pracstaging

Launching Horizons at AGCAS 2025: Empowering Employability for All

May 14, 2025 Practera NewsLeave a comment

Practera is proud to be the Headline Sponsor of the AGCAS Annual Conference 2025, taking place on 17–18 June at Newcastle University. As a headline sponsor, our goal is to support meaningful dialogue and action on the theme “Employability for All.” A mission that aligns directly with the launch of our new sector-wide initiative: the Horizons Programme UK.

The Horizons Programme UK has been developed as a strategic, scalable, and inclusive solution to address one of higher education’s most pressing challenges: providing equitable access to meaningful work experience opportunities for undergraduate students from Widening Participation (WP) backgrounds.

Addressing the Work Experience Gap in Widening Participation

Graduate employability is increasingly dependent on more than just academic achievement. Students now need to demonstrate experience, confidence, and transferable skills to secure employment post-graduation. For students from WP backgrounds, however, access to professional experience often remains limited. The reasons range from geographic and financial constraints to a lack of social capital, professional networks, and flexible opportunity structures.

A 2021 King’s College London study found that WP students frequently underestimate the value of work-integrated learning, often due to a lack of exposure or encouragement. As a result, many students miss the critical early experiences that build career confidence and lead to long-term outcomes.

The Horizons Programme UK is designed to intervene in this gap by providing introductory, project-based professional experience at scale. It is more than a virtual internship. It is a model for inclusive work-integrated learning tailored to the structural realities of WP students.

Introducing the Horizons Programme UK

The Horizons Programme UK is a virtual, national programme that enables undergraduate students from WP backgrounds to participate in short-term, real-world consulting projects with industry partners. The projects are designed to build critical employability skills, problem solving, communication, teamwork, and project management while boosting self-efficacy and awareness of career pathways.

This UK employability programme offers a delivery model that:

  • Removes geographic and logistical barriers through fully virtual participation
  • Aligns with academic schedules, allowing students to balance learning and work
  • Provides scaffolding and support from trained mentors and educators
  • Offers measurable learning outcomes aligned to institutional KPIs and OfS frameworks
  • Is cost-effective and scalable for institutions without requiring large internal teams

Each student cohort is placed in a small team and matched with a real client project. Over two to three weeks, students complete defined deliverables, receive feedback, and engage in structured reflection. The result is a high-impact learning experience that contributes directly to graduate employability.

Current University Partners

Horizons is already supported by a diverse consortium of UK universities committed to equitable employability. Founding partners include:

These institutions represent a cross-section of regions, groupings, and missions, united by a shared goal: to deliver impactful work experience to underserved learners in a scalable, collaborative way.

Official Launch at AGCAS Annual Conference 2025

Horizons will formally launch during a featured session at the AGCAS Annual Conference 2025:

  • Session Title: Horizons Programme UK Launch
  • Date: Tuesday, 17 June 2025
  • Time: 2:45 PM
  • Location: Room FDC.G.06, Newcastle University
  • Speaker: Kate Daubney, Practera Advisory Board Member and Chair of the Horizons Programme Governance Group

If you are attending AGCAS, we invite you to join the session and visit our exhibition booth. Meet the team, view the platform, and see how your institution can become part of the next Horizons cohort starting in July 2025.

Why It Matters for UK Higher Education

The Office for Students (OfS) continues to emphasise outcomes, equity, and employability in its Access and Participation Plan requirements. With limited resources, many institutions are seeking ways to offer scalable employability initiatives for universities that align with these goals without overstretching their teams.

Horizons provides a model that:

  • Directly supports undergraduate career support strategies
  • Demonstrates institutional impact on social mobility and inclusion
  • Aligns to TEF, OfS, and Access Plan goals
  • Enhances relationships with employers and external partners
  • Prepares students for placements, graduate roles, or further internships

By offering a programme that delivers inclusive work-integrated learning at scale, institutions can increase access and impact simultaneously.

What Makes Horizons Unique?

Compared to traditional internship models or employability workshops, Horizons offers a structured alternative with meaningful advantages:

  • It is designed for early-year students who are often excluded from more competitive internships
  • It is virtual, meaning it can include students with caregiving duties, disabilities, or those living in regional or rural locations
  • It uses real, client-driven projects from industry and the community
  • It is technology-enabled, using the Practera platform to streamline onboarding, delivery, feedback, and reporting
  • It is backed by a national community of practice focused on quality, reflection, and continuous improvement

Evidence of Impact

Practera-supported programmes have delivered over 100,000 learner experiences globally. In recent student surveys across our UK and Australian programmes:

  • 92 percent of participants reported increased career confidence
  • 89 percent improved their teamwork and communication skills
  • 87 percent felt more job-ready

Horizons builds on this proven model by tailoring it for WP students and UK institutions.

