Bridge Academy London

Objective

To have a positive impact on student achievement, attainment and personal development by teaching technical and employability skills.

Overview and Main Activities

UBS’s Youth Employment Initiative supports a set of educational projects at all levels (elementary school, apprentice training, life-long learning, etc.) mainly through financial contributions from UBS and volunteering by UBS employees to bridge the gap between students and the business world.

The relationship between parental income and educational disadvantage in the UK is very strong. UBS’ partnership with the Bridge Academy, a school for 11-18 year olds in one of the most disadvantaged areas of London, aims to break this link. Both UBS and the Academy share common objectives:

• Increase overall student attainment
• Close attainment gap for students on free school meals
• Close destinations gap for students on free school meals (currently only four percent of students on free school meals attend a Russell Group University)
• Equip students with the 21st century skills they need to be successful

The partnership commenced with a £1 million donation from UBS, matched by a Wealth Management client. Since then 3,600 employees have provided 37,500 hours of support and UBS employees, clients and suppliers have donated a further £1 million.

UBS support includes:

• Governance and capacity building: Six UBS Managing Directors are members of the governing body.
• Supporting attainment: UBS volunteers provide support in specific subjects such as Mathematics, French, Spanish, Economics and IT. These are complemented by field trips, for example, to the UBS trading floor to illustrate how skills such as mathematics are used in practice.
• Work-related learning: UBS provides work experience placements in the firm along with CV workshops, interview practice and help with developing workplace capabilities.
• Promoting access to university: Students in their final years are offered mentoring from a UBS Graduate Trainee to help them with university applications and interview practice.
• Support students personal development: UBS volunteers facilitate days to support students in their personal development, tackling relevant issues such as homophobic bullying.

UBS encourages its employees to volunteer at the Academy by offering two paid volunteering days per year per employee.

Success Factors and Challenges

Most critical success factors:

• All UBS Community Affairs activity is governed by the UK Community Affairs Committee
• Six UBS senior leaders are governors and sit on key school committees infrastructure Committee
• Governors submit formal annual report back to Community Affairs Committee
• Partnership Board monitors and evaluates activity and reports progress
• Day-to-day management that includes: a Bridge Relationship Director and a volunteering manager; regular meetings between Bridge Academy and UBS; formal “memorandums of understanding” that underpin all partnership activities

Main challenges:

• Engaging employees in a way that best maximizes their skills (though stakeholder feedback, including employee volunteer survey feedback, continually improves practice and impact)

Recommendations for Others

Maintaining continuous high-quality dialogue between partners is critical to ensuring that the partnership delivers maximum impact. It is also imperative to ensure that monitoring and evaluation is an integral element of project delivery in order to measure impact.

Replicability and Scalability

How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Easy: The programme is currently replicating across the UK through the BITC initiative Business Class for which UBS is a national sponsor.

How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Easy: Through BITC initiative Business Class, UBS has expanded the number of school business partnerships in London to 56.

About the Organization

Website: www.ubs.com
Sector: Banking and Capital Markets
Size (number of employees): 50,000-100,000
Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland