Year 8 Careers Visit to the University of Suffolk
Tuesday 18 March 2025
On arrival at the University of Suffolk, a group of our Year 8 students were taken to one of the lecture theatres where they heard from the Employability & Careers Advisor for the university. After a discussion about how many staff might work at the university (652), they learned about the sorts of skills that they may need one day to be successful in the workplace. Students correctly guessed leadership, independence and resilience.
Students were asked to identify what they thought was the most important challenge facing the workplace at the moment. They were correct in guessing that artificial intelligence was the answer. There was a discussion on the types of jobs and industries that may or may not be affected by the influence of artificial intelligence and to what extent. Students learned that in the next 10 years, 60% of new jobs will come into play that do not currently exist. As an example of this, they learned that 30 years ago, jobs such as drone operator, off shore wind engineer, podcaster and social media manager did not exist.
Next, students learned about the vast array of jobs in which university staff were employed; not just teachers and lecturers, but in supporting roles such as finance, marketing, IT services, HR and facilities management, much like any large organisation.
They were shown images of four people they were about to meet who would be coming to talk to them about their jobs and what they do. Their challenge was to identify who they thought might be a Lecturer of Business, a Senior Lecture of Law, a Learning Designer or a Sustainability Manager. After finding out that their matching of people to jobs was 100% wrong, students heard about the unique and interesting pathways in which these four people had found themselves working at the university.
Students were fascinated to hear how the Lecturer in Business had failed at school, become a paramedic, a trauma specialist, a logistics manager for an international aid charity and, after suffering a spinal injury, decided to study for two more degrees and had become a lecturer of Business.
Students then heard how the Learning Designer spent 15 years in South Africa and East Asia, working on conservation research projects and ‘wrangling crocodiles’ having initially decided to go there ‘just for a year’.
The key message that students took away from meeting the staff at the university is that your career pathway is almost definitely not going to follow a straight line of progression. It is your unique pathway and it will not be the same as anybody else’s. It may wiggle about, go this way and that, stop and start or change direction completely. If you have no idea what career pathway you want to follow, then the most important thing to do is to keep your options open, create good connections with people you meet and be open to opportunities that may present themselves.
Finally, students were given a tour of the state-of-the-art Health & Well-Being suite where undergraduate students study for a degree in nursing. They were shown the X-ray room as well as simulation wards for children and for adults and the midwifery suite. They even got to practice CPR on a life-like silicone ‘patient’ that had simulated breathing, blinking and a pulse. Fortunately, they did well enough to resuscitate the patient and his vital signs returned to normal!
Mr Payne would like to thank the Thomas Wolsey 550 project for funding this insightful experience for our students and making it possible. The university staff who kindly gave up their time today did a brilliant job, talking about their experiences and inspiring our students.
This trip was arranged as part of an innovative educational project delivered by the ‘Thomas Wolsey 550’. Funded by Suffolk County Council’s Ipswich Investment Fund, the Thomas Wolsey 550 project offers a multi-faceted educational programme for children aged 5-16 to benefit from hands-on, confidence boosting activities giving ‘real life’ insights into career paths into organisations across Ipswich.