Can blended-learning help bridge the gap for graduates?

UAL and the London College of Communication’s Talent Works project offer students the experience of applying their learnt skills to real-life work scenarios.

Despite an abundance of renowned universities, colleges and sheer talent in and amongst our narrow streets, bustling markets and high-rise tower blocks, London still has an astonishing unemployment rate of 3.8%.

The blended-learning programme, Talent Works, is designed to incorporate a mixture of practical workplace and in-class learning. I caught up with Project Manager, Matt who explains that when enrolling students and matching them to an employer they review applicants from a wide range of courses, skill sets and interests.

“We get a lot of university students who are in their second or final year of study and are probably feeling quite anxious about how they can apply the skills they’ve learnt during their studies to their future careers and make useful assets out of them. That’s one of the great things about the Talent Works programme, it sets a realistic expectation of what life after study can offer.”

And rightly so… The blended learning experience is one of very few that has managed to stay afloat whilst offering paid short-term employment for undergraduates at a London Living Wage.

Matt went on to tell me about how essential it is to have funders and employers who are willing to support the Talent Works scheme financially during a time when postgraduate work is often advertised as unpaid or voluntary.

“They want to see a business model that works, so a big part of what I do is filling the room with talented bodies.”  

Matt Guy

The ease of this is largely due to the programmes support from the London College of Communication. Creating  a constant stream of undergraduates lining up to becoming a part of the Talent Works community to enrich their university experience through building career confidence and setting realistic expectations of working life in London. But how far could it be argued that this bridges the unemployment gap?

 There is an ever growing emphasis on the desirability of having at least 3 years experience to successfully apply for most junior 

These are some of the issues that Talent Works are trying hard to tackle. Through work experience, on-the-job learning schemes and short term paid employment, the social enterprise for graduates hopes to break the stigma associated with higher education being the golden ticket to your dream career, and introduce a solution to the employment gap amongst postgraduates that professionals like Matt thinks come courtesy of a high demand for years of work experience and very little ways to get that experience.

“Unfortunately, most young people in London are coming from a background where they can’t afford to go on to higher education thanks to the rise in tuition costs.” Many students fall victim to anxiety and depression after graduating.

For Francesca the programme acted as a safety net when being honest with employers who might be asking for too much, “I’m looking forward to telling employers that I managed to juggle completing my degree whilst taking on real-life work experience. If anything, it’s a lot more challenging than having the luxury of focusing all your energy on one thing at a time”.   

“Society has already handed them the short straw. Employers wouldn’t look at someone like Francesca and assume that she is as hard working and as talented as she is if she doesn’t have the experience, portfolio and references to back that up.”

Matt Guy

And offering experience is exactly how the south London enterprise plans on tackling the unemployment crisis amongst postgraduates. But undergraduates aren’t the only ones who benefit from Matt’s hard work.

What makes Talent Works so attractive is some of the companies they lend employment to – often from the charity or social enterprise sector such as Southwark Pensioners Centre.

To find out more about how Talent Works has helped charities such as Southwark Pensioners Centre click here.