The below email was sent to all final year students on Thursday 28 May, from Professor Paul Layzell, Principal.
We recognise that the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has meant a summer term that has been very different to the one you were expecting, and that the uncertainty the pandemic is creating may have altered the plans and ambitions you had for life after graduation.
In response to these challenging times, we have put together a range of support for you, our graduating students. It has been designed to help you to identify your next steps, support you in finding the opportunities that suit you and give you ideas that might help you to continue to develop your skills.
Additional Careers Support
Our Careers Service is online, and is continuing to offer the full range of services, from advice and guidance, to vacancies and volunteering opportunities.
From early July, if you are looking for employment opportunities after graduation, the Careers Service will give you access to LinkedIn Learning, an online employability skills development and networking tool. You can also have access to free Virtual Assessment Centres to help you prepare for online interviews and assessment centre tests. The Careers Service is also planning virtual employment fairs and events exclusively for our students and which you will continue to be able to access.
Thinking about further study?
If you are interested in continuing your studies with us in the next academic year, we are offering a 33% discount on selected Masters programmes for 2020 Royal Holloway graduates. You can find more details of the courses included in this offer on our website.
If you are interested in finding out more about postgraduate study at Royal Holloway, you can join in an online webinar, exclusively for Royal Holloway students, on Wednesday 17 June, 2pm. The webinar will give you the opportunity to ask questions about the application process, accommodation options, fees and finance. Register now for a place at the event.
Alumni mentoring
We are also working on ways to make it easy for you to connect with alumni who can inspire and support you. Our alumni team are introducing a new software platform to provide an interactive mentoring scheme to provide support, information and contacts from our alumni.
The additional careers services and alumni support will be available to you at the beginning of July and we’ll be sharing more information on how to register closer to the time.
Celebrating your graduation
As you know we had to postpone our formal summer graduation ceremonies that would normally be held on campus in July. Our goal is instead to offer you an alternative graduation ceremony, on campus, later in the next academic year. We will keep you informed of our plans as and when the situation in relation to the pandemic becomes more stable.
We are still planning to mark what would have been graduation week this July with a virtual celebration and we will be in touch with details of how you can be involved in the next few weeks.
Staying in touch
To make sure we can continue to support you when you finish your studies, it is important we have your correct details. Please make sure your personal contact details and non-term time address are up to date on Campus Connect.
We have all had to adapt to very different circumstances this year and I hope that the support we’re putting in place will help you to explore your options post-graduation. Please do take advantage of the services and support we can provide.
Best wishes,
Professor Paul Layzell
Principal