Summary of Progress to Date

Purpose Goal

1. Strong foundations in Early Years

2. Successful school years

Examples of Work to Date

Working with primary schools to improve their support for learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

3. Positive destinations

Post 16+

School Outreach and Widening Participation activity

‘Taste of University’ summer school

‘Students in Schools’ volunteering scheme

Our Centre for Foundation Studies provides support for alternative routes into HE

1:1 tailored support for care-experienced and estranged students

Higher and Degree-Level Apprenticeship offer, in addition to ‘traditional’ degree qualifications

4. Right advice and experiences

Graduate peer mentoring scheme, in addition to our core advice and support offer

Rewarding student-led success via the Chester Difference Award, which recognises students who work to enhance their employability

5. Open recruitment

Innovative anonymised recruitment process for students applying to our Workplace Experience Scheme

‘Students as Recruiters’ – student inclusion on recruitment panels for student-facing roles

Application and interview advice, and guaranteed interviews, for students from underrepresented groups who apply to volunteer with our Chester Community Law Project.

6. Fair career progression

Our Work-Based and Integrative Studies framework enables employed, mature learners to tailor study and research to their career goals.

Leadership Academy workshops available to all University staff who currently manage people or aspire to a management position.

Activity with the West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission, working with local communities with lived experience of poverty.

Cost of living student support package; student access to debt counselling and financial protection.

24/7 Student Assistance Programme with access to emotional, legal, medical and financial support.

Working with other universities to develop the ‘Recovery Friendly University’ Pledge.

Our Venture Programme supports students and recent graduates to explore starting their own business.

Our business support offer includes help for potential entrepreneurs.

Our Digital on Tour van, equipped with drones and AR/VR headsets, delivers skills outreach to local communities, schools and businesses.

We offer a Digital Inclusion Fund and a Digital Skills Week to support our students.

Our ‘Let’s Talk Transport’ group facilitates discussions around the barriers to sustainable and active travel and looks for potential solutions.

Our £6.5m investment in Warrington town centre has reduced barriers to HE for local people.

We have signed a Partnership Agreement with Cheshire West and Chester local authority, articulating shared placemaking goals.

We utilised Safer Streets funding to implement a safer taxi scheme and pilot a new safety app.

Whole-institution programme of change to support our ‘Road to Net Zero’. Academic lead for the industrial decarbonisation HyNet cluster.

We offer Carbon Literacy Training to all students and staff.

Celebrating best practice and open discussion via our annual Diversity Festival

Our Race Equality Challenge Group is developing tangible changes to improve race equality across our University.

Case studies

Case Study 1:

Anonymised recruitment to Workplace Experiences

“It’s just a fantastic opportunity to showcase your skills and to be judged on them, rather than who you are”: this is how a student described their experience of anonymous applications for Workplace Experiences, our collective of placements, internships and project scholarships.

During planning for the 2020/21 academic year, the Careers & Employability Service at the University of Chester moved away from using a traditional CV and cover letter recruitment process to an anonymous application process that put “what a student could do now and how they could develop” above “who they were and what they have done”. This was part of a move to eradicate unconscious bias, but it also brought other opportunities.

With an anonymous application process in place, we actively encouraged students to apply and employers to take part. We saw engagement and applications from some of our most underrepresented students increase, and an increase in those who were appointed to Workplace Experiences from under 20% to almost 60%.

During this process we shared engagement data with our stakeholders, including academics and employers, which could be analysed to identify trends to inform future work. During an evaluation of Workplace Experience anonymised applications, 90% of respondents agreed that unconscious bias still exists in society, and 100% of respondents concurred that anonymised applications were a way to help eradicate unconscious bias from employers within the recruitment process. During a keyword analysis of the qualitative feedback, it was noted that over a third of respondents used the word “opportunity”; as a Careers Service we felt that anonymised applications gave underrepresented students confidence in applying to Workplace Experience opportunities.

“The application process was very easy, and also less stressful, as you don’t have to fill out lots of personal details which allows you to focus solely on the skills you can offer” (3rd Year Events Management Student).

From an employer’s perspective, the interventions help them to achieve EDI objectives:

“Anonymous applications allowed me, as an employer, to make judgements based on the key elements of the application that matter to us as a company. I believe that regardless of how hard you try, it’s impossible to avoid subconscious bias or overcompensation in the efforts to avoid bias. The anonymous application removed this as a thought process and ensured we chose our candidate without the process being impacted by bias.”

From a student’s perspective, the interventions helped foster the ability to be comfortable in applying for roles without the concern of including their personal characteristics:

“I had 2 great experiences using the anonymous applications and felt confident to be 100% honest in my applications.”

At the AGCAS Awards for Excellence in June 2022, the Careers and Employability Team reached the final shortlist in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion category for their work around anonymised recruitment to workplace experiences.

Case Study 2:

Pro Bono and Community Engagement at Chester Law School

Chester Law School operates a number of projects that engage our students in real-world legal work, whilst also providing support to underrepresented and vulnerable members of our communities.

Chester Legal Advice Centre

The University of Chester Legal Advice Centre houses five separate activities. The first three, the Chester Legal Advice Clinic (dealing with Family and Consumer Law issues), the Enterprise Clinic (dealing with Commercial Law queries) and the Employment Law Clinic entail student volunteers directly advising clients from the local community on their legal issues, supervised by qualified solicitors from local and regional law firms.

We were the second University in the country to establish a Finding Legal Options for Women Survivors (FLOWS) Clinic, part of a national, independent legal support service designed to help protect women against domestic abuse. This work entails students assisting survivors of abuse in drafting their applications and witness statements to gain a non-molestation order and/or occupation order against their abuser.

Our Asylum & Immigration project is rooted in our strong relationship with Eastgate Chambers, which holds the Legal Aid contract for Immigration and Asylum cases across North Wales. Since 2018 our students have been assisting Eastgate with research and administration for their immigration clients, and most recently have been involved with two significant activities:

- Syrian Project: assisting with the drafting of applications and compiling evidence for Syrian refugees who entered the UK in 2017 under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and are now applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK

- Ukrainian Project: assisting with interviewing and filling in paperwork required for Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

At the LawWorks and Attorney General Pro Bono Awards 2021 this work was shortlisted for Best New Pro Bono Activity.

Chester Community Law Project

The Chester Community Law Project is a student volunteering initiative committed to empowering members of our local, regional and national communities by raising awareness of legal rights and obligations. Students work in teams, led by a student Project Manager and supervised by qualified solicitors, to research, produce and deliver interactive sessions, leaflets and online videos on a wide range of legal issues for the benefit of stakeholders, including school children, pensioners, foodbank users, those facing homelessness, refugees and women facing discrimination in the workplace.

We offer application and interview advice, and guaranteed interviews, to students from those areas least represented in higher education who apply to volunteer with Chester Community Law Project and/or the Legal Advice Centre.