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/agcas2025
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