Like many organisations, universities face constant change in an unpredictable environment. While the convention is for senior managers to lead the organisation’s response to change, we took a different approach. We worked with the university to develop a programme to enable change from below as an effective way of changing the culture and promoting innovation from which the organisation could learn.. Participants were recruited from across the university and worked together to promote an entrepreneurial approach that was of benefit to learning, teaching and research.

A national programme funded by the Office for Students that supports and promotes access to higher education that it is not limited by their background or where they live. Over a million young people have engaged with the programme. In Sussex it brings together 29 partners where we are managing projects that encourage these young people to go to university.

The Community Fund

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners

Care experienced students

Role models

Peer to peer mentoring for BAME learners

Learning4Life resources for learners, employees and employers

We have developed and run a range of programmes aimed at supporting 50+ people into work. Retirement is no longer a fixed time when people simply stop working. They make up an increasing percentage of the workforce and have the skills employers need. The pandemic and cost of living have made people reassess needs in terms of finance, health, work/life balance and other responsibilities. Our programmes facilitate a change of direction be that full/time, part/time, voluntary, self-employment or any combination of these.

We’ve welcomed many Job Centre Plus customers to our regular programmes, including “Older, Wiser, Still Working” and “Rethinking Work and Retirement”.

In addition we’ve designed a number of 4 week programmes with a mixture of coaching, workshops and guest speakers providing inspirational talks. We focus on building confidence and skills in order to move back into work. We’ve been delighted to work in partnership with local businesses Fresh Ambition, Stoneham Bakehouse and the Fed Centre for Independent Living.

Brighton Housing Trust

The Brighton Trust’s Accommodation for Work project works with single homeless people, The project provides temporary accommodation and help with securing employment and has an impressive record for enabling people to develop the social and life skills they need to move on. 

Work & Learning Opportunities undertook a formal evaluation of their programme that included working with staff, clients and external organisations.

Community Works, Brighton

Community Works, which connects charities, volunteers and business led the pan England Building Better Opportunities project for their area which supported people furthest from, the workplace and with the most barriers to gaining employment. 

We worked closely with the partnership to produce Routes to Success , an evaluation of their work. We work included 30 in-depth interviews with clients in order to show the breadth of support that the project provided.

Our Sussex University collaboration has included:

Creating a fast response CV advice service for undergraduates.

Preparing students for the workplace with 1:1 support to hone their employability skills.

Employers engagement to secure one year professional placements for Business School undergraduates at the end of the second year of their degree.

Raising employers’ awareness of the UoS MBA programme.

At 16+ young people need to be aware of all opportunities open to them whether they are moving on to further education or combining learning with training.. We produced user-friendly materials for young people, parents, carers, teachers and advisers to make sure they had the best information to make the right decisions.

Our audiences included: young people with learning difficulties and disabilities; young people who had been excluded from mainstream education and care leavers.

Many young adults haven’t had the opportunity to move directly from school or college to University.. Experience shows that returning to learning after a break requires high quality information, advice and guidance. Work & Learning Opportunities was asked to create resources to clarify the entire process of applying for and studying at university.

We designed user-friendly and interactive materials that could be accessed independently and dove-tail with the work done by Aspire to HE led by the University of Wolverhampton.

The Sussex Learning Network’s Centre for Work and Learning worked with employers, universities and colleges across Sussex to develop locally delivered university courses that directly related to the skills that their companies needed.

When this project work came to an end, we provided coaching to their staff to help them plan and develop their careers as the Sussex Learning Network moved into its next phase of development. We helped members of staff to take their careers new directions as they moved on from their roles.

The National Centre for Entrepreneurship in Education supports higher education organisations to develop their entrepreneurial capacity.

Our Director, Chris Baker, was instrumental in developing the NCEE leadership programme as a participant, a tutor and, for two years, the Programme Director. This pioneering executive development programme is for for senior personnel in universities.

The Covid pandemic has changed the way we communicate. 10 years ago technology was still out of reach for many and Job Centre staff were used to seeing customers face to face.

For one of our early contracts we devised a successful pilot programme for Job Centre Plus in Chichester. We used phone/email support to help unemployed people in rural areas who wanted to work but were experiencing barriers because of their location. Within 12 weeks 23% were off benefits and the knowledge we gained enabled us to produce tailored resources that could be shared across Sussex.