The 7 Steps to Success - A student-led employability programme led by the University of [X] Students’ Union

This case study reports on the innovative Students’ Union (SU) led 7 Steps to Success Programme at the University of Portsmouth, whose objective is to build careers management knowledge and employability skills across the student journey. Following an election on a manifesto to develop student employability, the Students’ Union’s Learning Experience Officer, worked in partnership with academic schools and the Careers & Employability Service to create a meaningful professional development programme in which information, guidance, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities are tailor-made for each disciplinary area. The programme existed to motivate student engagement, by highlighting developmental opportunities offered across the institution, and to improve graduate outcomes. Approved at university committee-level, the programme was piloted across five schools in 2022-23, offering seven online activities for students to engage with on the 7 Steps to Success platform. Through participating in the 7 Steps to Success programme, students were able to gain the key skills needed to achieve their career goals, and receive an official University of Portsmouth and Students' Union joint award of recognition, presented at the 2023 Union Awards. The strong partnership formed between the elected Learning Experience Officer and the University of Portsmouth has contributed to the programme’s success which will be explored in this paper. This case study highlights that through prioritising staff awareness and greater school-level partnership between academic schools and the Students’ Union might have meant more staff were invested in the aims of [X], and may have led to greater staff contributions in relation to ensuring students engage with the programme from the start of the academic year, by linking the awards programme to their promotion of all existing school activities. This case study provides a project report of the evaluation of the first year of 7 Steps to Success, as well as reflections from both sides of the partnership (University and SU).