A brighter future
Setting students up for success beyond graduation is at the heart of a Sheffield education. But we know that some need extra support. With your help, we can provide the career guidance students from all backgrounds need to reach their full potential.
In brief:
- We set graduates up to go out into the world with the confidence and skills they need to succeed - many need a helping hand to get there
- Our incredible alumni volunteer community locally, nationally and globally give the most deserving students the head start they need - but there’s more to be done
- You can get involved by volunteering your time or funding important initiatives with a proven track record of delivering real results for these students
Sheffield, the gateway to the rest of their lives
New insights, lifelong friendships, growing independence and self-confidence, the prospect of better-paid jobs and successful careers – this is the enviable position our students will be in when they leave.
But achieving their full potential after graduation isn’t easy for some. Supporters like you can help the students without networks or role models in their own communities; guiding and inspiring them to develop effective strategies to get a meaningful head start on their chosen paths.
Case study: Alumni volunteering projects
Sheffield’s incredible alumni networks are a real superpower when it comes to supporting and empowering current students. Last year alone, 1,500 of you inspired, advised and mentored more than 8,000 of the most deserving young people. Together, we're delivering life-changing results for our graduates through these wildly successful initiatives.
City Connections in-person business visits
City Connections is an in-person networking initiative designed to improve the career prospects of students from underrepresented backgrounds. These students visit and connect with alumni working at organisations across a range of sectors in London and the North, building effective networks and increasing their commercial awareness.
Going into the professional world after graduation feels less daunting now. Speaking with alumni helped me with my confidence and communication skills. I also learnt how important commercial awareness is and how to bring it into applications and interviews.
Aisha Booth
BA History
Coach Café online networking
Generously funded by the Law Family Ambition Programme, these short, virtual Q&A sessions connect career-experienced alumni with students from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds. Alumni volunteer their time as coaches and advisors, sharing valuable real-world insight and experience to help students feel better prepared for career success after university.
My participation in Coach Café was like a gift. All the coaches were very open to share their experience and advice. I now have more confidence about what to do after graduation and I've increased my network.
Hermes Uribe
PGT Urban and Regional Planning
The Boardroom online alumni masterclasses
This series of exclusive masterclasses for recent graduates and PhD students aims to build leadership skills and inspire them to aim for the very top. Delivered by globally leading Sheffield alumni, participants hear from a diverse range of top entrepreneurs, finance specialists and leaders in politics, media and strategy, offering insight into a range of sectors and topics.
The Boardroom has made me more confident that I am on the right path and that even people at the top of their industries are still as approachable as anyone else.
Subin Paryar
MEng Mechanical Engineering
Your support matters
As you can see, your support is invaluable in helping students shape a bright future for themselves - and an integral reason that our culture of postgraduate success stories is so strong. But there's so much more we could be doing. And we can't do it without you.
Your role in setting students up for success
It’s not just their Sheffield degree that opens doors to flourishing careers. For many, it’s the opportunities, guidance, inspiration and support they’ve received along the way while here.
Alumni and supporters like you have a key role to play in this.
It could be by volunteering to mentor a student, delivering a talk or offering your expertise on an academic advisory board. Or it could be by helping to fund our important work, like alumnus Andrew Law did when he backed the Coach Café initiative.
However you get involved, you’ll bring real and lasting benefits to individuals and wider society long into the future.