Skills

Venture Graduates

Status: Delivery

Supporting local SME’s source new talent through the provision of a free graduate search and selection process.

What is the project about?

Venture Graduates aims to enhance productivity, innovation and economic growth by linking talented graduates with ambitious businesses in the Cardiff Capital Region.

The scheme offers businesses a range of free services to overcome barriers to recruitment including human resource support and region-wide marketing of their role while graduates on the scheme will participate in a coherent graduate scheme and complete a fully funded qualification.

See our website here.

Investment and leverage

£1.54m

CCR Investment

£10.77m

Projected Leverage

Expected benefits and outcomes

Highlighting the CCR as an attractive destination for graduates to begin their careers and retaining talent in the region.
The creation of a graduate talent pool ready to engage with businesses in the local area.
Improving employability skills and career prospects of graduates through experience and undertaking a fully funded ILM qualification.
Seizing near term opportunities to match the skills demand in the CCR with graduate talent.
Providing a free and efficient service to local employers, removing the barriers to recruitment and stimulating job creation.
Providing networking, mentoring and advice to growing businesses and ambitious graduates through partnering with GlobalWelsh.
In the long term, enabling business growth in the region through having a skilled and driven workforce.
More intelligent labour market, building on the skills base in the CCR.
Links and opportunities to the CCR Economic and Industrial Growth Plan.
Bolt on and extend the existing remit of the Future Skills Ready Framework.

Key deliverables

500 graduates to be appointed across the region by March 2024, unlock £10 million in private leverage.

Key partners and people involved

The programme has been developed in a partnership between the City Deal Office, the University of South Wales, Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the Open University in Wales, business representative groups and the local authority economic and business engagement teams in response to the low graduate retention rate in the region.