Supporting University Staff and Careers Teams

Horizons is co-delivered with institutional staff and designed to complement existing services, not replace them. Careers, Widening Participation, Employability, and Academic departments can all benefit from:

  • High-quality virtual work experiences that require limited facilitation time
  • Insightful analytics and outcomes reporting
  • Opportunities to embed authentic learning in modules, bootcamps, or standalone initiatives
  • Cost-sharing models and subsidised student places to enable sustainability

Book a time to speak with the team at AGCAS: https://go.practera.com/agcas-practera-2025

Looking Ahead: The Future of Inclusive Employability

The graduate employability landscape is evolving. Employers are placing greater value on real-world experience, adaptability, and applied problem-solving. For WP students, structured support into these opportunities can be a defining moment.

With growing interest from both institutions and students, Horizons is positioned to be the UK’s leading platform for inclusive, introductory work-based learning. By focusing on equity, flexibility, and national collaboration, the programme offers a new standard for what employability for all can look like.

If your institution shares the mission of widening access and delivering scalable impact, we would love to collaborate.

Visit the programme site: https://go.practera.com/horizons-educator-portal

Or email us to learn more: info@practera.com

Enhancing Student Employability in 2024-2025: A Complete Guide for Educators

December 3, 2024 EmployabilityLeave a comment

As the global workforce changes, helping students gain the skills, experiences, and flexibility they need to succeed has never been more important. Boosting student employability is a major priority for educators, especially in higher education.

This guide, insightfully crafted by Practera, dives into pragmatic and constructive strategies to improve higher education learner employability in 2024-25. The guide also provides insights and solutions from proven programs and case studies from various global employability programs implemented by Team Practera.

The guide is easy to read and has many action points for you to implement in your institutional environment. You can also reach Team Practera at any point in your journey to help you with your student employability needs.

Why Improve Student Employability?

Employability isn’t just about landing a job—it’s about preparing students to thrive in today’s complex workplaces. Employers are looking for people who are skilled, adaptable, collaborative, and creative.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report shows that skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-management are increasingly essential. By adding employability-focused strategies to education, educators can bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world needs, helping students succeed in their careers.

Understanding Employability Skills

Employability skills, commonly known as “soft skills” or “translatable skills,” are the necessary abilities that allow people to function properly in numerous workplaces. These are job-agnostic skills that are desired in every industry, and the need will only grow. Some of the key employability skills are:

Communicating: Being able to transmit ideas in a meaningful way.

Collaboration: Working effectively with others to meet shared goals.

Problem Solving: Finding the problems and solving them.

Flexible: The ability to change as per the situation and maintain a positive approach.

Leadership: Guiding and inspiring others towards success.

These skills are crucial as they enhance an individual’s capacity to contribute positively in the workplace, regardless of their role or industry.

Why are employability skills important from an employer’s perspective?

Employability skills are often more valued by employers than academic perfection. Academic performance is a critical marker of intelligence, but the application of skills in practice, the ability to work as a team, and the adoption of proactivity are key.

A study published in the International Journal of Academe and Industry Research revealed that employers place a greater emphasis on essential skills like leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills instead of formal qualifications.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report paints a similar picture, with analytical thinking and creative thinking ranking among the top skills through 2027.

This is important to employers because it indicates the potential of an employee to:

Navigate Complex Work Environments: Employability Skills allow individuals to respond to a wide range of work situations.

Fuel Innovation: Innovative solutions stem from creative thinking and problem-solving.

Improve Team Dynamics: Good communication creates a culture of teamwork.

Thus, these are the skills that students need to develop so as to ensure that they meet employer expectations and excel in their careers.

Strategies to Boost Employability

1. Hands-On Learning Programs

Hands-on learning connects classroom knowledge to real-world experiences. Examples include internships, industry projects, and teamwork challenges.

How Practera Helps

Practera’s platform helps educators design and manage hands-on learning programs. It supports collaboration with industry partners, gives real-time feedback, and offers insights into what’s working.

Case Study: King’s Business School Global Industry Project

King’s College London worked with Practera to run team-based consultancy projects for 50 employers and 300 students. The experience was remote but made a big impact.

2. Teach Skills Beyond the Classroom

Employers care about skills like teamwork, problem-solving, and communication—just as much as technical know-how.

