The power of partnerships
In June 2024, Symplicity held its annual event for CareerHub and UniHub partners at UWE Bristol in the UK. More than 60 colleagues from over 25 universities and employer representatives across the UK and Ireland came together for a day of learning, sharing, professional development and networking through exploring the latest trends in student experience, engagement and graduate success.
Opening remarks and keynote presentations
We were honoured to have Professor Sir Steve West CBE, DL West CBE, Vice-Chancellor of UWE Bristol, deliver the opening remarks. Sir Steve's insightful address highlighted the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education, emphasising the importance of technology, automation and a continued focus on student wellbeing, inclusion and opportunity. He concluded by offering an invitation to delegates to “Be creative; be innovative; and be challenging” both throughout the day ahead and through our professional practice – and, judging from the reception following this inspiring start to the day, a challenge duly accepted by all present.
Following Sir Steve's address, Marina Traversari, Senior Director of Business Operations at Sage PLC and Zara Nanu MBE, a serial entrepreneur, advocate and chairwoman, delivered two captivating keynote presentations focusing on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as key drivers of student opportunity and graduate success. They were then joined by Jamie Darwen’s UWE Bristol's Deputy Head of Careers & Enterprise (EDI, Civic & Community) and Adam Powell from Symplicity for a stimulating and interactive panel discussion featuring insights on how UWE’s Equity Programme intervention strategies underpinned the universities Access and Participation Plan (APP) and superb interventions from the audience.
Sharing best practices through lightning talks and panel discussions
The event featured a series of thought-provoking quick-fire presentations from university partners showcasing their innovative uses of Symplicity's CareerHub and UniHub platforms. Martin Downes, University of Bath’s Information Manager and Paul Norris from Nottingham Trent University shared their impactful strategies for aligning resources with career registration stages and leveraging powerful data dashboards to support the development of personalised career planning.
Afternoon sessions packed with insights and actionable strategies
The afternoon programme offered a rich array of sessions catering to both strategic and operational leads. Lloyd Williams and Gareth Hughes from UWE Bristol's Careers and Enterprise team presented their data-driven approach to embedding employability and enterprise within the university, accompanied by some highly entertaining results of portraying ‘embedding employability’ in a series of AI-generated images!
An international keynote presented by Dr Susan Hegarty from Dublin City University outlined the University’s approach to embedding Transversal Skills through its curriculum. Dr Hegarty provided insights into DCU Futures – the University’s most ambitious innovation in teaching and learning in its history. Operating as a blueprint for the University with investment from the Irish Government’s Human Capital Initiative, Symplicity's UniHub Skills module is underpinning the student experience of this radical re-imagining of undergraduate education, empowering students to be future-capable and thrive.
Following global insights from Symplicity partners across the US and Australia presented by the region’s Domain Lead for CareerHub/UniHub Christian Jara and product founder Dee Hughes, the event drew to a conclusion with contributions from Sara Ebbett, Open University and Rebecca Muir from Edinburgh Napier University highlighting recent innovations in employer engagement. The Open University celebrated its Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace Badged Online Course – available free to all and developed in collaboration with OpenLearn – improving recruitment practice of employers through responsible, open and inclusive hiring; whilst Edinburgh Napier lifted the lid on their employer engagement data through highly effective data analysis and monitoring of their vast employer partnerships.
This was followed by a product deep-dive from leading members of the Symplicity Product Support team – James Mears, John McMenamin and Mark Powell –highlighting some killer features designed to enhance the student experience, enrich reporting and analytics and boost productivity across the university. The afternoon wrapped up with a product roadmap presentation by Janet Sun (VP of Product, Symplicity), offering an overview of some of the most recent platform additions and glimpse into the exciting new features planned across the CareerHub / UniHub product suite.
Reflecting on the event, Symplicity Director of Client Success & Strategy for EMEA, Adam Powell said: “It was so inspiring and energising to hear how our CareerHub and UniHub partners are each supporting students, employers and key stakeholders in such innovative and impactful ways – with special thanks to UWE Bristol for sharing some of their own approaches and hosting us in a wonderful setting. The configurability and flexibility of our solutions support a personalised student experience unique to each university – and our growing Symplicity family continues to be enriched by imagination and expertise of all our partners across the UK and beyond.”
Frank Griffiths, Symplicity’s Head of Europe, commented: “From the moment Sir Steve set the tone at the start of our event, it was clear the day would provide a wonderful opportunity to think creatively and highlight some of the great practice from across our customer base from around the world. It’s no surprise with the innovation and impact being delivered across our client base that the Symplicity community is growing across the UK and Europe at a faster rate than ever before. We look forward to welcoming many more university partners to feel the difference with Symplicity – through our sector-leading employability and student services product family – over the coming months.”
Building expertise and sharing best practices
We were delighted to welcome so many of our partners to this event, which balanced product insights and impactful case studies with industry perspectives and peer networking. The event's collaborative spirit and focus on actionable strategies made it time-well-spent in developing personal and institutional practice in empowering students on their academic and career journeys – and is just one of the ways in which Symplicity is supporting its regional, national and global community of professionals committed to exceptional student experiences.
For more on the Symplicity Symposium 2024 or to be involved in next year’s flagship event do get in touch with us and let’s be creative, innovative and challenging – together.
