The UMAX team have been hard at work this year to provide the students of Cardiff Met with as many opportunities to enhance their student experience and employability skills during their time with us. We’ve had lots of success in all areas thanks to the hard work of Alison, Amy, Beth, Charlotte, Will and Hannah and of course our students.
This year, there have been 36 workshops covering 18 subjects being held both at Cyncoed and in our new meeting room at Llandaff. This year we introduced an extra level to the Cardiff Met Award where students could chose to specialise in one of four areas; leadership, enterprise and entrepreneurship, global mind-set or sustainable thinking. In this pilot year we had 8 students take on the extra challenge going over and above to develop in their chosen area. One of the additional activities provided for the leadership level was a workshop delivered by the Institute of Directors giving an insightful and inspiring view on leadership. Between the students, a massive 3532 hours of practical experience was logged.
The JobShop hit a milestone this year in advertising the 1000th job since its creation. This year saw an additional 219 jobs being advertised with 25 students finding on campus jobs; in addition to this, 4 university departments hired via the JobShop. We were also delighted to be told that two of our student workers have been nominated for SEOTY (Student Employee of the Year) awards this year.
There have been 10 different volunteering projects put on this year with 50 different students volunteering. Cardiff Met students volunteered to carry out 2 beach cleans at Ogmore-By-Sea, made a path, dug out footings for a fitness trail and to help muck-out the chicken sheds at the Amelia Trust Farm, walked the dogs at a local homeless dog shelter and made Christmas cards for children who are seriously ill and likely to be spending Christmas in and out of hospital.
This year saw us help 86 students who needed advice and support from our academic caseworker with additional 92 students receiving one to one advice and support from our student advisor. UMAX has engaged with over 200 students directly as part of our mental health campaign this year and has been instrumental in supporting fundraising initiatives for the Lord Mayors Charity this year, contributing over £600 to a local Cancer treatment centre. We have also had a big push on our social media accounts including a #DidYouKnow campaign on twitter to make students aware of key information and university processes.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank every student that has been a part of another fantastic year as well as all the charities and businesses that we work in partnership with. We look forward to an even more successful 2016/17!