Kingston University experts share Future Skills blueprint with Duke of Edinburgh Award holders at Google HQ
- Future Skills
A Duke of Edinburgh Awards event hosted at Google’s UK headquarters saw Kingston University staff invited to share information about its sector-leading Future Skills programme with more than 200 16–18-year-olds.
Youth without Limits – beyond the CV was an all-day event held last week at Google’s office in central London for young people from across the UK who are current Duke of Edinburgh participants or Award holders to help them feel prepared for the workplace.
Provost and SLT sponsor for Future Skills Professor Kathy Curtis opened the event, appearing on a panel alongside senior staff from British Airways and engineering company Amey.
They discussed the skills needed for success in the workplace and Professor Curtis spoke about the University’s Future Skills programme and how it is delivering a transformative new model of higher education. She explained how it was based on research with more than 2,000 industry leaders on the skills they identified as needed for success into the future, and how Future Skills education was individually tailored to each student's needs and is preparing students for success in a rapidly evolving world of work.
Later in the day, Academic Co-Lead for Future Skills Yvalia Febrer and Associate Director of Careers and Employability from the Centre for Future Skills & Student Success Lizzie Gall delivered an interactive workshop on the skills employers are looking for, based on YouGov data that has informed previous Future Skills reports, and talked about the nine graduate attributes students develop during their studies at Kingston University.
As part of their session, they got the young people to use design thinking to come up with solutions to an everyday problem - what they should do if their mobile phones run out of battery while they are out. Ideas included putting charging stations in every McDonald’s and a portable charger that doubles as a sat nav.
Other employers, including Octopus Energy and Compare the Market, also attended the event – giving the young people advice on how to write a good CV and helping them to build confidence when applying for jobs.
Professor Curtis said the event was a wonderful opportunity to engage with over 200 16–18-year-olds, all of whom were deciding their next career steps. “It was great to speak to these young people about our Future Skills approach to Higher Education and the transformative impact it is having on our students and graduates. Events like this allow us to share with employers, educators and young people that Kingston University is leading the development of the Future Skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving world of work.”
- Find out more about Kingston University's Future Skills programme.
