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A project launched by Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½) has been applauded for helping Leicester’s businesses recruit and retain more students and graduates from diverse backgrounds.  

The Leicester Future Leaders initiative, established by Â鶹´«Ã½ in 2019 and co-funded by the Office for Students, received recognition at last night’s East Midlands Chamber’s Celebration of Culture and Communities, for championing equality, diversity and inclusion in the region.  

Vice-Chancellor Professor Katie Normington (centre) collected the award

Despite Leicester being one of the UK’s most diverse cities, this is not reflected in the make-up of its business community, particularly among senior managers.   

Led in partnership with Freeths LLP, Eileen Richards Recruitment and Brewin Dolphin, the Leicester Future Leaders project addresses this issue by tackling the way jobs are advertised, how businesses present themselves and the role of unconscious bias in recruitment.   

Over the last three years, in consultation with Â鶹´«Ã½ students and expert organisations such as the Prince’s Trust, Access Generation, Inclusive Grads and Gradconsult, the project team has developed a toolkit to support businesses to attract, recruit, retain and promote graduates from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.   

They work closely with businesses to recognise the importance of improving workforce diversity and help them to identify barriers to employment and promotions and encourage more inclusive strategies.   

The team has also hosted several events and activities to bring the business community and students together, to talk as equals about barriers to employment on both sides.  

One such event, which earned Â鶹´«Ã½ the award for ‘Outstanding Support for Students’ at last year’s Times Higher Education awards, was the ‘Make Diversity Your Business’ conference hosted in February 2020, which brought together 30 BAME students and 30 local employers to explore solutions for increasing diversity in graduate recruitment.   

East Midlands Chamber Chief Executive Scott Knowles said: “The Celebration of Culture and Communities event was a great opportunity to showcase the huge diversity and depth of talent that exists across our region.   

“Â鶹´«Ã½ has demonstrated excellent work in the area of diversity by constantly looking at ways to drive positive changes throughout the organisation for the benefit of everyone. 

“A prime example of this could be identified in its Leicester’s Future Leaders programme, which has increased the number of graduates from BAME backgrounds who have progressed into highly skilled work in city organisations and, as part of this, Make Diversity Your Business has been an innovative scheme by bringing together students and businesses to explore barriers in graduate recruitment.  

“These examples are just a small sample of the fantastic work that is being carried out by the university to not only increase opportunities for everyone, but ultimately help the local economy too by bringing forward more emerging talent for businesses to tap into.” 

2020 graduate Josiah Hyacinth, who held a role as student lead in the ‘Make Diversity Your Business’ event, said taking part in the experience had been “life changing”.   

“Not only did I get the opportunity to represent important voices within my student community but, I got to make an input to build a structure which will hopefully continue to impact the student – graduate experience,” he explained. 

“This was an important legacy to leave behind because just like many students, as they rounded up their studies, there will always be important decisions to make. This was my reality at that point, and I was honoured to not only have a seat, but to be a valued voice in the whole project as a whole.   

“I left the project with an increased sense of pride, and competence. This is how every student should leave their studies, and I believe this project not only inspired other students to diversify their view of the working world and their endless potential within it, but I can firmly testify that many students did feel that way.”  

Â鶹´«Ã½ Vice-Chancellor Professor Katie Normington said: “The Leicester Future Leaders programme is a ground-breaking initiative that has not only led to meaningful change within the regional business community but has also encouraged more students to aspire to move into graduate careers in Leicester.  

“We are extremely proud of what the programme has achieved and are delighted to be recognised at the East Midlands Chamber’s Celebration of Culture and Communities.”