This year City St George’s ranked as best in London, and as one of the top 10 universities in England, when it comes to the social mobility of its students.
Priding itself as the university of business, practice and the professions – City St George’s boasts a hugely diverse student population.
A large proportion of its home student body is made up of students who live in some of England’s most deprived households.
City St George’s: a top university for social mobility
Despite the rise of financial pressures in England which have caused students’ budgets to squeeze, the English Social Mobility Index (SMI) has shown City St George’s students continue to overcome economic challenges to establish bold, bright futures in the professional world upon graduating.
The SMI, compiled by London South Bank University, compares the ability of 101 higher education institutions of improving students’ life chances by combining access, continuation and graduation outcomes measures for undergraduate students.
Professor Susannah Quinsee is the Vice President of digital and student experience and leads on project areas including student attainment and student support. On the findings of this year’s SMI, Professor Quinsee said: “Students are our greatest priority at City St George’s, and one of our key social responsibilities is to help them achieve greater social mobility.
“Education has the power to transform lives. A large proportion of our student population come from financially underprivileged backgrounds and our ranking in the Social Mobility Index is testament to the dedication of our staff and students.
“We are really proud of the work our staff do to support our students to succeed and the successes of our students.”
Supports a diverse student population
Half of the University’s home undergraduate student population at City St George’s live in the bottom 40 per cent of England’s most deprived households.
Commuter students make up 64 per cent of home undergraduate students. Of the same cohort, 70 per cent of students are from backgrounds currently underrepresented in higher education.
In 2023-24, City St George’s provided over £2 million through bursaries, hardship funds and other financial support to students from low-income households, care leavers, young carers, refugees/asylum seekers and young estranged students.
Undergraduate psychology student Emily Baugh, 18, is one young person who has benefitted from support on offer at City St George’s.
Emily is a care leaver from South London who accessed a bursary and further support from City Cares, the University’s dedicated support network for care-experienced students. On her experience, she said: “Once you turn 18 as a care leaver, getting support from local boroughs can be a nightmare. I felt like I was left alone. I didn’t know who to go to and I didn’t know where to go next.
“I became more resourceful and applied to university and now I’m here. I feel more independent now than I did before. It’s an exciting time but I’m also nervous.”
“At City St George’s, we have access to hardship funds and it’s nice to know that if you need that it’s there. My designated staff member emailed me charities I could visit online offering information and advice.”
Award-winning employability initiatives
Prior to the merger, legacy City, University of London was also recognised for its outstanding commitment to providing undergraduate students with leading employability opportunities.
The Institute of Student Employers (ISE) presented City with the 2024 award for ‘Best University and Employment Engagement Strategy’ at its annual ceremony.
The ISE Awards 2024 celebrated and honoured outstanding achievements and innovations of those working across the sector, delivering 14 awards across development, education, marketing, recruitment, and strategy.
The category the University took the top spot for recognised Higher Education Institutions with ‘an outstanding commitment to develop meaningful relationships through engagement with employers.’
Gemma Kenyon, Director of Careers & Employability at City St George’s, said: “It is fantastic to be recognised for our dedication to supporting all undergraduate students access the employability education and professional experience they need to achieve career success. This is embedded through core, credit bearing parts of the curriculum at the University.”
Career Activation Programme and Graduate Attributes
Legacy City was among the first UK universities to make professional experience and career-focused modules a mandatory part of every undergraduate course for new students.
The pioneering approach, named the Career Activation Programme, aimed to enhance students’ experience, develop their skills and increase their chances of securing rewarding careers. Students complete both a Career focus module and a Professional experience module as part of their studies.
City St George’s Graduate Attributes are a set of five core skillsets aimed to help students launch a successful, fulfilling career. Students build and develop these attributes throughout their time studying at City St George’s through all programmes and extra-curricular activities.
In October 2023, government data found that City graduates earned higher salaries than their peers across all UK regions.
The data – referred to as Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) – looked at employment and earnings outcomes of graduates and postgraduates from English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) one, three, five and ten years after graduation.
It showed that for City graduates, the median earnings were approximately £7,000 above the figure for national HEIs and £5,000 above the figure for London HEIs.
On the horizon: breaking down barriers and reaching out to the local pupils
Looking to the future, social mobility will continue to be championed at City St George’s.
Most recently, The George Daniels’ Educational Trust made a £1.2 million donation to help break down barriers for engineering students from disadvantaged backgrounds at City St George’s.
The Widening Participation team run engaging events throughout the year for local secondary school students.
In March 2025, City St George’s will host 90 pupils from Black African, Caribbean and Mixed Heritage backgrounds to take part in professional networking sessions at the University.