Practera’s Solution

Practera supports skill-building through project-based learning. Its tools give students personalized feedback to help them improve in real time.

Case Study: LSE Skills Accelerator

The London School of Economics (LSE) and Practera created a virtual program that helped students grow their professional skills through hands-on modules and real industry projects.

Working in a consulting firm

3. Build Industry Connections

Strong ties with industry partners give students real-world exposure and a better understanding of workplace expectations.

Practera in Action

Practera connects educators with a network of industry professionals for real-world industry experiences for their learners, mentorships, and collaborative projects.

Case Study: Study Australia Industry Experience Program

In collaboration with Practera Study Australia, built a low-cost Industry experience program that paired international students with local organizations for two-week business projects. Discover more about the Practera-powered initiative.

4. Use Data to Improve Outcomes

Data can help educators adjust programs to better meet industry needs and fill skill gaps.

Practera’s Analytics

Practera offers detailed analytics on student engagement, skill growth, and program success, helping educators make smarter decisions.

Preparing for a consulting career

5. Promote Lifelong Learning

Preparing students for a dynamic job market means encouraging continuous learning and adaptability.

How Practera Fits In

Practera’s tools help educators add the latest trends and technologies to their programs, keeping students ready for what’s next.

6. Career-Readiness Workshops

Resume workshops, interview practice, and networking events can help students feel more prepared for the workforce.

Practera’s Role

Practera makes it easy to include career-readiness activities in broader employability programs.

Additional Tips for Educators

Encourage Networking: Create events where students meet professionals.

Share Success Stories: Highlight students who’ve grown through employability programs.

Engage Alumni: Tap into alumni networks for mentorship and advice.

Practera’s Role in Student Employability

Practera offers flexible, scalable solutions for educators to create programs that work for both students and industries. With Practera, you can:

Deliver real-world learning experiences.

Track results with data-driven insights.

Help students build the confidence to succeed in their careers.

Wrapping Up: Supporting Educators and Students

The workplace is evolving, and helping students become employable is key for educators. By adding hands-on learning, industry connections, skill-building, and lifelong learning, educators can make a real difference.

As the job market evolves, the importance of building employability through employability skills cannot be overstated. By focusing on developing these crucial competencies alongside academic knowledge, educators can significantly enhance their students’ career prospects. The graph below combines insights from – World Economic Forum – Future of Jobs Report (2023), National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), McKinsey Global Institute – Future of Work Skills, provide a comprehensive view of the top employability skills that employers value most in candidates entering the workforce in 2024. Analytical thinking ranks highest, with 92% of employers emphasizing its importance. This reflects the growing need for individuals who can interpret complex information and make data-driven decisions.

Active learning and complex problem-solving follow closely, showcasing the importance of adaptability and the ability to tackle multifaceted challenges. Leadership and creativity are also highly prized, reflecting the need for employees who can innovate and inspire teams.

Resilience, adaptability, teamwork, emotional intelligence, and communication round out the top skills, demonstrating that soft skills remain critical for workplace success. These skills help individuals collaborate effectively, manage stress, and contribute to a positive workplace culture.

This data underscores why educators must prioritize building these skills in students through experiential learning, professional development workshops, and industry partnerships. By fostering these competencies, students are better equipped to meet employer expectations and excel in their careers.

Partnering with Practera offers a powerful solution to scale employability skills programs effectively, ensuring graduates are well-prepared for the challenges of the modern workforce.

Ready to transform your approach to employability skills development? Contact Practera today to explore how we can help you prepare your students for career success.

Practera is here to support you every step of the way. When students graduate not just with knowledge but with experience and confidence, they’re set up to succeed in any job market.

Start improving your students’ employability today. Explore Practera’s Solutions.

Unleashing the Power of Hybrid Learning: Bridging the Gap with Experiential Education

September 30, 2024 Experiential Learning, Practera Learning, UncategorizedLeave a comment

As educators, we are always looking for ways to provide rich and engaging learning experiences that meet students’ diverse needs. Hybrid learning has emerged as a game-changer. It blends online and in-person teaching for flexibility and accessibility. But preparing students for real-life needs more. We mix experiential learning—an approach that combines book smarts with practical, hands-on skills. This piece dives into how combining hybrid learning with experiential education can make learning more inclusive, effective, and future-ready.

The skyrocketing demand for flexible learning environments pushes us to adapt. A 2022/23 Jisc survey of over 27,000 UK students gives us valuable insights to use while designing and tweaking our hybrid programs.

