Skills Award

Anyone can attend the training sessions offered by the Skills Award once they’ve registered, but if you would like the Award you will need to complete the requirements.

There are three requirements to be eligible for a Skills Award:

• Hold a Students' Union role of responsibility.
• Complete your compulsory role-specific training for your Students' Union role, if applicable.
• Attend at least one Skills Session and one Reflection Session. LinkedIn Learning sessions can also count as Skills Sessions, as long as they are at least one hour in duration and related to developing your employability.

Please note that the deadline to complete these requirements is 31st May 2025.

See below our full list of the wide range of different roles within the Students’ Union that you can take on that will mean you are eligible for a Skills Award. Some roles require a small time commitment, whilst others require a larger time commitment.

Eligible roles:

• Committee Members for a society, sports club or Raise and Give
• Heads of Media and Section Heads for Student Media
• Part-time Representatives, Officers, and Course Representatives
• Students’ Union Crew and Help Squad
• Community Volunteers (including volunteering with QMSU Volunteering, our Volunteer Groups and Community Foundation leaders)
• Members of Student Council and BLSA Board Members
• Student Trustee
• Student Staff employed by the Students’ Union (if you’re getting paid by the Students’ Union, you fall into this category)
• Sustainability Champions
• Student athletes on Talented Athlete Programme

A Students' Union role will enable you maximise your skill development and give you an opportunity to apply the skills you've gained through our training sessions. One easy way to get involved is setting up a volunteer profile with QMSU Volunteering and become a Community Volunteer! You can read more about how to log your hours as a QMSU volunteer on our FAQs page.

The requirements for the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Award:

Award	Role-specific Training	Skills Award Training*	Reflection Session
Bronze	✓	1	✓
Silver	✓	2	✓
Gold	✓	3	✓

*The Skills Award Training offer includes LinkedIn Learning courses. Please note that in order for LinkedIn Learning courses to count towards the Skills Award, it must relate to developing your employability skills and be at least 1 hour in duration.

All students with a QMUL IT account can access LinkedIn Learning courses for free. To find out more, please contact us at su-employability@qmul.ac.uk.

For those aiming for a Gold Skills Award which will go onto your HEAR transcript, you must have completed ten hours of unpaid training to be eligible. These ten hours can be made up of your three Skills Sessions and one Reflection Session, and then hours in your Students’ Union role. Please make sure to have completed these hours ahead of the 31st May 2025 deadline. You can find further information about the Gold Skills Award and your HEAR transcript on our FAQs page.

Skills Award will help you to:

• Develop your skills: By getting involved in Students’ Union activities and taking part in the Skills Award training, you will develop transferable skills such as leadership and communication.
• Recognition of your skills: All Skills Award completers get formal recognition from the University and the Students’ Union.
• Present your skills: You will learn how to present your skills to employers in CVs, applications and interviews.

We know that Skills Award participants all have different interests and career plans, so we organise a varied programme of training sessions to suit your needs.

Examples of training sessions include Public Speaking, Time Management, Mental Health First Aid, Inclusive Leadership, Resilience & Wellbeing and many others. You can view the full range of sessions available on the Training page. Please note that some sessions are only offered once per academic year, and spaces on sessions are limited, so sign up early to avoid disappointment.

LinkedIn Learning courses also count towards the Skills Award as long as they are at least 1 hour in duration and relate to developing your employability skills.

We’d love to hear from you if you have an idea for a new type of training we should organise. You can contact us at: su-employability@qmul.ac.uk.

You can request a digital certificate of attendance for attending a Skills Session or Reflection Session. You can upload these to your LinkedIn to demonstrate your interest in developing your employability skills, and show your progress on the programme.

You will also receive a digital certificate at the end of the academic year if you are eligible for a Bronze, Silver or Gold Skills Award which can be uploaded to your LinkedIn profile.

If you achieve a Gold Skills Award, you will also get recognition of your Skills Award on your electronic transcript (called HEAR) from the university.