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Student experiences with knowledge exchange activities

The higher education sector is increasingly expected to support and maximise a highly-skilled student body in society through collaborative public-community engagement and partnerships between universities and organisations.

The project explored the development of student’s employability skills and employment outcomes after engaging with the knowledge exchange focussed project.

The most common areas of development through the KE focussed project:

  •  Development of essential employability skills (e.g. team work, leadership, communication skills)
  • Managed their expectations of employment in sport, mental health, and education related jobs
  •  Felt better equipped and confident to apply for highly skilled graduate jobs
  •  Wider knowledge about the variety of jobs in the local community and sector
  • Job application and interview preparation
  • Mental health literacy

The students and graduates discussed what impacted their ability to gain and enter highly skill employment:

  •  Experience of working on a real world programme
  • Being managed by, reporting to and working with TtB programme coordinators at Everton in the Community and Edge Hill University
  •  Experience of monitoring, evaluating and research
  • Experience of working with in a partnership with a variety of stakeholders
  •  Knowledge of funding bids and reporting to funders
  •  Accredited mental health training

TtB prepared students for entering highly skilled employment by providing experience of:

  • Working on a real world programme linked to areas of personal and academic interest
  • Engaging in academic research and monitoring and evaluating the programme
  • Working with in partnership with community stakeholders and employers
  • Developing job applications and preparing for, and engaging in, interviews
  •  Searching and applying for graduate employment in sport, mental health, and education related jobs
  • The development and requirements of funding bids and reporting to funders
  • Accredited mental health training to improve mental health literacy

TtB was also aligned to the University’s graduate attributes and enabled students to develop:


Highly skilled employment

The participants in this study went onto to gain highly skilled employment in the broader area of sport, mental health, and education, which include:

  •  Educational Mental Health Practitioner & Supervisor (NHS)
  •  Social Impact and Development Manager (Charity)
  • Mental Health Promotion worker
  • Neighbourhood Health Worker (Local Council)
  •  Targeted Youth Services Team Leader (Local Council)
  • Mental Health Coordinator (community sports charity)
  • PhD researcher (Higher Education)
  • Teacher
  •  Mental Health Transformation Officer (At a sports charity based in schools)
  • Progression to Masters level of study including PGCE’s, MSc in Sport, Physical Activity and Mental Health, MSc Sports Psychology, MSc Child and Adolescent Mental Health
  • Residential Support Worker with children and young people
  • Teaching Assistant
  • Support worker (At a sports charity based in schools)
  • Mental Health Advisor (at FE college)
  •  PhD researcher (sports-based programme in sport & education settings)

What the Student Mentors say

“I think it’s such a valuable experience that I’ve been given for like employability and other things like that and getting more time and made me feel more prepared for then full-time work after uni, which I think’s one of the best things.”

TtB Mentor

“It’ll definitely help with future employment, I think with the skills that we’ve gained from mental health awareness and mental health literacy, being able to say I’ve got experience working, especially with kids and different types of people and different situations, which will apply to the real world.”

TtB Mentor

“I think with the skills that we’ve gained from mental health awareness and mental health literacy, being able to say I’ve got experience working, especially with kids and different types of people and different situations, which will apply to the real world and other things as well not just through employment through any work or any aspects of life with mental health and mental health literacy.”

TtB Mentor

What is the cross-university impact on employability and highly skilled graduate employment?

Becka Colley-Foster, Head of Careers and Graduate Employability, Edge Hill University

Former student Francesca talks about her experience being a Mentor on Tackling the Blues and how this helped her secure highly skilled employment

Former student Francesca, shares her employment journey following Tackling the Blues programme

Tackling the Blues

Tackling the Blues, an award-winning sport and arts-based education programme targeting young people aged 6-16 who are experiencing, or are at risk of, developing mental illness.