Southern Regional College Careers Service has once again successfully achieved the Matrix Quality Standard, the international benchmark for organisations that offer information, advice and guidance (IAG) as part of their core services or activities. The Careers Service team at SRC provides all-encompassing advice to current and prospective students, from those seeking clarity on course choices to career opportunities.
This distinctive quality standard allows organisations to evaluate and improve their advice and support services, which ultimately helps individuals in their career choices. It is a robust framework, composed of 4 elements, which define best practice: Leadership and Management, Resources, Service Delivery and Continuous Quality Improvement.
To achieve the Standard, the College had to meet 28 criteria that focused on the quality and efficiency of the service delivery and the management of people and resources - a demanding process by any measure.
The virtual assessment, which lasted for 2 days on December 11th and 12th December, was conducted by a certified external assessor Mr Andy Richardson, who used an outcome-based approach; the assessor collected various evidence sources such as virtual interviews with groups of students, SRC’s Senior Management Team, SRC Career Team, Campus Services, the Student Engagement Manager and lecturing staff as well as external stakeholders such as the Department of Economy Careers Manager and Careers Teachers from local feeder schools.
The assessor witnessed the diversity and effectiveness of the information, advice and guidance provided by the SRC Careers Service. The assessment report noted:
“Staff across the College were very clear about the contributions the Service makes to the work of the College, with comments that included students exhibiting increased confidence and self-esteem, increased personal and career aspirations, taking personal responsibility for decisions made, gaining a qualification, and progressing, etc. Students described how during every intervention with Service staff, progress made towards the achievement of their personally agreed career outcome(s) are reviewed and the next steps agreed.”
Frank Mc Court, Careers and Learning Resources Manager at Southern Regional College commented:
“The accreditation is a major achievement and demonstrates the tremendous amount of work achieved by all those involved”.
Lorraine McKeown, Assistant Director for Student Services and Marketing at Southern Regional College further commented:
“The result is great testament to the excellent work delivered by the dedicated Student Services team. I am absolutely delighted that the information, advice and guidance that we provide has been again recognised as being of the very highest quality. It is marvellous to have this again confirmed by Matrix Quality accreditation.”
To make an appointment with the Careers Service team at SRC, please contact the team at 028 3751 2808 or by email at mail_careers@src.ac.uk.