Digital Satisfaction vs. Community Connection

81% of students said they were happy with their digital learning experience. However, only 44% felt like they belonged in their online learning communities. This shows us a big challenge: creating meaningful connections in a digital space—is key if hybrid learning will be truly effective.

Assistive Technology: Supporting Diverse Learners

57% of students said they used at least one type of assistive tech. International students found tools such as captioning and writing support super helpful. This reminds us that ensuring everyone has access to what they need is crucial in hybrid learning settings.

Persistent Challenges in Hybrid Learning

Bad WiFi keeps messing up online learning. Limited private study spaces make it hard for students to focus. Some still struggle to get devices, especially marginalized learners. We’ve got to push for better infrastructure and equal access so that no one is left behind in hybrid settings.

While hybrid learning provides flexibility, it’s vital not to rely solely on online materials. Introducing experiential learning can add real-world relevance to the classroom. This method allows students to apply what they learn in real situations. It enhances their understanding and engagement considerably. Plus, it preps them for the challenges they might face in the workplace

Why Experiential Learning Matters in Hybrid Education

  • Enhanced Engagement: Hands-on projects grab attention and link theory to practice.
  • Career Readiness: Work with industry partners on real issues gives useful skills & experiences.
  • Meaningful Connections: Group projects help build bonds and cut down on the isolation that online learning creates.
  • Skill Development: Teaches problem-solving, teamwork, & communication—hard to get through lectures alone.

For educators, blending experiential learning into hybrid models can be both innovative and practical. Here are some ideas:

  • Live Industry Projects: Team up with companies to give students real-world problems, offering relevance & hands-on practice.
  • Virtual Internships: Remote internships let students gain work experience without location barriers.
  • Simulations and Role-Playing: Use tech to create immersive scenarios where students practice solving issues.
  • Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Get students from different fields to work together on complex projects, like real-world teamwork.

These ideas offer students not just curriculum knowledge but prepare them for life beyond school.

Bringing hybrid and experiential learning into schools isn’t without hurdles. Here’s how educators can tackle them:

  • Invest in Strong Tech Infrastructure: Push for reliable WiFi & devices so all students can join hybrid learning fully.
  • Create Flexible Learning Spaces: Make on-campus spots that cater to both solo & group study styles.
  • Enhance Accessibility: Ensure courses include assistive tech & content for different needs.
  • Comprehensive Support Systems: Offer tech support, mentoring, & guidance so students can navigate hybrid environments smoothly.

For those looking to blend hybrid and experiential learning well, Practera provides custom solutions that are flexible, scalable, and fit modern student needs. Practera’s platform helps educators easily incorporate experiential learning into their courses.

  • Customizable Learning Journeys: Design paths that mix online and face-to-face experiences uniquely for each student.
  • Industry Collaboration Opportunities: Facilitate remote internships & live industry projects easily through Practera.
  • Data-Driven Insights: Use analytics built into Practera to track student engagement/results & improve course delivery continuously.
  • Scalable Solutions: Support large programs effortlessly, allowing institutions to offer top-quality hybrid experiences broadly.

Partnering with Practera offers educators a more dynamic, flexible &, and career-focused environment, prepping students for future challenges.

As educators, we are at the forefront of a rapidly shifting educational landscape. By combining the adaptability of hybrid learning with the hands-on approach to experiential methods, we can craft an engaging and career-focused environment for all learners. This helps us meet the needs of today’s students while equipping them with essential skills for facing tomorrow’s challenges.

So, how do hybrid and experiential learning enhance your educational journey? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Northeastern University partners with Practera to drive digital experiential learning

September 7, 2020 Practera NewsLeave a comment
Kenneth Henderson Chancellor & Senior Vice President Learning at Northeastern University

Northeastern University Chancellor Ken Henderson will be the keynote speaker on Wednesday 9 September at the Melbourne Edtech summit, interviewed by The Australian Education Editor in Chief, Tim Dodd.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Northeastern is a global leader in experiential learning. It’s Co-op / internship program is one of the largest in the US with 27,000 students across 10 campuses and 3100 corporate partners around the world.

Professor Henderson will talk about how the future of co-operative education will be enabled by edtech – more digital, experiential, modular and lifelong, with new digital models bringing educators and employers together to service students from highschool through university and throughout their careers.

As part of its vision, Northeastern University has partnered with Australian experiential learning edtech Practera. Practera provides a flexible experiential learning platform delivering solutions from;

  • digital projects for high school students with the City of Boston
  • remote internships with a range of Community Colleges as part of a National Science Foundation project, and
  • corporate training through task first feedback & mentoring in the flow of work.

As well as being a customer and partner, Northeastern led Practera’s recent investment round to accelerate Practera’s rapid growth in the US, alongside existing investor Main Sequence Ventures.

Wes Sonnenreich, co-founder and co-CEO of Practera now based in Boston, “We are excited at the opportunity to work with Northeastern University more closely and bring to life our shared vision of creating opportunity through experiential learning. We are proud that we have developed a platform primarily in Australia, which leading US experiential learning thought leaders are now recognising as best in class.”

Register for the free virtual summit.

Professor Laura-Anne Bull joins Practera to drive Academic Partnerships.

August 16, 2020 Practera NewsLeave a comment
Laura-Anne brings 15 years of Senior University Executive experience to Practera.

Practera is pleased to welcome Professor Laura-Anne Bull to the team as Executive Director of Academic Partnerships.

As a recent Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students, committed digital innovator and Practera customer, Laura-Anne is well placed to work with our Higher Education customers in Australia and globally.

About the appointment, Laura-Anne said, “Experiential learning is a strategic opportunity space for Universities seeking to attract & retain students, enhance their employability and engage industry. 2020 is proving to be a year like no other and institutions have had to adapt quickly to becoming more digitally enabled whilst remaining cost-effective. A great deal of the heavy lifting has been done by university staff but there is still more work to do. I wanted an opportunity to develop my own skills and experience in digital innovation and edtech as these are crucial to the future of our sector. I’d worked with Practera before so I knew that they were global leaders delivering amazing impact for their customers and also great to work with. So having made the call to ‘disrupt myself’ in this time – it was a natural discussion and I’m now delighted to be part of the team. I’m looking forward to working with a range of colleagues from across the sector as we work in partnership to define our ‘new normal’ and continue to position Australia as a global leader in tertiary education where all our students engage in the best student experience anywhere in the world.”

Practera Co-Founder and Co-CEO Beau Leese agreed. “We’ve had years of edtech innovation compressed into months this year, and the next few years will see further innovation required to develop new value propositions for domestic & international students and industry partners. Having worked with Laura-Anne previously I knew her as a strategic digital innovator with a passion for student experience, access and equity – values that really align with our mission. I really respect that someone of Laura-Anne’s calibre has joined an edtech startup and she will be well placed to help our customers and leadership team with her insights and experience.”

Laura-Anne brings 15 years of Senior University Executive experience to the role. Most recently, Laura-Anne was Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students at James Cook University. Prior to her role as DVC with JCU, Laura-Anne was PVC Student Engagement and Equity at UniSA, Registrar Student Life at ANU, and Head of Student Experience, Registrar and Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. Laura-Anne has worked as a Development Engineer with Syngenta & British Gas and holds a PhD in Chem Engineering.

Laura-Anne will join longstanding Practera Senior Academic Advisor Professor @Tony Watson as resident former Senior University Executives. Tony is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor International and Executive Dean Computing, Health & Science with Edith Cowan University.

Practera platform allowed learning to go on during virus shutdown

February 18, 2020 Practera News1 Comment

A version of this article about our Practera programs was first published in The Australian on 19 Feb 2020.

Around Australia, Universities are currently responding to a serious challenge – how to support the international students – predominantly from China – whose commencement has been impacted by novel Coronavirus. As of the first week of February, 106,680 Chinese international students with visas to study at universities and schools remain stuck outside Australia, – 56% of the entire cohort. Estimates of the potential adverse economic impact on Australia currently range from $3 – $8 billion.

Projects Programs supporting the majority of Australian Universities

Edtech startup Practera is currently supporting more than 20 Australian Universities and a number of State Governments to provide industry project experiences with hundreds of Australian employers to thousands of international students. However this year, a substantial proportion of the participating students – more than 20% – have been impacted by Coronavirus travel restrictions.

Davina Potts, Associate Director Careers, Employability & Global Learning at Melbourne University has a number of impacted students participating in Study Melbourne’s Live Projects program. Live Projects is a 3 week industry project experience where students work to solve a challenge for an Australian business, government or community organisation. It ordinarily involves both in-person meetings and online collaboration. Davina said that “Work Integrated Learning experiences like Live Projects help our students develop invaluable, authentic Australian workplace experience. We were pleased that the Practera platform was able to be quickly reconfigured to support a high quality online only WIL experience for our impacted international students.”

