Study Group launches pioneering new initiatives to support international student employability

Study Group launches pioneering new initiatives to support international student employability

Leading international education provider Study Group recently conducted a range of market research, to understand the impact of the pandemic on international student needs and preferences. What emerged from the insights gathered is that employability is becoming central to student decision-making and that learners are actively seeking to study programmes that can help them develop professional skills and link them to job opportunities during and post-study. 

With growing economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, learners want to make sure they have the professional skillset to be able to earn while they learn, access global employment opportunities, build their worldwide network of contacts and achieve career success throughout their lives.

As a result, Study Group has introduced several new strategic initiatives focused on international student employability.

Virtual Internships

Study Group has partnered with Virtual Internships to offer international students’ studying in the UK and Europe with online internships and global work placements across 70+ different countries and 18 career fields. Virtual Internships collaborates with over 4,000 companies across the world to enable thousands of students to professionally develop their skills via remote internships.

The virtual internships available are designed to support students to put the knowledge and skills they gain through their programme of study into practice in a workplace context. They also enable students to gain exposure to different corporate environments and acquire the professional skills needed to prepare them for the world of work.

Virtual Internships offers access to a range of services including:

• Creating a CV.
• Preparing for interviews.
• Managing time effectively at work.
• Techniques for working remotely.
• Access to a programme of professional development webinars.
• Dedicated Intern Experience Manager who will provide support throughout the work placement.
• Mentorship from an assigned internship coach with two programme coaching calls.

Upon successful attainment of their internship programme, students receive a Certificate of Completion.

FESCO (Foreign Enterprise Service Corporation)

Study Group is partnering with FESCO (Foreign Enterprise Service Corporation) to offer students from China internship, volunteering, and employment opportunities to gain work experience and acquire skills to boost CVs and future employment prospects. FESCO is a state-owned enterprise and is China’s first HR service provider.

With a range of industry coverage, including in IT, Technology, Finance, Medicine, Energy, Car Manufacturing and Retail, FESCO works with over 40,000 global companies and covers over 400 cities in China.

FESCO supports Study Group students to access employment in a range of ways:

• Mock interviews.
• Exposure to a programme of professional development webinars.
• Professional alumni career advice videos.
• Specialist one-to-one CV tutoring.
• Events focused on career-related topics.
• Access to an online community via WeChat for peer support and careers advice.

Study Group students from China are now experiencing the benefits of the FESCO initiative. For example, Biwei Chen, a Study Group student from the University of Sheffield International Study Centre, has already had three successful interviews with Sina, China Galaxy Securities and Kuaishou as a direct result of Study Group’s collaboration with FESCO. Biwei is looking forward to developing her career at Sina.

Job Ready

International students can earn while they learn, to develop key transferable skills and gain valuable work experience while they study in the UK with Job Ready, Study Group’s free employability service.

The Job Ready scheme has been developed in partnership with Headway to offer learners the knowledge and skills they need for successful careers once they graduate from university.

Job Ready will be available to all confirmed new students for Study Group programmes offered in the UK and includes the following services:

• CV writing: Students will be able to learn how to write a compelling CV to showcase their work experience and skill set.
• Interview coaching and mock interviews: Job Ready will prepare students to interview with confidence to improve their ability to secure a job during and post-study.
• Access to employment opportunities: Learners will receive dedicated assistance in arranging up to three interview opportunities with potential employers, to enable students to earn while they learn.

As Manoj Shetty, Chief Revenue Officer at Study Group comments:

“With COVID-19 continuing to impact the corporate world, we wanted to make sure that our students have the knowledge and skills to embark on successful careers and thrive in the future jobs market post-graduation.

"The global pandemic has emphasised the need for education providers to innovate and create solutions for students, which allow them to seamlessly enter the world of work. As a result, we have pivoted at pace to develop an employability eco-system for our students, which will give them the professional capabilities and experience to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market.

"Student employability is a key strategic priority for Study Group, and we will continue to monitor the market to develop new, meaningful and effective initiatives for learners, which will help them to develop the core competencies in demand by employers all over the world”.

To learn more about Study Group, please visit our website.

About Study Group: 

Study Group’s mission is to be the leading provider of international education and its vision is to build a better world through education.  

Study Group partners with 34 universities worldwide, to deliver academic pathway programmes (e.g., Foundation Year, International Year 1/Diploma and Pre-Masters courses), which broaden access to high quality, global Higher Education opportunities for thousands of international students every year, across all subject areas.  

Over the past 25 years, we have established a market-leading position in the international education sector, by developing partnerships with universities in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America, focused on supporting successful student progression to higher education and employment. Our partners include leading ‘Russell Group’ UK universities and ‘Group of Eight’ Australian Higher Education Institutions.  

Insendi, a leading-edge education technology company is now an integral part of Study Group. Insendi’s education technology expertise enables Study Group to deliver transformative experiential, intuitive and accessible online learning experiences for students with the best, most pedagogically powerful digital tools available. Study Group is the currently the Global Education Investor Awards Pathway Company of the Year: studygroup.com 

About Insendi:   

Insendi is an innovation-led Edtech company, which helps institutions implement new models of high-impact, transformational online and blended education. Insendi’s central offering is a learning experience platform designed to enable universities to deliver premium online and blended courses. It offers a broad range of pedagogical tools and functionalities which enable educators to craft engaging and effective ‘human centred’ learning experiences via an intuitive, uncluttered interface: insendi.com