Global technology leader gives Chichester College students valuable insights

Students at Chichester College enjoyed a very special skills centre with Thales, a global technology leader with more than 80,000 employees across five continents.

The students – a mix of computing, engineering and business students across a range of levels including university-level courses – came together for a day-long skills development centre.

They faced different task set by representatives at Thales, which replicated challenges that are often set to potential employees during recruitment session – including identifying and assessing locations for new offices.

The day was designed to help students develop their employability skills, as well as tapping into the knowledge they are gaining on their courses which impressed the team from Thales.

Charlene Simms, STEM Education and Outreach Manager at Thales, said: “I think the students really shone.

“We saw them come out of their shells and they put a lot of thought into their tasks and came up with some great ideas, thinking outside of the box and going beyond what the tasks asked of them.

“I was really pleased with their engagement and their focus. They were a really lovely bunch to work with and it was great to work with students at different levels, because it showed they were able to mix in different groups and work as a team with people they don’t know.” 

Lianne Grogan, Higher Education Progression Coach at the Chichester College Group, added: “We’re so grateful to the team at Thales for donating their time to our students and giving them an opportunity to see what skills employers are looking for in their staff.

“The idea of the centre is to provide challenges which directly reflect their industries and assesses graduate attributes, such as independent thinking, interpersonal skills, professionalism and creativity – skills that they develop alongside their studies.

“The team at Thales were fantastic, and were incredibly generous with both their time and their feedback and we were pleased to see our students responding to that, opening up and growing in confidence as the day went on.”