The event kicked off with the opening from Ellen Bastiaens, the project manager for Student Employability at UM. She presented the long-term ambitions combined with concrete results to about 80 attendees of the seminar. Currently, there are more than 50 students & staff at faculties involved in the co-creation of an optimal environment for the students to work on their professional and personal development and have the necessary support in becoming employable graduates.

The participants of the Student Employability Seminar had also an opportunity to attend several workshops. Depending on their interest, they could experience bits and pieces of several hot topics related to career and wellbeing, learn more about employability at other universities or participate in a so-called “Ask the expert” session on UM’s Online Company Page. In addition to this, there was a pre-workshop organized on University of York Strength Programme, where the attendees could discover more about Strengths-based development and the benefits this methodology can bring for both students and graduates.

The event continued with a fruitful discussion with one of UM’s alumni, Mike Verhiel, who shared his experience on how the university prepared him to his future career and what can be possibly done in the future to take employability one step further.

Overall, the seminar ended on a high note, with participants positively reflecting on the whole event and eagerly continuing the discussion during the networking drinks. When sharing the impressions of the Seminar, they expressed a strong interest in the follow-up and further strengthening of connections both internally and externally in order to create a better future for UM students and positive student experience.”