NEP UK has already made significant strides through its annual student open day, also known as SOD, with backing from broadcasters such as BT Sport, the BBC and Sky. The next open day, being held at its offices in Bracknell, is being held on Thursday 11 October. The days are designed to persuade undergraduates and even school children that they there are opportunities in outside broadcasting and broadcast engineering, with panels, opportunities to get hands-on in trucks, to film staged events put on during the day, and to speak to those already in the industry.

The student’s feedback opened up the conversation of diversity within NEP. SOD has led to NEP UK joining the charity Mama Youth Project as a Talent Pool Member, the creation of the NEP UK STEM Ambassador Programme, and it is currently working on the launch of a women’s mentorship programme. Additionally, the company has gained 10 staff members directly from former students that participated in SOD events, as well as 15 work experience students and 15 work placements.

To push the agenda forward, BBC and Sky, have already been through the process of increasing diversity within its businesses, and Mama Youth Project, a charity that has spent the last ten years training young people from under-represented backgrounds to succeed in the media industry.

Jack Etherley, head of Sky Academy, and who was seconded in December 2017 to Bolder Academy in the London Borough of Hounslow to support the development of this new secondary school, which opened in September. Also, Bob Clarke, founder and CEO at the Mama Youth Project. “What these people are helping me create is a focus on what we want to do here at NEP. NEP is so big I can’t just start an initiative about diversity, but I can start talking about it.

Two months ago the company set up the NEP UK science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) Ambassador Programme.

Students get hands-on at NEP UK’s SOD events. NEP UK has 20 staff on its books for the STEM Initiative, who volunteer to commit a minimum of one day per year as well as attending the NEP student day.  These volunteers go to different schools talking to students from the age of six years and up about jobs in broadcast. Sometimes the volunteers take an OB truck with them to give students a hands-on experience. “It’s literally about going out there and talking to kids about STEM subjects and how to get into this area,” said NEP UK's Marketing Manager.

This article was written by Heather Mclean for SVG Europe. Read the original here. With its fourth annual student open day rapidly approaching, NEP UK has stated that the students themselves are pushing the company to change its employee profile.