What is Kingston University's ELEVATE Programme?

Kingston University places a continued focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, and this can be seen in our student body itself; roughly 38% of KU students identify their ethnicity as white, followed by 26.3% as Asian and 20.7% as Black. 43.8% of students are also one first generation in their family to attend university, opening up job opportunities and career paths that may have been unavailable to their parents and grandparents in the past.

Unfortunately, Black students still face significant challenges in finding employment after university: nationally, Black students are 15% less likely than their white counterparts to be in full-time employment 15 months after graduation, and 43% are excluded by employers who set a minimum of a 2:1 degree in their recruitment criteria (in comparison to only 19% of white graduates).

Last week, Kingston University celebrated its third successful year of our ELEVATE programme: an award-winning accelerator programme for Black home students, aimed at equipping students with the skills needed to compete in an increasingly competitive job market.

With a mix of employer insight days, discussions with industry experts and a series of industry-related panel events, ELEVATE brings visibility to career paths and opportunities Black home students may not have previously considered, as well as empowering them to take the next steps towards reaching their goals.

Furthermore, the ELEVATE programme offers you the chance to become part of a close-knit community, whilst simultaneously providing you with bespoke support in finding job opportunities and paid placements/internships.

If you're interested in taking part in the programme, contact [email protected] for more information, have a look on MyKingston or check out the numerous ELEVATE events available for registration on Handshake. Events are run throughout the year - so make sure to have a look if you're eligible and haven't already! :smile:

As always, if you have any questions, drop them down below and one of our KU Reps will do our best to point you in the right direction.

- Eve (Kingston Rep).

(edited 6 months ago)