Working with Industry
WORKING WITH INDUSTRY
UTC Oxfordshire prides itself on its employer engagement and careers provision which enriches the school curriculum and helps to transform the lives of our young people.
Our students are proud of the destinations they go onto after leaving UTC Oxfordshire, and this is thanks to the relationships and support from our industry partners.
We work with a network of local industry partners to design a learning programme which covers not only the core curriculum of English, Maths, and Sciences, but also sought-after technical qualifications taught by specialist staff with industry standard equipment.
Can you help us transform lives through learning? Please contact us to register your interest.
Work placements – these can range from a single one-week placement for an individual student, to placements for teams of students that work on a project for an extended period. This also provides the employer with the opportunity to identify potential recruits.
- Challenges – these can be run for a single day, to a whole term. The employer is tasked with writing a brief relevant to the skills and abilities of the student cohort. The employer works with a teacher to define the project scope, before producing a brief that enables the students to work in teams to create a solution to the challenge.
- Curriculum projects – very similar to the challenge concept, the curriculum project is linked to the learning pathway of a class (or classes) of students.
- Mentoring – employer representatives can support our structured mentoring programme aiding students in development in better understanding the working world, and what they need to do to prepare for a career.
- Employability skills – running employability skills workshops and programmes. This can take the form of CV workshops, interview techniques, mock assessments, and team working exercises.
At UTC Oxfordshire, Employer Led Projects (ELPs) are an integral and unique part of our core curriculum, providing the opportunity for students to work at solving real world problems set by science and engineering business partners.  ELPs run alongside, and enhance, our technical and academic curriculum. These group tasks develop key employability skills such as communication, creativity, problem solving, leadership, resilience, time management and presentation.
Each ELP runs for about 6 weeks and is part of every students’ weekly timetable.
Week 1:  Employer launch
Week 2 – 5:  Solving the problem in small groups often with support from final year apprentices within the organisations
Week 6: Presentations to panel of senior staff from the employer partner
Winners receive a variety of rewards ranging from Amazon vouchers to VIP days with the employer.
Past students have said that these projects not only helped develop their transferable skills, but helped them really understand what employers are looking for in their workforce.
“Employer led projects are a win-win for everyone involved. Students benefit because they learn how to improve their employability. Companies benefit because the young people they may ultimately take on have the required skills to help drive future success. I think the partnership between the UTC and MINI Plant Oxford – organisations which are motivated by a passion for engineering and technical excellence – is a great example of what can be achieved in this regard – Steve Houseman, Mini
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Year 12
Our Partners
