Skills Award

Anyone can attend the training sessions offered by the Skills Award once they’ve registered, but if you would like the Award you will need to complete the requirements.

The first step of Skills Award is to take on a role of responsibility in the Students’ Union. You can do this in a lot of different ways. Some roles require a small time commitment whilst others require a larger time commitment.

Eligible roles:

• Committee Members for a society, sports club or Raise and Give
• Heads of Media and Section Heads for Student Media
• Course Representatives
• Students’ Union Crew and Help Squad
• Community Volunteers (including one-off volunteers, volunteering groups and Community Foundation leaders)
• Members of Student Council and BLSA Board Members
• Student Trustee
• Student Staff employed by the Students’ Union (if you’re getting paid by the Students’ Union, you fall into this category)

If you don’t currently hold a role of responsibility in the Students’ Union, you can still register to engage with our training offer. In order to complete the award, you will eventually need to take on one of these roles. This will enable you maximise your skill development and give you an opportunity to apply your skills. Luckily, it’s easy to get involved, we recommend trying our one-off volunteering opportunities. If you volunteer, you need to log your hours. Learn more on our Volunteering pages.

After completing any compulsory training for your role, Skills Award training sessions and a reflection session, you will get the Skills Award!

Award	Role-specific Training	Skills Award Training*	Reflection Session
Bronze	✓	1	✓
Silver	✓	2	✓
Gold	✓	3	✓

*The Skills Award Training offer includes LinkedIn Learning courses. Please note that in order for LinkedIn Learning courses to count towards the Skills Award, it must relate to developing your employability skills and be at least 1 hour in duration.

All students with a QMUL IT account can access LinkedIn Learning courses for free. To find out more, please contact us.

Skills Award will help you to:

• Develop your skills: By getting involved in Students’ Union activities and taking part in the Skills Award training, you will develop transferable skills such as leadership and communication.
• Recognition of your skills: All Skills Award completers get formal recognition from the University and the Students’ Union.
• Present your skills: You will learn how to present your skills to employers in CVs, applications and interviews.

We know that Skills Award participants all have different interests and career plans, so we organise a varied programme of training sessions to suit your needs.

Examples of training sessions include: Public speaking, time management, negotiation, first aid, mental health awareness and leadership. Please note that some sessions are only offered once per academic year, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.

If your role has compulsory training (e.g. society committee training), this also needs to be completed to get the Skills Award. If you did not add this training to the registration form when you signed up, you can email us and we will verify with the relevant member of staff.

In addition to the skill development sessions offered through the Skills Award, other approved training opportunities such as the Leadership Academy Training Menu or Club Sport PPD offer count towards engagement. Please note that engagement with these opportunities must not be compulsory for your role and will need to be approved by the QMSU Employability team.

LinkedIn Learning courses also count towards the Skills Award as long as they are at least 1 hour in duration and relate to developing your employability skills.

We’d love to hear from you if you have an idea for a new type of training we should organise. You can contact us at: su-employability@qmul.ac.uk.

Yes, you will receive a certificate for completing the bronze, silver and gold stages of the award. If you complete the gold award with over 10 hours of unpaid training, you will also get recognition of your Skills Award on your electronic transcript (called HEAR) from the university.