Embedding employability in the curriculum is no longer optional, it’s essential for preparing graduates for a rapidly evolving labour market. Gareth Hughes, Careers & Enterprise Development Manager (College of Business & Law) at the University of the West of England, explains their ambitious approach.
At the University of the West of England (UWE), we embed employability in the curriculum with employers, not as an add‑on, but as a core part of teaching and assessment. This ensures that students gain practical experience and employers engage with future talent in meaningful ways.
Achieving this level of embedded employer activity is ambitious, so we have launched a Research and External Engagement Division, designed to make it as easy as possible for employers to connect with the university and our students.
We now have a single point of entry for all organisations that want to engage with us, whether for recruitment, research or collaboration. Employers can connect with our expert advisers to build a student engagement plan that furthers their aims.
By bringing together employer-facing teams from across the university, all the knowledge and experience now sits in one place, ensuring the best possible experience for our external partners.
Our aim – employability for all
Our aim is to design every course to maximise the employability and enterprise of our students, and prepare them for the far-reaching possibilities and challenges of the future (UWE Strategy 2030).
In 2025 alone, UWE has won two awards for our approach, the AGCAS Award for ‘Curriculum Design for Employability’ and the global CGMA Teaching Award for ‘Excellence in transforming students for professional readiness’.
This award-winning approach creates a consistent, inclusive experience that delivers authentic learning, supports graduate recruitment aims and ensures our widening participation students do not face barriers to engaging.
Working in partnership
Our partnerships span large graduate recruiters, SMEs, start-ups, charities, and public sector organisations, operating at a regional, national and international level.
This diversity requires us to adapt our approach to ensure that we best meet the needs of our students and employer partners.
By adopting a tiered approach that is tailored to each employer, we enable them to showcase their brand and connect with students in the best way for their organisation’s needs.
More than just careers fairs
Careers fairs remain a proved approach for connecting students with employers, and UWE offers a diverse range. Every year we welcome hundreds of employers onto campus to promote their opportunities, but at UWE our fairs are integrated into degree programmes, removing barriers and increasing engagement.
We include pre-event preparation and post-event reflection to maximise engagement and follow-up, ensuring the impact of our Property & Construction, Law, Business, Science and Engineering Fairs.
Employer guest lectures are an increasingly important part of our degree programmes. By integrating honest insights into industry practice, we show students how the theories they are learning apply in the workplace. This is so successful in enhancing students’ learning that the Law School now aims to bring in an employer lecture for each module of every year of study.
Our ‘Ask the Experts’ events bring a range of employers and alumni into our undergraduate degree programmes for roundtable discussions with students.
By facilitating exploration of industries and career paths in a group setting, and linking it to assessment, we ensure high engagement and deep discussions in a less pressured environment than a busy career fair.
We adapt these approaches to Bristol’s thriving creative industries through the School of Arts’ ‘Professional Practice Week’. We host dozens of professionals from across the creative industries so they can share insights, connect with students, take part in hackathons and more.
This also brings our creative students together in cross-disciplinary activities such as the 48-hour Games Jam and Repair Café, simulating how they will work after graduation.
Real-world business problem solving
If you want a team of students to tackle a thorny business issue for you, consider our consultancy projects.
Our Business School integrates consultancy projects into undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, where employers set genuine business challenges for varied student teams to tackle over several weeks before presenting their recommendations.
As these projects are embedded within the curriculum, they enable participation from students who might otherwise face barriers to engaging.
The model is so effective that similar projects are delivered in our College of Health, Science and Society and are being explored for rollout across additional disciplines.
For employers, this approach delivers practical support on real business issues while offering a unique opportunity to observe and engage with emerging talent in a realistic working environment rather than through a traditional recruitment process.
We also strongly encourage industrial placement years, both UK-based and international, supported by a dedicated team ensuring a smooth experience for employers and students.
These 12-month placements provide meaningful development opportunities while giving organisations early access to motivated talent and a direct pipeline for future hires.
Recent participants describe gaining confidence, building industry connections and contributing to initiatives with city-wide impact, benefits that employers see first-hand.
Partners in education
Co-delivering degree programmes with our most established employer partners puts our students at the heart of organisations throughout their education.
Our Integrated Wildlife Conservation programme combines scientific study with practical experience in a zoo-based environment, delivered by conservation practitioners at Bristol Zoological Society in collaboration with UWE academics.
Sports Business and Entrepreneurship is a ground-breaking course run by Bristol City Robins Foundation that gives our students three years of hands-on experience of setting up and running a business alongside their studies.
We also offer the only master’s degree in transfusion and transplantation in England, created and delivered in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplants.
Alongside these, our growing portfolio of degree apprenticeships give students the opportunity to gain their undergraduate degree while adding value to an employer from day one.
Embedding employability in the curriculum is a shared endeavour that benefits students, employers, and universities alike.
By working together, we can create graduates who are not only academically strong but ready to contribute from day one. Whatever your needs.