GET A FREE DEMO TODAY – call 0449 192 291 or message programs@practera.com

A focus on student experience and industry engagement

Monash University Commerce student and Study Melbourne Student Ambassador Yi Su, arrived in Australia just hours before the travel ban was put into place and decided to self-quarantine. From her home in Melbourne’s suburbs, she is working collaboratively with her team of Chinese students at home in Shanghai, Beijing, Nanjing, and stuck in a hotel room in Bangkok to complete their project for an Australian tech startup. Yi Su – “It is a very challenging time, and I am grateful that we have been offered a solution for students who can’t be here in person. This virtual Live Project allows my peers and I to improve our employability skills and practice online collaboration by engaging in a real project with an Australian company. Our client and mentor have been really encouraging and supportive of our situation.”

Industry clients and mentors have been keen to support the students. Yi Su’s team Mentor Li Zhang is the CEO of the Australia-China Economic Trade & Investment Expo (ACETIE) “I have been trying to be extra supportive to the team who are working hard and are grateful to be able to complete this project. I’ve been emphasising that the future of work will demand transnational online collaboration, and therefore this was a great experience to work collaboratively in a digital environment to deliver a great project outcome.”

Practera online learning at equivalent quality to face to face models

Hayley Bolding, Practera Executive Director ANZ, and her team have been working with customers like Davina around Australia to respond to the evolving situation. Hayley said, “The flexibility of our technology platform has allowed us to adapt the program seamlessly to an online environment, replacing in-person elements with virtual ones. We’re confident in making adjustments as our technology has been demonstrated to enable delivery of online project based learning at equivalent quality to face to face models. Our engineering team including members in China, have been able to work quickly to ensure Practera is configured to support an high quality user experience in mainland China”

In NSW, Careers Service Manager, Lucinda Crossley-Meates from the University of Sydney Business School, manages Job Smart, the Business’ School’s award winning digitally enabled employability program for international students. She is facing a similar challenge, how to adapt to engage and support incoming students in the face of travel restrictions and delays. “Working together with a technology partner like Practera shows how we can flexibly overcome significant challenges to support our international students. Using innovative models like online projects and work simulations in our Job Smart program, the University of Sydney Business School is preparing to support the student experience for our students whose commencement may be impacted. Practera is helping us with optionality for our planning to meet a range of scenarios.”

If you want to GET A DEMO or learn more about how you can offer our projects to your students, reach out directly to Hayley Bolding, Executive Director, Practera Australia & New Zealand (M. 0449 192 291) or learn more on our projects programs website.

Practera Nano Projects: How we run successful team-based industry projects for students – 100% online

February 6, 2020 Customer SuccessLeave a comment

We often see surprised faces when we talk about our success in partnering with universities to provide our Nano Projects: full-service authentic work experiences for their students – 100% online and at the lowest cost in the market. That’s why we decided to write about how it works and what the experience is like for students, participating industry partners and universities.

Practera is collaborating with 20 Australian Universities to provide online project experiences, a unique experiential learning opportunity that matches student teams to industry partners, to thousands of domestic and international students.

In their team, each students is expected to spend about 25h of effort to solve a real business challenge described in their project brief.

By offering these guided 3-week industry projects, students learn critical 21st century employability skills like communication, teamwork and problem solving and start building their professional network.

The projects are sourced from hundreds of Australian employers, who provide direct feedback on the student deliverables. Because of the short duration, we call these short-term, high-impact online experiences “Nano Projects”.

For example, we have a team of Chinese students who are at home in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dalian, which will complete their project with an Australian company virtually, guided and facilitated by their Practera app.

Due to our large network of industry providers, we are able to provide Nano Projects that are relevant to the student’s degree or major.

Online Industry Feedback Loop

Innovative technology is the secret to success

The Nano Projects, as well as all of our other services and programs, are delivered via our experiential learning technology platform. The flexibility the platform has allowed us to transform traditional projects into our Nano Projects format, replacing in-person elements with virtual ones and adapting the program seamlessly to an online environment.

Program coordinators are able to monitor and keep track of everyone’s learning experience through the Practera administrator interface. Data analytics and automated recommendations on how to improve participant satisfaction and learning outcomes give educators the super powers needed to manage and quality assure large online cohorts.

Based on experiential learning pedagogy and backed by research

Due to our recent research of the quality of online project based learning, we know how to make these changes while preserving the authenticity and educational value of the experience in online projects. By analysing more than 200 projects, we were able to prove that these experiences are pedagogically sound and of the same quality than comparable in-person project based learning experiences.

Our “Quality in online Project-based Learning” research white paper is available for free and was presented at ACEN conference in 2018.

Nano Projects – A simple, scalable solution for higher education providers

“Practera is an innovative technology and programs partners for the University of Melbourne in delivering experiential learning. Practera have delivered online and in person projects for hundreds of students across faculties with outstanding results.”

