraduate studies at Warwick, any Core Skills Points you earn will be carried over.

Why register for the Warwick Award?

We're obviously biased about the Warwick Award, so don't just take our word for it when we say it's a great programme that is worth being a part of. You can check out a range of case studies from some Warwick students who've already completed the Warwick Award.

Not only that, this video also lets you hear from more students about why they think you should register for the Award:

Warwick Award FAQs

What is the Warwick Award?

The Warwick Award gives you the opportunity to develop vital skills that will improve your employability after graduation. The award is included free with all undergraduate and taught master’s programmes, can be completed at a pace that suits you over the course of your degree. For undergraduates, it will appear on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) transcript, while postgraduates who complete the Award will be issued with a digital certificate signed by the Vice Chancellor.

The Award is based around 12 core employability skills that we’ve worked with a range of employers to identify as being crucial for the next step in your journey. These skills are: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Self-Awareness, Communication, Teamwork, Information Literacy, Sustainability, Ethical Values, Digital Literacy, Intercultural Awareness, Organisational Awareness, and Professionalism.

The Award recognises the transferable employability skills you will develop through completing not only your academic modules, but also the extra-curricular training courses and co-curricular activities you get involved with during your time at Warwick. It also highlights training and development opportunities so you can craft a full range of skills to help set you up for a fantastic start to life after graduation. The Award can also be personalised to allow you to choose activities based on your own interests and focus on the skills that matter the most to you and your future.

Who is eligible for the Award? Why should I complete the Award?

Completing the Award helps you get better at recognising and articulating what skills you learn during your time at Warwick. Through the reflections you’ll make as part of the Award process, you’ll build a bank of examples of when you’ve put your employability skills into practice – perfect for when you’re applying and interviewing for jobs and internships.

The Award is an investment in yourself, your skills, and your future. It will allow you to recognise skills you’re already building and will point you in the direction of various opportunities to help develop them further.

Where will I find the time to do this? Hundreds of extra hours on top of my studies sounds unrealistic.

The Warwick Award is designed to help you get the most out of whatever you do at Warwick. You’ll be developing lots of skills through the activities you’re already involved in, such as your academic modules, society involvement or part time work, for which you can gain Core Skills Points. This means that, for example, an undergraduate student shouldn’t need to find 300 extra hours to achieve the Gold Award - the majority of your contributions to the Award will be from activities you’re already involved with.

However, as the Award is designed to help you identify skills you need to work on, you might decide to do some additional skills training which would require extra time, and which would award you Core Skills Points. Some of the activities will also ask you for a short reflection on your skills development once you’ve completed them, as a quick and efficient way for you to keep track of what you’ve learned and create a bank of examples you can use in the future.

How does the Award work for part-time/2+2 students?

In exactly the same way as for full-time students – it’s about extracting and articulating the skills development you’re doing during your time at Warwick, regardless of how long you’re with us.

I have caring responsibilities – can this count towards the Award?

Absolutely. Students with childcare responsibilities or those who are Young Adult Carers often manage their own study/work schedule along with the care of others, which helps develop a number of the 12 core skills at the heart of the Award. You will be able to select caring as one of your Award activities from our platform once it launches in October, and these activities will be able to account for up to a third of your total Core Skills Points score. Please see our Students with Caring Responsibilities page for more information on how to have your caring responsibilities recognised.

How do I register for the Award?

Registration is easily done, for free, via your Gradintelligence account. Your official Gradintelligence account is created automatically for you shortly after you enrol on your course. You will have received an email from Gradintelligence to your University email address asking you to ‘activate’ your account. Once you have access to your Gradintelligence account you’ll easily be able to sign up to the Award.

If you experience any difficulties accessing the two-factor authentication code during your registration, please check your spam/junk mail folders in the first instance. If that still does not resolve your problem then please email Gradintelligence's Helpdesk who will assist you directly.

Who can I contact for more information?

Other pages that might interest you: