Top performing students from the University were joined by its supporters for the sixth Employability Points Scheme rewards event.
Key stakeholders, local businesses and supporting organisations attended Kent Enterprise and Innovation’s (KIE) Employability Points (EP) Scheme rewards event at a special ceremony at the Royal Dockyard Church, The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, on Tuesday 31 May 2016.
Guests included the Mayor and Mayoress of Medway, Cllr Stuart and Sarah Tranter, Chief Executive of the Dockyard Bill Ferris and, for the University, Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Philippe De Wilde who told winners they should be ‘very proud of what they have achieved’.
This year a record 6,784 students, a third of those studying at the University, took part, supported by 130 companies and organisations. The EP Scheme rewards students for active engagement in activities outside their degree programme, encouraging students to stand out to prospective employers through the development of ‘soft skills’ that are valued in the competitive graduate job market.
Developed by KIE, the University’s business development unit, the EP Scheme encourages involvement with campus events, student mentoring, organising student society events, presenting at international conferences, volunteering, part-time employment, work placements, international study, and completion of a world language module.
The EP Scheme allocates points for the completion of these activities, earned throughout the year and towards the end of the second term, qualifying students have the opportunity to redeem their points for the chance to apply for rewards. All rewards are offered by the external business community and range from paid internships and project placements to unpaid work experience, training sessions, and mock assessment centres.
The EP Scheme rewards evening, which welcomed nearly 200 guests, was sponsored by Santander Universities and Canterbury City Council supported by Medway Council. Prizes included training programmes, paid internships and gift vouchers, all sponsored by organisations or companies.
This year’s winners were:
- Joey Chong, Highest Scoring Student from the Canterbury Campus
- Vladislav Kozub, Highest Scoring Student from the Medway Campus
- David Cocozza, Highest Scoring Student from the Faculty of Humanities
- Diamantina Stavrianou, Highest Scoring Student from the Faculty of Social Sciences
- Sergey Ovchinnik, Highest Scoring Student from the Faculty of Sciences
- Rachael Whyman, Highest Scoring Student Studying a Finance related Degree
- Natalie Tipping, EP Student with the Highest Number of Volunteering Hours towards Kent Union/GK Union’s KSCV Award
- Cristina-Diana Cojocaru, Highest Scoring Student who completed the Careers and Employability Award
- Clara Lee, Top Four Highest Scoring Student who completed the Careers and Employability Award
- Lauren Hocking, Top Four Highest Scoring Student who completed the Careers and Employability Award
- Aneta Klukova, Top Four Highest Scoring Student who completed the Careers and Employability Award
- Holly Yelland, EP Student with the Highest Number of HIVE Activities Logged
- Julia Kirchmayr, Highest Scoring Student who has Logged a Community Outreach Activity
- Thomas Owen, Highest Scoring Student Studying a Business related Degree in Medway
- Rowena Bicknell, Highest Scoring Postgraduate Student
- Jose Miguel Hernan Tanjangco, Highest Scoring First Year Student
