This testimonial has been provided by Jennifer Sizer, Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Portsmouth. It relates to a programme of workshops facilitated by Incendo for international students at the University.
The organisation
The University of Portsmouth has an excellent reputation for quality teaching and sustained, high levels of student satisfaction; it’s one of the world’s top 100 new universities in the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2017. The University has a population of more than 25,000 students, of whom more than 5,000 are international and EU students from almost 150 different countries.
The situation
Before Incendo worked with us we had no provision for employability on our course. Justin from Incendo was also the first alumni (and external provider) to work with our students. He was hugely helpful, flexible and knowledgeable. The consultancy phase was very productive and we went through ideas we thought would work well with our students; he had a wealth of suggestions, but tailored his provision to suit our students’ needs.
The outcome
The students responded very well to the workshops and several students particularly liked Justin sharing his experience of working in other countries, as well as his knowledge of Arabic and Thai languages. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and a number of students mentioned wanting to attend more workshops with Justin.
All of the Incendo workshops allowed students the opportunity to develop the hallmarks of a Portsmouth graduate, something which Justin understands and displays as a Portsmouth graduate himself. Essentially, the participants were able to develop the ability to work independently as well as collaboratively, and embrace change and challenges as they arise. The workshop on Presentation Skills was timely and hugely helpful to students needing to present during their current and future courses. The workshops on Mindfulness and Creative Thinking were culturally sensitive, fun and thought-provoking; they were especially helpful as students were preparing for assessments when they attended.
I hope Justin can come back next year as I know many students will again be eager to take part in Incendo’s workshops. I would recommend meeting with him as he has such a huge array of expertise and advice to draw on, and may be able to offer even more than anticipated.
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