The Project Search team at the University of Aberdeen has become the first provider in the North East to receive the Developing Young Workforce Quality Assurance accreditation at Gold level.
Developing the Young Workforce regional groups were established to implement the findings of the national Commission, chaired by Sir Ian Wood, to better prepare children and young people aged 3-18 for the world of work. The DYW Quality Accreditation is awarded to partnerships that encourage the employment of young people and meet a core set of standards to support the development of excellence in the region. It is awarded at three levels : bronze, silver and gold.
Mr Andrew Thomson, Project SEARCH Tutor, said “Developing the Young Workforce Regional Groups were set up by the Scottish Government to implement the Wood Commission report - they are led by private sector organisations, and act as a single point of contact to encourage greater engagement between employers and education providers. Our accreditation shows that we are delivering a valuable service to businesses across the North East.”
Mrs Heather Crabb, Employer Partner Co-ordinator for Project SEARCH commented “We are absolutely delighted to have received this accreditation, which will be an enormous boost to our efforts to raise our profile amongst the local business community. It follows a successful audit of the programme by representatives from Project SEARCH USA earlier this year and is testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of our Interns and our on-site team.”
The accreditation evaluation report noted that “DYW was very impressed with the Project SEARCH programme, the attention to detail demonstrated by staff and the level of involvement demonstrated by staff and parents”.
Since the launch of the scheme 8 weeks ago, 7 awards have been made across the North East of Scotland and so the Project SEARCH team is delighted to be announced as the first to merit gold level accreditation.