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Two initiatives aimed at boosting students’ employability skills are to benefit from an alumnus' generous donation
By: Emma Wigmore
Last updated: Monday, 4 March 2024
Dr Andrew Morgan
Equipping students with the necessary skills to succeed in today’s competitive job market is a top priority and an important part of the student experience at Sussex. Dr Andrew Morgan’s (BIOLS 1979) generous donation will enable more students at the University to benefit from two initiatives led by the Careers and Entrepreneurship team, which are aimed at improving the employability skills of our students, as well as cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on sustainability.
Big Ideas Contest
Sussex is the only UK university partnered with University of California Berkeley on the Big Ideas Contest, a collaboration that began in 2022/23. The initiative was designed to foster social entrepreneurship amongst students, supporting those who have big ideas for a better world.
Applicants are required to develop and propose ideas that will create social impact in the fields of work, technology, global health, food, energy, finance, education, art or community, culminating in one Sussex student or team being chosen to travel to California and pitch their idea at a Grand Final alongside UC Berkeley students.
Andrew’s generous donation provides those selected with a cash prize, meaning they have seed funds to develop their social innovation regardless of the outcome of their Grand Final pitch.
Last year’s Sussex finalist was Shuaib Karmani (MSc Artificial Intelligence) with NHealth, a wearable device tracking vital patient health signs, saving medical staff time on hospital wards.
Student Consultancy Programme
The Sussex Student Consultancy Programme is a vehicle for developing student work experience. Andrew’s generous donation will help expand the number of students and organisations that can take part.
Currently, 250 Sussex students and 50 external clients participate. Students complete valuable, employability-building work experience (equivalent to an internship), by providing solutions to live challenges, often with an emphasis on sustainability. In fact, 60% of briefs focus on making the client’s organization more sustainable.
Students work on their client’s brief in multi-disciplinary teams of five and present their solutions back to the client directly. Through the Project, students develop collaboration, communication and problem-solving skills as well as learning how to interact face to face with clients.
Joy Semugooma (BSc International Business 2023) was a recent Student Consultancy Programme participant. She describes how the experience benefited her:
“I learnt a plethora of skills: I developed my leadership skills, problem solving and decision-making. The start-up internship and student-led consultancy helped me move forward by making me more aware of the different positions that are out there for graduates. I learnt about the importance of being proactive and putting myself out there and I will take these lessons with me for the future.”
Emily Huns, Head of Careers and Entrepreneurship acknowledges the impact of Andrew’s generous gift on both the Big Ideas Contest and the Student Consultancy Programme:
“Andrew’s generous donation will enable 40 additional students to develop valuable work experience whilst aiding eight local organisations to become more environmentally sustainable. We’re also very glad to be able to use his donation to give a prize to our UK winner of the University of California’s Big Ideas Contest, kick-starting new businesses which create social impact as well as profit. These are career-transforming opportunities for our students and we’re extremely grateful to Andrew for supporting us.”
Speaking about his involvement in supporting these two important initiatives, Andrew said:
“It’s a privilege to be able to support the current generation of Sussex students to engage in activities that can advance sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation. It’s a pleasure too!”
If you are considering making a gift to support Sussex students, please contact Robert Yates for an informal chat about where your donation would make the greatest impact.