Dr. Davina Potts
Director Global Leadership and Employability University of Melbourne

We offer Nano Projects as a full-service product. Additionally to the technology, which hosts any of our experiential learning experiences, we provide 5 key services to enable a truly end-to-end solution without extra effort for university customers.

Client sourcing & matching

We source real, authentic clients who provide us with project briefs. You can choose the discipline and our team of experts ensures that all projects are appropriate for your students.

Content & platform

Throughout their project, your students will be guided by high quality content delivered through the Practera mobile interface. Pre-defined milestones, activities and tasks ensure that student teams know what to do and when to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Participant support

Each project is supported by dedicated Practera support staff who ensure that teams and project clients are on track. Our support staff consists of educators and practitioners with years of experience in delivering experiential learning programs.

Digital Certificate

At the end of every project, all participants receive a digital certificate.

Reporting & Quality Assurance

Our expert program coordinators ensure the quality of each experience by monitoring and proactively nudging students towards successful project outcomes. At the conclusion of each experience, a cohort report of all your participating students is provided to you and your team.

“Practera has delivered high quality, industry engaged project programs for the Business School at reasonable cost, both in curriculum and extracurricular. Practera has been a trusted, reliable partner for more than 5 years.”

Lucinda Crossley-Meates
Manager, University of Sydney, Business School Careers & Employability Office

Success in numbers

In 2019, we have successfully provided Nano projects to more than 2,000 students from most of Australia’s universities. Our satisfaction ratings from students, industry clients and university customers are constantly exceeding expectations.

With >90% engagement and completion rates for these often extra-curricular activities, we are proud to have created a successful offer to systematically build students work experience, 21st century skills and professional networks alongside study.

For 2020, we are on track to triple the number of students in our Programs and hope to collaborate with you soon.

Get started today

If you are interested in our Nano Projects for your students at small, medium or large scale, please feel free to reach out to us: programs@practera.com or visit our programs page.

Note: All our programs can be run in-house as well, we are happy to teach you the ropes and provide access to the Practera platform to give you and your colleagues the super powers needed to effectively and efficiently create, deliver and quality assure your experiential learning programs.

Christmas Newsletter 2019

December 20, 2019 Practera NewsLeave a comment

As 2019 draws to a close the Practera team wish you and your families a happy festive season and bright 2020. We’ve had an awesome 2019 and hope you have too.

PRACTERA CUSTOMER SUCCESS

Enabling inspiring experiential learning programs

We’re very proud that in 2019 we helped more educators deliver high quality experiential learning to more to students and professionals than ever before. We doubled our customer base in Australia, US and Canada, now including >60% of Australian Universities. Some highlights include;

The University of Sydney won a prestigious AFR Higher Education award for the Job Smart employability program powered by Practera, which has helped improve employment outcomes of more than 10,000 students by 300% 

Practera has been adopted for professional development applications by US thought leaders Northeastern University and Institute for Experiential Learning

7 Universities piloted a new low cost, high quality digital ‘nano project’ model, which grew from 0 – 1,000 students and will be adopted by 20 Universities for 2020 – download the research

Boston University expanded its transnational health development projects program to 17 developing countries in Africa, Central and South America

Practera is enabling Study Perth to provide digital employability experiences and micro-credentialing for 50,000 international students in Western Australia – see a product demo here

4 Australian State Governments are using Practera to break down employability barriers with authentic 3-week industry projects to >1000 globally diverse students from 25 Universities with >150 employers

Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre Association adopted Practera as its experiential learning platform to enhance University-industry R&D collaboration

Redfern Legal Centre have launched a ground breaking legal information resource on Practera for NSW’s 260,000 international students in 7 languages – see a demo

If you are looking to strengthen or setup an experiential learning program, we would be happy to help!

PRACTERA PRODUCT UPDATES

Building the worlds leading platform for experiential learning

Rolling out ELSA, our first generation AI product. Experiential Learning Support Assistance automatically detects the most common issues and helps you resolve these with recommended actions, templates and smart tracking- see it in action

Winning a $2M grant to develop world leading student data privacy & security capability to keep your student’s data secure

If you would like to get a demo of Practera, just let us know!

