Celebrating the most wholesome Partnership Collaboration
- , by Sarah Richens
- 2 min reading time
A couple of years ago, the Accommodation Services team at Strathclyde & UniKitOut came up with a brilliant idea to better support their care leaver students.
We’re so incredibly proud to share a such fantastic example of partnership in action with The University of Strathclyde.
A couple of years ago, the Accommodation Services team at Strathclyde & our student facing brand, UniKitOut came up with a brilliant idea to better support their care leaver students. Recognising that every student’s needs are different - and that it isn’t always clear what items will be needed the most, they chose to move away from the traditional model of investing partner commission into a wholesale supply of bedding packs. Instead, they redirected this funding into individual UniKitOut vouchers, giving students the choice and flexibility to use the support in a way that would make the greatest difference to them. UniKitOut have a keen focus on corporate social responsibility and contributed to the value of these vouchers to make the funding go further, and as a result, a new idea was born.
What started as a local initiative in Glasgow has now inspired nationwide change, and has now become an integral part of our national partner programme offer. For every £10 spent, we give back £7 in voucher value - that’s 70% reinvested directly into enabling universities across the UK to provide vital support for the students who need it most. And the best part? Because so many students already order from UniKitOut, the process is simple, gives them choice to purchase exactly what they need, and the orders are handled with the anonymity and discretion these students deserve.
For us, this is exactly what true collaboration looks like: listening, building incredible relationships and bouncing ideas around, which in this instance resulted in us creating something with a real lasting impact on students’ lives. A HUGE thank you to Keira Austin, Carole Carson and the Strathclyde team for always being open to new ideas to support students, truly leading the way, and demonstrating just how powerful partnerships can be.
Here’s to many more ideas like this, where working together well and truly enhances students’ arrival experience, and supports those who truly need it the most.