The Venture Matrix team is highly diverse, both in make up and the activities we perform. All that we do centres around the design and delivery of pedagogies for applied learning, across multiple disciplines. To meet this end, the team is built of a spectrum of academic developers, project managers, learning technologists and business developers. All of these diverse roles work together to form a cohesive applied learning offer, which is subject-specific and merges seamlessly into courses. The team has developed and grown talent over the years, with many team members having progressed from being placement students or interns to being leaders in the team. This has enabled us to develop a multi-skilled team who can enhance learning, teaching, assessment and employability via applied learning projects hosted by employers.
Starting as a pilot on a single course, applied learning models developed and managed by the Venture Matrix are now university-wide. This highly coordinated and interdisciplinary/inter-industry approach to applied learning has impacted over 15,000 students and provides to employers the world’s largest student consultancy service, contributing, at current student levels, approximately £4.5million to the local economy annually. As a result of the implementation of our models, module leaders report that engagement, attendance and attainment all increase by approximately 30%. The models also have a measurable impact on successful application to year-long placements, with some modules reporting that 80% of their cohort achieve placements. And in the longer term, graduates often get in touch to express the value of VM in starting their careers. Comments are typical of:
“Venture Matrix is the reason why I’ve been able to become a teacher. It helped me gain work experience to complete my teacher training. It gave me confidence and helped me realise what I wanted to do after university.” Emma Collicott - SHU Alumni.