What is the ‘Grow Your Future’ campaign?
The original idea for a project like this came to life following a conversation at a party in 2013. I was asked by one of my fellow guests what I did for a living, and I replied “I’m a Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor”.
The person who asked me this question had never heard of this career and so I tried to explain it, in particular how varied and interesting it was and how no two days were ever the same.
I started to discuss this problem with friends and colleagues and I discovered that I was not alone in the problems we face when attempting to explain the nature of our work to people who have never heard of the career. I became very interested in how the specialist rural sector of my profession was promoted and understood by others and whether I could design a website to showcase this career to a wider audience.
Uni Connect/Higher Horizons+
I was lucky enough to meet the team from Higher Horizons+, a collaborative network of ten Universities and colleges with the objective of supporting schools as part of the Uni Connect Programme.
Uni Connect Programme (previously known as NCOP) was launched in 2017 as an initiative from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (now Office for Students) to increase participation in higher education across England.
Government goals which Uni Connect aim to support
- Contribute to reducing the gap in higher education participation between the most and least represented groups.
- Equip young and adult learners from underrepresented groups to make an informed choice about their options in relation to the full range of routes into and through higher education and to minimise the barriers they may face when choosing the option that will unlock their potential, including barriers relating to academic attainment.
- Support a strategic local infrastructure of universities, colleges and other partners that can cut through competitive barriers, offer an efficient and low-burden route for schools and colleges to engage with higher education outreach, enable schools to engage with attainment raising activity, and address outreach ‘cold spots’ for underrepresented groups.
- Contribute to a stronger evidence base around ‘what works’ in higher education outreach and strengthen evaluation practice across the sector.
My research has involved working with many different people, from those thinking about a career in surveying right the way up to the people who govern who is ready to become a qualified Surveyor, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The result is Grow Your Future.
I hope you enjoy the website and it inspires you to join me and thousands of others in a highly rewarding, varied and exciting career.
Andrew Black FRICS
[email protected]
