On this page you will find our support for your Academic Journey. In this section we provide resources to support your learning on the programme, and more broadly as a Manchester Metropolitan University student.
WELCOME
Welcome to STRIVE’s support for all things academic. We are here to support your learning journey .
We are proud that were awarded ‘The Union Award for Outstanding Achievement 2024′ at the Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Awards. We were also shortlisted in 2025 by Association of Graduate Careers Service (AGCAS) award in the category, Inclusive Employability Practices.
The programme is only a success because of our brilliant students who engage and contribute to the programme and we look forward to another successful year. Students who have fully engaged with STRIVE have achieved amazing outcomes. Evaluation of the programme has shown evidence that the programme enhances the likelihood of students from racially minoritised groups of achieving a ‘good degrees’ (2:1 & 1:1 degree classifications). Our students on STRIVE have informed us that the programme has helped them to secure placements and/or graduate roles in their chosen fields.
To get the most of your learning, you must start with you – it is important to set clear personal and professional development goals for yourself to work towards achieving. We encourage you to work on yourself to be the best version of yourself! Your STRIVE/Mentor Me mentor will be a really important part of that journey.
IDENTITY AND SELF
In order for us to contribute to a learning community, we must have empathy for the lived experience of others. We are all part of something bigger. Our focus within the programme on ‘Becoming Culturally Competent’ is a recognition of that. The Academic Director of STRIVE, Professor Iwi Ugiagbe-Green delivered a TEDx in 2020 on what it is like being a Black student studying at a university in higher education in the UK.
‘What I seek I am, What I want to know, I’ll understand’
This song was recorded by friends of STRIVE (led by one of our wonderful STRIVE mentors, Freya Ernsting) as a powerful reminder that with hard work, dedication and support, you can strive to achieve your personal and professional development goals. You are not a problem to be fixed, we value and celebrate your culture, experience and expertise and hope that you enjoy being part of a learning environment that puts you at the heart of everything that we so.
We want you to know that you can overcome challenges you face whilst at university, with guidance, help and support. This programme provides you with opportunities for growth, to gain experience, to ask questions and learn more about things that you do not understand and hints/strategies to achieve your potential. We want you to achieve success and we are here to try and help you to achieve that.
Listen to former STRIVER, Yahya who achieved a first class degree (with Hons) in Geography and a fantastic graduate role working as a senior researcher for a social environmental consultancy, talk about his experience on the STRIVE programme.
ACADEMIC COACHING EXCELLENCE (ACE) – Academic Literacy skills
We have worked with our excellent academic and study skills team to develop these really useful recordings, that you can listen to anytime, anyplace to support you with important academic skills development. Application of highly developed academic skills, is one of the many things that are needed in order to achieve a ‘good degree’ outcome.
To book a 1:1 support session to enhance your academic literacy skills you can also contact the Academic & study skills team on www.mmu.ac.uk/studyskills
ACADEMIC COACHING EXCELLENCE (ACE) – Excel proficiency skills
We have worked with our excellent academic and study skills team to develop these really useful recordings, that you can listen to anytime, anyplace to support you with important Excel skills. These recordings may be especially useful for those of you undertaking a research study, doing a dissertation, or studying a course that has Excel within it.
To book a 1:1 support session to enhance your Excel skills you can also contact the Academic & study skills team on www.mmu.ac.uk/studyskills
Career Readiness – Do you have a plan?!
Career readiness begins with a career plan! If you have a mentor, they will be able to provide you with advice, guidance and support on your career planning. We have worked with friends of the programme to develop some excellent resources to support your preparedness for your future career!
Access your STRIVE Personal and Professional Development (PPD) tool, developed by qualified career adviser and friend to STRIVE Sheri Lawal here. Your STRIVE PPD tool is an excellent resource to support your career planning and enables you to identify critical areas of development. You can then work with your mentor to undertake actions that help you work towards your career planning goals.
Developing your employability – virtual internships
We worked with Forage to provide virtual internships (business simulations) for you to find out more about specific roles in different organisations. On successful completion of your virtual internship you are issued with a certificate (an example is here below)
You can hear from Co-founder and CEO of Forage, Tom Brunskill on why skills development and training is so important to employers when considering their hiring options. Access the recording via ‘The Early Careers Podcast, Jack and Ollie Show here
Access different virtual internships across different subject disciplines below.
Importantly, as well as receiving your certificate, you will receive also feedback at the end of the internship. Make sure you link your certificate to your LinkedIn account so that prospective employers and others in your network can see your accomplishments!
Join important LinkedIn groups for advice and support!
Connect with your Faculty careers group on LinkedIn – to get expert careers advice from excellent careers advisers (Many thanks to friend of STRIVE, Sarah Reith for her hard work in pulling this information together) and leading the Inclusive Futures LinkedIn group.
Also join this fantastic group that provides tailored opportunities (some of which we will spotlight via the Opportunities page on this site)
Example undergraduate thesis
Two amazing members of our STRIVE alumni community (Yahya and Shanerah) have kindly granted us permission to share their interesting dissertations with you. For those of you who have never seen a dissertation before, it gives you some insight into what you need to produce. The topic areas of these theses is also of particular interest to the STRIVE programme, given our mission.
Shanerah Turner – In what ways do community support networks, cultural identity, and institutional practices impact the academic experience and performance of Black, Asian and Ethnic minority (BAME) university students?
Yahya Sayed – Navigating Complexity: An Exploration of BAME Experiences within Geography
Quantitative research (Q Step)
The Q-Step Centre was founded ten years ago, along with 14 others across the UK, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Nuffield Foundation. We are now a self-sustaining research centre dedicated to addressing the quantitative skills gap in social science students. Our work combines excellent teaching and impactful research.
Students on STRIVE can dedicate 15 hours of learning with our Q Step Centre to gain an impressive quantitative research qualification that is nationally recognised by employers and other universities. The Q Step centre also offers free online tutorials to promote statistical literacy — developed by students for students. They have also produced bespoke student guides for SAGE Research Methods.
For STRIVE leaders, Q Step completion is a mandatory part of the STRIVE programme. You will research an area of your interest and learn how to analyse, interpret and present complex data sets using well known software applications. The sessions are delivered in a really accessible fun way and all the students who have undertaken Q Step have really enjoyed it!
We highly recommend this part of the STRIVE programme for students who will be doing dissertations, or who are thinking of a graduate role in which they need to demonstrate excellent research and analytical skills. Additionally, this certification is definitely for you if you are thinking about doing a doctorate or a Masters in Research.
“I wanted to reach out and ask for your permission to share the project I worked on during my Q-Step internship on LinkedIn. I’m really proud of the work we did, and I think it would be a great addition to my profile.”
Students on STRIVE will have an opportunity to showcase their Q Step outputs (posters) through a showcase event. We invite senior leaders and stakeholders to come and view your brilliant work!
On completion of Q-Step you will receive a Q-Step accredited certificate verifying your research skills to potential employers and doctoral study providers, signalling your research experience and expertise.
A request from the STRIVE team: Please complete the work readiness survey below
STRIVE aims to develop your work-readiness capitals (WRC) (Ugiagbe-Green & Southall, 2020)
Work readiness is a measure of your perceived preparedness to go on and accomplish success in future work contexts.
Its really important for us to assess and evaluate the impact of STRIVE. As such, we would like to measure your WRC score before you engage with STRIVE activities and we shall measure your WRC score again at the end of the academic year.
Please access this QR code above or link here to complete the 15 mins survey. The 25th, 50th and 100th student to fully complete the survey will be sent a £20 Amazon voucher!! You have got to be in it to win it!