We’re thrilled to announce that Common Purpose has won the ‘Championing Diversity’ award at the 2018 PIEoneer Awards!

This annual event recognizes organizations and individuals who do outstanding work in international education, with categories including ‘Progressive education delivery’ and ‘Public/private partnership of the year’. This year’s awards ceremony took place in London on 7 September, with over 200 nominations and winners from more than 20 countries.  

The ‘Championing Diversity’ award was conferred on the Common Purpose Global Leader Experience Abroad programme, an experiential learning programme for university students. Andy Coxall, CEO of Common Purpose Student Experiences, accepted the award. Our thanks to The PIE News for presenting us with this award and the Hotcourses Group who sponsored the diversity award!

The Global Leader Experience Abroad is a programme for university students, which immerses them in a major city to tackle a global challenge. Students get beneath the surface of the city and develop Cultural Intelligence in the process, building new networks with fellow students, contributors and leading employers both locally and globally. We deliver programmes in 70 cities globally, from Chicago to Manila, and partner with universities around the world to develop students’ leadership skills.

Andy will also be speaking at EIAE Geneva 2018 today with Paul Blackmore, the Divisional Head for Student Employability & Academic Success at the University of Exeter. The University of Exeter is one of our partners who offer the Global Leader Experiences to their students. The session at EIAE, titled “Employability presents: A brighter future for next-generation leaders”, will discuss projects helping to ensure the next generation of leaders gain the cultural awareness and cross-cultural skills through mobility experiences that will enable them to tackle societal problems and effect change around the world.

Common Purpose and the University of Exeter have devised a model to increase the participation of Widening Participation (WP) students in outward mobility programmes, which breaks down barriers to participation and ensures that students from all backgrounds are able to broaden their horizons. This gives students who have not travelled internationally and who would not normally acquire a global experience the opportunity to do so, and develop the skills needed to create a positive impact in the world.

Follow us on Twitter to see live updates from EIAE Geneva 2018!