The School of Public Policy offers an extensive and tailored programme titled the Professional Skills Accelerator. This is designed to complement the skills and insights that students gain as part of the programme curriculum and equip them with the necessary skills for the next step in their career.
Students benefit from a series of training workshops with experienced practitioners and experts in key areas of professional development such as leadership, negotiation and effective communication. There are also practical workshops on interview preparation, networking and CV development. A part of our core provision alongside our academic teaching, each session is designed to bridge the gap between sophisticated theory and effective practice and give students the opportunity to develop the skills required of highly capable public policy professionals.
In 2024-25, we had the pleasure of running the following sessions with external and internal facilitators:
Previous sessions have included those on professional leadership, decision making, negotiation, managing financial crises and persuasive communication, and have been hosted by experts such as Rebecca Newton, Organisational Psychologist and CEO of CoachAdviser, and Sir Vince Cable, author and former leader of the UK Liberal Democrats.
These workshops are available to current SPP students only and all events are communicated via email.
Professional Skills Accelerator Certificate holders - 2024/25
Delia Lloyd teaching Effective Policy Communications
Students preparing for their presentation in the 'Presentation Skills' session
Student groups giving presentations in front of their peers