Local employers benefit from ARU student talent.

Organisations from a variety of sectors have been benefiting from access to fresh student ideas as well as the opportunity to meet their future workforce through the live brief programme.

ARU has launched an ambitious initiative which puts students directly in touch with private, public and third sector organisations based in and around Essex and Cambridge, giving them the opportunity to be involved in real world learning experiences from the start of their university journey. 

Designed to develop essential graduate skills and increase future employment opportunities, the Live Brief programme connects ARU’s diverse student community to regional and professional employer networks, while our partners get the opportunity to inject fresh ideas into their organisation and meet a potential future workforce.

Our Computer Arts students have already helped design 3D characters for a design studio, whilst our Humanities and Social Sciences students have conducted valuable research for a local library looking to increase footfall.

For Anne Worthington, Community Participation Officer at Cambridgeshire Libraries, the live brief programme was a real opportunity to develop a collaborative partnership with a regional university. 

 

“The reason we wanted to take part in a live brief was because we wanted to collaborate with a widely recognised and high performing university. We recognised that there would be benefits for both parties and in particular for the student researchers and university to develop the relationship with local communities."

 

Live briefs will be integrated across some 100 courses with projects lasting from four to ten weeks depending on their complexity. Employers need only commit 3-6 hours of their time to the process (perhaps introducing the task and then providing professional feedback on the student outputs). ARU is keen to hear from organisations and professionals who are open to the idea of partnering with us on a live brief project for the next academic year commencing September 2021. Topics cover a range of areas and include:

 

 

The Live Brief programme is always seeking new employers to collaborate with. If you are interested in having a discussion about how we might work with you on a future live brief project you can find out more on our website: www.aru.ac.uk/business-employers/access-student-and-graduate-talent/live-briefs or email [email protected] 

 

Posted: 15 February 2021