Careers Network at the University of Birmingham has been recognised for its excellence in providing careers support for international students. Beating stiff competition, Careers Network has won the Best Careers Support for International Students in the third annual National Union of Students (NUS) Internationalisation Awards.
Careers Network at the University of Birmingham has been recognised for its excellence in providing careers support for international students. Beating stiff competition, Careers Network has won the Best Careers Support for International Students in the third annual National Union of Students (NUS) Internationalisation Awards.
The judges were impressed with innovative work taken by Careers Network, in particular the peer mentoring provided by the unique team of International Student Ambassadors and the wide range of bespoke events for international students. The award also recognises Birmingham’s commitment to supporting UK students looking for international careers opportunities.
Ellen O’Brien, International Careers Adviser, collecting the award said: “I am delighted that all our hard work has been recognised and am particularly proud of the International Student Ambassador team who are so successful at giving peer to peer support to our international community.”
Careers Network is the University of Birmingham’s careers and employability department working across the University to support students in their career and skills development. Careers Network provides students with a professional service and access to people and resources, targeted to their individual needs, to facilitate development as enterprising and employable graduates. The service offers international students a variety of specially tailored events and resources, including Careers Management Skills (CMS) workshops on topics such as networking skills, job seeking strategies and job seeking beyond the UK.
The NUS Internationalisation Awards, in association with the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) reward best practice within universities and student unions that seek to improve the lives of international students studying in the UK.
Commenting on why the team of judges chose Careers Network from the entries, Daniel Stevens, NUS International Students’ Officer said: “Birmingham’s Careers Network is an excellent example of partnering with international students to provide high quality careers advice and support. The team of International Student Ambassadors provides an amazing service as well as a great partnership model of feedback for the wider service from international students. The impact of the bespoke events delivered by the careers network shows that if you develop services with international students, they will attend and benefit at such a higher level.
“Careers Network was developed with considerable thought to the process, the service, and the evaluation. International Students get high quality advice from both their peers and careers advisors and get to feed into the development of the network while gaining valuable skills. Home students also benefit from the unique understanding of international employment provided through their international peers, through the team of International Student Ambassadors. It is a great example of how internationalisation can benefit both international and UK students.”
ENDS
The NUS and UKCISA Internationalisation Awards were held at the Warwick Integration Summit 2014 at the University of Warwick on Tuesday 6 May 2014.
To find out more about the support available to international students, visit the Careers Network.
For interview requests or for more information, please contact Ben Goodwin, International Media Relations Manager, University of Birmingham on +44 (0) 121 414 8254. For out of hours media enquiries, please call: +44 (0) 7789 921 165.
