Program to help female undergraduates in business

The University of Warwick is piloting a program to support the professional aspirations of female undergraduates.

The Sprint Program, taking place over four days in November and January will be run in partnership with RBS and Microsoft. Participation will include the opportunity to work with a mentor from these two companies.

The program will be open to all women undergraduates.

Areas the programme will focus on include cultivating assertiveness, building image and networking skills alongside effective time management and identifying personal goals.

Student opinion suggests that the programme will be a valuable resource. Beth Menzies, a second-year Discrete Maths student, believes that Sprint is following a positive trend in the industry by helping to open up the financial and technology sectors to women.

Miss Menzies commented: “I know that it is still seen as a male dominated environment, but most of the places I have been looking at have a separate event for women, usually for first and second years to introduce women to the financial, technology and management sectors.”

However, the fact that the Sprint Program is being run in partnership with RBS and Microsoft has brought to light dissatisfaction felt by many arts students who feel that the Careers and Skills office neglect students who wish to pursue creative careers.

One humanities student, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “I wouldn’t be put off [applying for the Sprint Program] by the companies involved.”

However, she added: “What’s really annoying is the Careers and Skills department keep emailing me saying ‘get a job in a bank!’ when I don’t want one and have no skills for that.”

Another unnamed humanities student agreed. She commented: “Warwick Careers has such a big emphasis on banking and corporate careers. It doesn’t have anything for people who want more creative careers, there’s too much focus on banking as if that’s the only viable career option.”

The Sprint Program will be running from 9am to 5pm over four days at the Cryfield Pavillion. Students should visit the Careers and Skills website for more details and how to apply.