Discover our campus: Student Opportunities at Leeds

Hi everyone. We are Harini, Lia and Atiyah – all current Link to Leeds ambassadors! 
Although we come from various parts of the world, we are united by our goal to make the best out of our university experience.

In the following blog and video accompanying it, we will focus on the Student Opportunities at the University of Leeds which help you prepare and inform yourself about what will await you here!

Study Abroad

The University of Leeds offers various student opportunities to gain invaluable experience while studying or working abroad. There are over 300 university exchange partners with many top-ranking institutions in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and South-east Asia, South Africa, and Latin America. Experiencing life in another country can be in the form of a term/year abroad as a compulsory part of your course or as an optional choice - summer school, volunteering, internship, research, or leadership program.

An important step in the process of securing a place abroad is checking with your parent school what opportunities there are and if your course would allow you to take place in an exchange program. After this has been clarified, it is of great significance to start your research in advance allowing yourself time to make the best choice. When I decided that I would prefer to secure a placement in a German-speaking country, I needed between 3-5 months to prepare all the application documents and to gain some experience in overcoming the initial stress at mock interviews and assessment centres. Some of the best pieces of advice I can give to potential students would be to use all the resources available at the University Careers Centre (CV checks, 1-to-1 professional meetings or event participation), and prepare to face some difficulties which would be resolved with time, motivation, and persistence. To feel supported along the way is a key ingredient to accomplishing your final goal, so make sure to get the most of your experience abroad by being confident and open-minded!

For detailed information regarding each academic year, please refer to the Study Abroad Office, the Careers Centre or the Employability Team in your parent school.

Careers Centre

The Careers Centre at the University of Leeds is offering various support throughout each student’s academic journey. As mentioned above, it can be in the form of an event or an arranged meeting with a team member who can provide you with useful information about finding a job and being more employable to what a professional CV looks like.

The services offered by the Careers Centre at the university are excellent. They continue to support students discovering their career options by organising events such as the “Volunteering Opportunities Fair” and “Discovering Jobs” in various sectors. Through this, students are given access to representatives from world-renowned companies and organisations, learning more about the various career prospects available. In addition to this, the Careers Centre offers one-to-one support sessions for students with professionals based on their level and area of study. This is a fantastic way to learn about the range of options available to you early on in your career. To help prepare you for what is to come once you have graduated from the University of Leeds, you can also choose to book one-to-one sessions where you are given the chance to take a ‘mock interview,’ giving you the opportunity to practice and reduce nerves felt before awkward first-time interviews and interactions. The wonderful thing about the Careers Centre is that they continue to offer their services to graduates of the university. This is particularly useful as it can be quite an overwhelming and scary situation to find yourself in. Luckily enough, the Careers Centre remains by your side from the very beginning of your journey at Leeds. From helping you develop key skills by finding extracurricular activities that fit your interests, to helping you edit your CV as well as sending you job opportunities that match your specifications, there is little the Careers Centre cannot do.

Leeds University Union

The Leeds University Union is in place to ensure that students enjoy their time in Leeds. It is run by a group of officers elected by the student body itself and works tirelessly to listen to the feedback of students, making Leeds a memorable place to be. With over 300 clubs and societies, that include the exciting cake society to badminton club, there is something for everyone. However, if you find that the club or society that most interests you does not exist, you can take matters into your own hands, and create your very own club. Joining clubs and societies is a fantastic way to meet people with similar interests and passions, whilst also giving students the opportunity to develop key skills, these can then be highlighted on your CV (wink, wink). Not only does the Leeds University Union have a dedicated Support team, offering confidential advice and guidance, but the University Union provides an all-encompassing place to study, relax, even nap while on campus.

Accommodation

The University of Leeds actively supports and extends its activities to the residents as well. The Residence life team strives to make the students experience at university halls the best it can be. They support the students through the team of Resident wardens and assistants. Every year they recruit a team of Residence life assistants to support the student experience. Students are provided with the opportunity to join the team either as an assistant or a warden. Apart from the assistant's role, students can volunteer to be a Hall executive who actively engages in organising events and activities for the resident members. By being a Hall executive students can support and engage in the activities organised by the team such as BBQ's, wellness sessions, sports, and craft sessions etc. If you are interested in getting involved with the residence team, you can find more information here. 

Postgraduate Opportunities

As a master's student it can be overwhelming to find opportunities to enhance your experience at the University with a time constraint as most masters are for a year. To support postgraduate students and to make the most out of their time at our university, the schools actively arrange conferences, events, workshops, industrial visits for postgraduate students to build their skills and their network. One such opportunity I personally experienced was the ‘Lunch with Economists’ sessions organized by the Economics department. The event provided us with an opportunity to meet researchers in the field of Economics and discuss the current and relevant studies and research they are involved in.

Each school provides postgraduate students with the opportunity to hold a position as a Course representative, school representative, school ambassador etc. You can also involve and hold positions in various clubs and societies and strengthen your network and meet different people sharing similar interests. Job Link platform also advertises part time job opportunities for students and helps them to be involved and hold positions in the Union or work as an ambassador (like Link to Leeds). University of Leeds ensures that the Postgraduate students develop their skills, experience, and enhance their capabilities to the maximum.

The Edge

The Edge is a gym located on campus, containing state-of-the-art facilities such as a swimming pool, a climbing wall, over 220 exercise classes, and world-class equipment. Students living in accommodation provided by the university are given off-peak membership access to the club, giving them the opportunity to join exclusive classes such as Yoga, Pilates, and HIT workouts.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, our university strives to enhance the student experience through numerous opportunities for students ranging from academic, extracurriculars to sports. We hope that you have found this interesting and will take on some of these opportunities, allowing you to enrich your experience here as a student.