This week, along with our partners at Real world, we held our first ever Social Mobility Forum.  It was set up to allow top graduate employers to embrace the current UK educational changes and aimed to concentrate on excellent state school students that perhaps would not previously have considered going to university or working with top graduate employers.

The event proved to be a huge success! We saw an excellent turn out of graduate employers, who were all keen to find out more information and get into discussions with our panelists.  We provided them with stats and information on how they can make informed decisions in their recruitment strategies, are we are now looking forward to organising the next steps!

Registration for our third Freshlook event is now open!  Freshlook is an annual event we hold to introduce first-year female students from all degree disciplines to the wide range of careers in investment banking. It’s an informal event which offers the chance to learn from professionals working at some of the world’s top investment banks, and has proved to be very popular in previous years!

The event provides a unique opportunity to discover what it’s really like to work in the City – and to ask any questions you might have about one of the most demanding and rewarding careers around.  It’s taking place on Wednesday 13 July 2011.  Places are limited and going fast so apply today by visiting http://www.freshlookbanking.co.uk

We all know that there’s now intense competition for jobs, with a recent survey indicating a 33% increase in applications for graduate jobs, however its not all doom and gloom since reports are showing that confidence is returning in the graduate jobs market and that average starting salaries are set to increase, which is good news all round!  The most popular career option has been found to be investment banking, which appears to have been influenced by the high starting salaries!  Reports also show students are trying to increase their chances of bagging a top graduate job by applying earlier and more often, so what are you waiting for… get applying!

After the deadline for Universities to submit their tuition fee plans passed on Tuesday, it appears that every university in England is planning to charge at least £6,000!  A high proportion are opting to charge the maximum fee of £9,000, and only a handful are offering all their courses below £8,000 per year.  This creates worries that the number of places available on courses will be reduced, since the government may have to withdraw funds to universities.

All universities in England who want to charge above £6,000 are required to submit their plans for approval by the Office for Fair Access, with the final approved figures expected to be released in July.  Will they all be approved? Watch this space!

Hi, I’m Rachel and I’m the newest the addition to the Stafford Long team!  Having completed a degree in Biomedical Science in Manchester and then moving onto do a marketing internship, it really does show you can do anything!  I’ve almost finished my first day as a Project Coordinator and I’m really excited to be here and looking forward to the challenges to come!

Today the BBC has published new research which shows that more than half of universities are opting for top fees. Out of 111 universities surveyed, over half of them said they would be charging the full amount of £9,000 per year. Originally Ministers claimed that top fees would only be charged in “exceptional circumstances”!! If the majority of these universities set fees at or close to the maximum fee then they are likely to face cuts to funding and student places which would be disastrous!!

Monday 21st March saw the first event of its kind – ‘Unlock Your Potential’ held by UBS.  It was organised and run for 70 carefully-selected first year female students interested in investment banking, and it’s aim was to help them to ‘unlock their potential’. Steering away from dry, corporate presentations; UBS wanted to give the girls a rare opportunity to learn how to be successful, charismatic business women.

Sessions were run by comedian Deborah Frances-White, on ‘how to be a charismatic woman in a man’s world’ and personal branding guru, Jim Harvey on ‘how to build your own personal brand’. These sessions were very well received, with the audience buzzing with excitement and interest. It certainly opened our eyes to some new ways of presenting ourselves.

To tie in with the theme ‘Unlock Your Potential’, each attendee was given a key. For a lucky few, this key unlocked one of six locked prize boxes which were on display. Among the prizes were a Marc Jacobs handbag, a luxury spa day,  a London Eye trip, a make up session and theatre vouchers. Congratulations to the girls who won!! I can safely say it was a very successful event and this was shown by some very happy faces all round.

A new ‘Super University’ could be on the cards for Wales as plans are made to merge three of their universities; University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Swansea Metropolitan University and Trinity Saint David in Carmarthen. Such universities haven’t been highly rated recently and last December the Welsh education minister gave them an ultimatum – ‘adapt or die’.

At the moment these three universities already work closely together and all students who attend receive University of Wales degrees. If plans go ahead they will become the third largest university in Wales after Cardiff and Glamorgan. Watch this space for the up and coming Welsh Super University …

Yet another award win for BarCap, hurrah! For the second year running, Barclays Capital have won Rate My Placement’s award for best diversity in work experience. With a little help from us here at Stafford Long, BarCap recruited 376 interns in 2010 representing 99 different universities and 45 different nationalities. We worked on a range of campaigns to encourage diversity within work experience, such as No City Limits, an insight day for women interested in investment banking. Hopefully our winning streak roll on til next year!!

Here at Stafford Long we’re proud to support this years National Graduate Recruitment Awards for the second successive year. The annual event brings together the very best UK graduate employers and agencies at a special night of awards for graduate campaigns – judged via a massive student survey and panel of undergraduates. It’s definitely a night to look forward to… and fingers crossed we might take away the Diversity Recruitment award for our work with Barclays Capital!