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Student placement initiative paves way for future community investment
Liberata, one of the UK’s leading business process outsourcing providers has completed a successful trial student placement initiative in partnership with Bromley Council and Bromley College.
Eleven local IT students from Bromley College aged between 16 and 21 have gained valuable work experience working with Liberata, which provides IT support for Bromley Council. The trainees are studying for the BTEC National for IT Practitioners and the Advanced Vocational Certificate in Education ICT.
The initiative was spearheaded by Robert Gogel, CEO of Liberata, as part of a drive to improve service to the Council and invest in the community. During the six-month placement programme the students worked with the Liberata team to produce user-friendly IT help guides as well as collecting and analysing data to better understand the IT problems that users face on a day-to-day basis.
Robert Gogel, CEO of Liberata said: “We are delighted that our pilot programme has been a tremendous success. We are committed to giving something back to the communities in which we work and at the same time improving customer service. The students have been enthusiastic and motivated, and we shall be rolling out similar initiatives in other areas in which we operate.”
Colin Bloom, executive councillor for local economy said: “This is an excellent example of a scheme where all parties benefit. We want to encourage more employers to work directly with our colleges and schools to give students such a positive introduction to the world of employment.”
Sheila Elliott Work Based Learning Co-ordinator at Bromley College said: “The students have grown in confidence and benefited from working with professionals in the IT industry. They have been given the chance to put theory into practice and we look forward to building out this programme in the next academic year.”
Feedback from the programme has been overwhelmingly positive. 95% of council officers involved confirmed that the students were able to help them with IT issues and 99% said they would benefit if Liberata repeated the service at regular intervals.
Consequently, four of the Bromley IT students entering the second year of their course will be retained for the autumn term and most of the students who have completed their second year will continue their internship at the Civic Centre or in Liberata’s London Bridge office.
Due to the success of this pilot, Liberata will be rolling out similar placement programmes as part of a wider ‘Regenerate & Liberate’ initiative.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
- Liberata www.liberata.com is one of the UK’s leading providers of outsourced business processes. With over 4,000 employees and 24 business centres across the UK, Liberata improves, streamlines and simplifies complex back-office processes, while reducing costs. Liberata works with public sector bodies including central government organisations and 22 local authorities, delivering over 50% of the outsourced revenue and benefits services in local government.
- For media enquiries, please contact 020 8313 4391, or email ann.clay@bromley.gov.uk
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