The University of East London was founded and remains rooted in east London. We began life in 1898 as the West Ham Technical Institute and have understood the needs of business since the outset. Today we have 17,000 students from over 135 countries studying 160 different courses, ranging from accounting, education and fashion to policing, architecture and tourism.
With three campuses in east London, we are at the heart of the industrial and creative shift east, on the doorstep of Canary Wharf and next to City Airport. As such we are the educational hub that provides the conduit and connection between businesses and the local communities we know intimately.
We have been preparing our graduates for the future of work since the end of the 19th century. In those days coal was king as steam powered the Second Industrial Revolution. Today, as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the growth of the internet of things and cognitive computing are creating another huge shift in the way companies work and the skills that are needed to thrive and adapt.
In this age of artificial intelligence we recognise that it is the uniquely human skills that will set future graduates apart in the job market. These include soft skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence and resilience, alongside practical skills, such as digital proficiency.
This is why we have changed our courses. Starting in September we have placed the development of these skills at the heart of every one of our degrees, counting towards students’ final qualification. We call this our Professional Fitness & Mental Wealth programme. As a result our graduates are equipped to thrive in the businesses of tomorrow.
As evidence of their achievements we give all our students a career passport. This digital repository is proof of students’ level of mastery in each skill. Some of these skills will be validated externally, by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft, earning students an online badge, while others will be monitored and managed internally.
We are great believers in the need for education to work hand-in-hand with business. That is why our Mental Wealth programme does not operate in isolation – rather it continues our long tradition of employer collaboration.
This programme will help London employers fill the skill gaps of the future, identifying potential today and recruiting from a diverse pool of local talent. We invite employers to endorse the Mental Wealth programme and to raise their profile with our student talent by registering on our Employment Hub.
As further evidence of this co-operation, we have begun a ground-breaking collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS will be the industry sponsor of our first campus-based Career Zone, a physical (and digital) hub that brings together academics, students, industry and communities through shared knowledge, learning and innovation.
This collaboration will also see the establishment of an industry research institute with a focus on technology-informed business skills, such as artificial intelligence and will include the launch of a cloud associate degree.
Finally, to underline the effectiveness of this collaboration, in October 2019 every student was provided with access to AWS Educate, an online platform providing self-paced learning in cloud computing skills. With the increasing demand for cloud-savvy employees, this provides an academic gateway for the next generation of IT and cloud professionals.
Through our Mental Wealth programme and AWS collaboration we are equipping our students to fill the future skills shortage facing London businesses.
