Topic: Work Experience
Company name: Lancaster University Volunteering Unit
Scheme partner: National Council for Work Experience (NCWE)

About NCWE
The National Council for Work Experience is part of HECSU, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit. It promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, organisations and the economy.

About Lancaster University Volunteering Unit
Lancaster University Volunteering Unit (LUVU) supports teams of students to work within the community. Projects include reading support in schools, supporting community organisations and businesses with their ICT infrastructure and skills and helping young people start their own businesses.

Total number of employees
8.

Operational countries
UK – mainly in the North West of England.

Challenge
Often work experience is marred with images of tea-making and filing, but this is not the case with modern work experience programmes. Employers today face the challenge of implementing and maintaining a quality programme that benefits both the company and the individual. Structured programmes can enable companies to complete projects, recruit new employees and allow the student invaluable work place experience.

Project name
LUVU delivers a number of student led initiatives including:

• CommIT and Create Solutions: supporting communities make better use of ICT.
• Schools Partnership: students supporting schools to enrich the curriculum.
• Voltage: helping young people to start their own social enterprises.

Project manager
Various members of the team.

Length of scheme
LUVU have been offering project and placement opportunities to students for six years.

Work experience structure
• The volunteering unit forms and supports teams of students who tackle specific issues or problems within the community.

• Once a project has been identified, students will be assigned to that task and guided through their project.

• For example a team could work together to design a project to teach young people about environmental issues or work with a Social Enterprise to implement a new e-commerce system.

Benefits
• Enterprises benefit from specific support that is bespoke to their needs.

• Every project is designed around an identified need and has a clear brief.

• Students benefit from varied experiences, both to put on their CVs and to develop their skills and experiences.

• Students are given responsibilities that enable them to feel a sense of achievement for the work they are carrying out within the community.

Results
• LUVU have supported 50 community organisations through which they have assisted almost 2,500 individuals. They have supported around 500 individuals to improve their employment skills.

• The work undertaken with schools involves 150 student volunteers working in 10 secondary schools and 19 primary schools with activities benefiting over 2000 young people. This work is targeted at pupils in schools in some of the most deprived areas of Lancashire.

• LUVU are finalists in the ‘Charity Sector’ category at the 2008 NCWE Awards.

Lessons
• LUVU continually review the delivery of the programme to identify ways in which they can improve.

• They have developed induction processes that have reduced student drop out and increased project success.

Future plans
• LUVU continually have more students who would like to become involved but unfortunately they lack the capacity to support them and still provide a quality service.

• As most of the activity is funded by external project sources, identifying new funding systems to make new initiatives happen is always a priority.

• The organisation is in the process of conducting research to investigate the impact taking part in the programme has in terms of transferable skills learnt by the students for the workplace.

Key tips

1. Clearly define what it is the organisation wants to achieve from the programme and ensure all involved understand this. Aims and objectives need to be particularly clear when you select the student to take part.

2. Put in place the necessary controls and support structures so the company is happy with the roles and responsibilities of the students.  Students will achieve the most when given responsibility but you will want to manage risks associated with your project and your reputation.

3. Projects are a great PR opportunity – make sure this opportunity is maximised, as it will benefit the organisation and motivate future students to become involved.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The National Council for Work Experience is part of HECSU, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit. It promotes, supports and develops quality work experience for the benefit of students, organisations and the economy. Its role includes disseminating information and good practice, encouraging the development of quality standards and encouraging more employers to provide placement opportunities. NCWE run an annual awards scheme to encourage and reward organisations that display good practice in work experience.


National Council for Work Experience and the Quality Mark accreditation scheme:
T: 0161 277 5267
E: workexperience@prospects.ac.uk
www.work-experience.org


ADDRESS:

National Council for Work Experience
Prospects House
Booth Street
Manchester
M13 9EP