Empowering students and graduates and championing inclusivity: Enhancing employability for all

At its core, my job revolves around empowering final year students and graduates to secure meaningful employment. Part of that is ensuring care-experienced students receive the support they need to thrive. These two groups, while distinct, often face overlapping challenges through intersectionality, such as navigating systemic barriers, building confidence, and accessing relevant opportunities.

For graduate success, my team and I focus on employability enhancement. This includes:

• Organising tailored workshops on CV writing, interview techniques, and job market navigation through career development conversations.
• Building bridges between our students and employers through internships, mentorship programmes, and networking and employability events.
• Working with our stakeholders to build experience and skills, and enhance employability which includes work integrated learning and placements, as well as business start-up support
• Collaborating with academic departments to embed employability skills into the curriculum.

For care-experienced students — those who have spent time in foster care or local authority care — my work is grounded in providing a network of support in collaboration with other services in the University of Sunderland, such as the ‘WeCare’ team in our widening access and participation department.

From pre-entry outreach to graduation and beyond, WeCare advocate for students’ needs by ensuring access to financial, academic, and emotional resources. These students often require bespoke interventions that address the unique challenges they face, including lack of familial support and financial constraints.

The importance of widening participation for underrepresented groups cannot be overstated. Education is the great equaliser, but systemic inequalities mean that not everyone has the same starting point. Let’s look at some recent statistics that underscore the need for targeted action:

• Care-Experienced Students: In the UK, only 14% of care leavers enter higher education, compared to 43% of their peers. Among those who do attend, many struggle to complete their courses due to financial and emotional challenges. Employment graduate outcomes also lag; care leavers are three times more likely to be unemployed at age 19-21 compared to non-care-experienced individuals.
• Graduate Employability Disparities: Graduates from underrepresented backgrounds, such as care leavers, first-generation students, and those from low-income families, often face a significant employment gap. The Office for Students (OfS) reports that students from the most disadvantaged areas are 50% less likely to gain highly skilled employment than their more advantaged peers six months after graduation.

My approach combines proactive outreach with sustained, individualised support:

• Building Confidence: Many students and graduates experience imposter syndrome or feel uncertain about their capabilities. Through tailored workshops, one-on-one graduate success appointments as well as an extracurricular digital Pathway called ‘Fuelling your graduate success’, I help them recognise their strengths and articulate their value to future employers.
• Advocating for Change: I work closely with university leadership and external partners to develop policies and initiatives that prioritise inclusion, such as guaranteed interviews for care-experienced applicants within the University or scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Celebrating Success: Recognising and amplifying success stories is a powerful way to inspire others. I take great pride in celebrating the achievements of students and graduates who have overcome adversity to excel in their chosen fields.
• Being a positive figure and spreading awareness: As a professional with lived experience, I dedicate time to attend social events and coffee catchups with our care-experienced students and help link together professional services of support as a key ‘point of contact’ for referrals into our service, to create a familiar and welcoming presence for those with additional support needs.

While my day-to-day work focuses on individuals, the broader aim is systemic change. Universities have a critical role to play in driving social mobility and creating an equitable society. Through strategic partnerships, data-driven initiatives, and a commitment to inclusivity, we can dismantle barriers and open doors for those who have historically been excluded.

A key focus is spreading awareness to the issues faced by care-experienced students. Recently the University of Sunderland and Blue Cabin collaborated on a project for National Care Leavers Week with support from the Tyne and Wear Community Foundation – operating in the North East of England. We delivered an engaging session for care-experienced students through an ‘On the table’ discussion and a fun quiz and doodle jam. This event was a crucial way to ensure the voices of our care experienced students are heard. They shared some important messages of their lived experiences and the barriers they faced entering higher education, as well as the support they benefited from.

All students and graduates deserve the opportunity to achieve their dreams, regardless of their background. As someone who is passionate about levelling the playing field, I’m honoured to contribute to this mission. Whether it’s helping a graduate land their first job or guiding a care-experienced student through the complexities of university life, every success story reaffirms why this work matters.

Let’s continue the conversation. How can we, as a community in our own sectors and organisations, further support underrepresented students?

Thank you Eddy for this insight into the support universities can provide for care-experienced students and graduates.

Find out more about the We Care team and the university’s support for care-experienced students>>