PRACTERA TEAM & VALUES

The team behind our success

We’re super proud of our diverse team living our values in 6 countries around the world;

In 2019 we expanded to 4 Australian offices to better serve our customers, appointing new leaders Suzy Watson in Perth and Jamie Ford in Brisbane

Megan Underwood had a massive year, promoted to VP Canada, opening our Canada office and announced as a Global Learning 30under30 leader

Beenish Sami was promoted to Director of Engineering

Co-founder Suzy Watson was named as an Austrade Women in Tech finalist for 2019

Fun fact; 70% of our team are female from leadership team down and 70% culturally and linguistically diverse – a key contributor to our success

AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS & CONFERENCES

What we write, publish and present at events and conferences

Practera’s state based projects program was a finalist at the QS-Wharton Reimagine awards, our Skills Passport module won best in show at the Canadian e-learning conference, finalist at the Study NSW international education awards

Next year catch us at the following range of global conferences; APAIE (Canada), GIC (Canada), ACEN (Australia), AIEC (Australia), NAGCAS (Australia), ASU-GSV (US), LearnLaunch (US)

We are excited about how experiential learning will change the way we teach and how it will prepare the next generation of learners for the future of work.

If you’d like to learn more or discuss your experiential learning program please contact us.

Practera Projects Programs Shortlisted for the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Award

October 22, 2019 Practera NewsLeave a comment

We are extremely proud to announce that our “Projects Programs” for Business Students have been shortlisted for the Wharton-QS Reimagine Education Nurturing Employability Award. Up against over 1500 applications from educational innovators from 39 countries we convinced the judges with our proven results of more than 3,000 students who boosted their employability skills through our programs.

Practera’s Projects Programs are offered to all Australian and US Higher Education institutions and help educators to prepare their students for the future of work with authentic and relevant industry projects, without compromising on quality of learning outcomes.

The projects, which are sourced from Practera’s extensive network of project providers, give students the opportunity to participate in short, team-based experiential learning. Participants work with an industry professional on their real world problem, find solutions and present the findings to their client. Students frequently mention and demonstrate immense improvements in critical 21st century skills like critical thinking, complex problem solving, teamwork and communication.

If you’d like to learn more about Practera’s Projects Program offerings and how you could enrol your students in on of our full-service programs, please get in touch with Hayley Bolding, Executive Director of Programs hayley@practera.com.

Practera will showcase their Business Projects Program to over 600 educational leaders at the 2019 Reimagine Education Conference in London, England this December 9th & 10th.

Edtech Startup Practera opens Perth office

October 16, 2019 Practera NewsLeave a comment

Experiential learning startup Practera will open a Perth office to work more closely with customers in WA, including making the Practera platform available to all 50,000 international students through StudyPerth’s “Employability Perth” initiative.

Speaking at the 2019 Australian International Education Conference (AIEC) in Perth today, StudyPerth Executive Director Philip Payne said, “Through digital technologies, we are aiming to put Employability at the heart of the Perth International student value proposition – demonstrating that Perth is not just a great place to live and learn, but to launch global careers.” 

Practera will deliver a ‘Welcome to Perth’ orientation experience, Peer Mentoring ‘Buddy’ program and a Skills Passport eportfolio & microcredential platform.

Practera’s COO and Co-Founder Suzy Watson, a Perth expat, UWA Science and Curtin Accounting alumna, and a 2019 Australian Women in Tech finalist, is relocating to Perth to spearhead local operations following 12 years in Sydney.

At AIEC, Watson spoke about Practera’s involvement in providing the technology to power scalable micro-credentialling & employability initiatives for international students with Study Perth, the Australian Government through the Australia Awards program and the Queensland Government through Study Queensland.

About Perth, she said, “I’m really excited about working on a world leading initiative in my hometown to deliver digitally enabled employability skills, experiences and micro-credentials to international students at large scale. I look forward to deepening our relationships with customers here in WA as well, and hopefully sharing some of our experience from Australia and around the world.”

Practera works with more than a third of the Universities in Australia and a range of Government agencies & businesses to power skill building programs and better prepare learners for the future of work. These are programs like team projects, work simulations, accelerators, mentoring, internships, study abroad and competency credentialling. In addition to Perth, Practera has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the US and Canada.

If you’d like to know more, contact suzy@practera.com

We’re excited to be a core part of the Employability Perth vision, for every international student to have the opportunity to undertake a range of authentic experiences which build their skills, experience and employability around their study – leading to a unique personal portfolio accessible to their future employers.

Let’s talk section above footer – Practera

Let’s talk

Submit a project

Submit a project brief to gain access to student teams around the world at no cost.
For Industry partners.
SUBMIT A PROJECT

Connect for a discussion

Contact us for a discussion around how Practera can help you deliver your experiential learning vision.
For Educators and Universities.
START A CONVERSATION

Useful links