A partnership between the civil service and the University of Sheffield has scooped an award celebrating success and innovation in higher education.
The University of Sheffield and Department for Work and Pensions took home the industry partnerships award at the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services Awards for Excellence 2025 last week, recognising a programme of summer internships and 12-month placements offered through the Sheffield Policy Campus.
Award judges said the submission had “an incredible multi-year strategy, with societal impact beyond employability that fostered positive cross-uni collaboration throughout”.
The campus forms part of the government’s strategy to attract a more diverse cohort of civil servants and create opportunities for long-term policy careers in the region. The partnership includes paid summer and year-long student placements in the civil service, as well as networking opportunities.
Russell Matthew, deputy director for localism strategy at DWP, said the partnership is “central to our work to develop a future talent pipeline into the civil service across our northern hubs”.
“The quality of students has been consistently high, and they have brought energy, enthusiasm and fresh perspectives to key work areas in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education,” he said.
He said some former interns had gone on to secure permanent roles in the civil service, adding: “We look forward to continuing and building on this partnership in the future.”
The Cabinet Office, Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office first unveiled their “vision” for the policy campus in a policy paper two years ago, as part of the then-Conservative government’s plans to “build a critical mass beyond Whitehall, to drive better policymaking and contribute to the levelling-up agenda”.
It outlined a plan to “develop Sheffield and the South Yorkshire region’s role as one of the leading centres for policy making outside London, bringing benefits for Yorkshire and the Humber, and supporting other major cities in a network that will bring the whole country more directly into shaping major decisions”.
The partnership is now described as “the UK’s first major policy hub outside Whitehall”.
Sarah Hunter, employability manager and Sheffield Policy Campus lead at the University of Sheffield, said the campus partnership “creates transformative career development opportunities for students to work on projects delivering real-world change, and we’re very pleased it has been recognised by our peers”.
“The partnership also serves as further proof of the University of Sheffield’s commitment to industry and government partnerships that deliver tangible benefits for students, wider society and the UK’s evolving policy landscape.”
A University of Sheffield Economics student who undertook a 10-week placement with DWP said the experience changed her career plans: “At the start of the placement, I decided it would be good experience, and that was it – but by the end, I was convinced that the civil service was for me.
“I learnt so much about policy and had so many amazing experiences. I grew so much in confidence over the 10 weeks that I didn’t feel like the same person by the end."
AGCAS is a membership organisation for higher education student career development and graduate employment professionals. The annual awards aim to "celebrate fresh thinking and innovation at a time of increasing challenges" in the higher education sector.