As Director of Graduate Outcomes and Enterprise, I lead our Careers+Placements division which seeks to help students find their way to a fulfilling future through employment support, professional placements and building partnerships with teacher education organisations and employers. Here at Leeds Trinity University, we are working on a number of projects that will help boost skills and employability among our students and enhance our industry connections. One of these projects is the Future Talent Plan.  

The Future Talent Plan is an initiative developed by Leeds City Council, with input and deliverable actions from partners, as part of the Inclusive Growth Leeds programme. It aims to maximise skills and employment opportunities within the Leeds City Region, as well as enabling people and businesses to thrive.  

Leeds Trinity University as an anchor organisation will support the plan’s aims over the next three to five years through actions outlined in our pledge. These include to:  

• Provide space for local employers to recruit and engage with our students 
• Showcase our talent, make it straightforward for organisations to access our talent and work proactively to support the skills agenda in Leeds 
• Enable our students to deliver projects that address the needs of organisations in the local region 
• Support employers to upskill and diversify their workforces 
• Utilise the intelligence we gather via our work to share student insights with employers   

As a career-led University that embeds work placements and projects for all students at every level of undergraduate study, while also delivering a significant volume of work-based learning through apprenticeships, this is a great initiative to be part of. The Future Talent Plan directly ties in to how we want to support our students, enriching their skills and experience in key areas that align with the current labour market to enable them to progress in their chosen careers.  

For example, our recently launched Career Passport enables our students to record and showcase the employability skills and attributes they develop during their studies in a live online platform. With access to this post-graduation, students can build on this and effectively articulate to the job market the strengths they can bring to the local region.  

New for 2023, all final year undergraduates will engage in authentic employer-driven, real-world projects. Students will collaborate with project hosts to identify outcomes, set objectives, discuss methods and approaches for delivery, and bring value and solutions to participating companies. This will support organisational needs in the local region whilst providing valuable experiences for students and industry insights to help shape their future career planning.   

The long-term vision for the Future Talent Plan project is to create a globally competitive city, where we work together to enable the right opportunities for people and businesses to thrive in a rapidly changing labour market and ensure that nobody is left behind. We are continually evolving how we achieve this and look forward to engaging further with partners across the city as part of our growth plans.   

Other organisations that have pledged to the Future Talent Plan include Luminate Education Group, West Yorkshire Green Jobs Taskforce, 100% Digital Leeds, Women Friendly Leeds, Leeds City Council, the Anchor Network, and many more.  

As a University, we are looking forward to collaborating with others to help make a difference to those here at Leeds Trinity and in the wider Leeds community.  

Emily Timson is the Director of Graduate Outcomes and Enterprise at Leeds Trinity University.