Posted 25 October 2019
“I have been overwhelmed by the level of support for this ground-breaking project and we are now also seeing links to our website being embedded in a variety of careers advice pages and also those of surveying firms”
Andrew Black, a senior lecturer at Harper Adams University, launched the Grow Your Future website earlier this year to promote Rural Practice Chartered Surveying as a career to a more diverse audience including those from a disadvantaged background. Since the launch in April, the project has gained an impressive list of endorsements from key players in the industry including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the NFU, The Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, the Tenant Farmers Association and The Pipeline Industries Guild.
Rural Practice Chartered Surveying is an incredibly broad and varied profession with excellent career opportunities and job satisfaction. However many people and, more importantly, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are unaware of this as a career path. Andrew saw the opportunity to create a valuable resource for young people and the Grow Your Future project started to come to life. Generous funding and support came from Higher Horizons+, part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) which aims to increase participation in higher education in England. Not only does the website have a wealth of information about the career itself but it also has lots of interesting and varied case studies that demonstrate what it is like to work in the profession. There are also blogs and an interactive valuation game which sees users taking on the role of a Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor and assigning values to many typical items found on a farm.
Andrew said: “I have been overwhelmed by the level of support for this ground-breaking project and we are now also seeing links to our website being embedded in a variety of careers advice pages and also those of surveying firms”
In recent months, Andrew is not the only one to see the value of the Grow Your Future initiative. Many key organisations have been keen to show their support, including some of the biggest names in the industry. These include the National Farmers’ Union, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Other industry supporters include the Agricultural Law Association, the CLA, and the Livestock Auctioneers’ Association.
On the project’s future, Andrew said: “I will know the project has been a true success when the first student enrols on a degree course who, before Grow Your Future, had never even heard of chartered surveying”
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