A huge congratulations to students from Early Childhood, Social Studies, Career Development and Coaching Studies and Career Education, Information and Guidance in HE, on completing their studies!

While we were sad that we were unable to physically celebrate Winter Graduation this year, it was lovely to celebrate online with a few of our students.

Here, Gill Frigerio, Associate Professor, Career Studies and Coaching Programmes, congratulates our students on their achievements.

"Congratulations to all the students who were given awards at our November exam boards, whether it be a Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring, a Postgrad Award in Careers Leadership or a Masters in Career Development and Coaching Studies! We were delighted to be able to mark the occasion with some students on Monday, in lieu of the actual graduation ceremonies for MA graduates that would have taken place this week. We heard from students who have been awarded PG Certificates, Diplomas and MAs about their learning from the course and how they are taking creative and innovative steps in their practice as a result. We have all been working in challenging circumstances over the last year and for these students to have concluded their studies in this period is an even bigger achievement. Well done everyone!"

In the next feature in our series focusing on our undergraduate entrepreneurs, we meet the team behind Butterfly, a new app taking flight on campus.

Alex Reid, Zain Mobarik and Josh Okusi (pictured above, left to right) are a team with an ambitious vision – they plan to “put the social back into social media” with their app, Butterfly.

Second year Economics student Alex and his friends were workshopping ideas for a new sorting algorithm Josh had developed. They realised that they had a bigger vision than simply ranking undergraduates according to their popularity – why not make an app that would help to bring digital friendships off the screen and into the real world?

Alex explains: “We all felt that social media has lost its way – far from being social, these days it is about passive scrolling and the consumption of entertainment, often far removed from our own day to day lives.

“We decided to create a social media app that is grounded in our community, with all the content shared on the app being relevant to the real lives of its users – and which puts the focus on enabling friendships in the real world.”

Butterfly is only available to users with a Warwick student email, which keeps the content grounded in the realities of campus life. As well as creating their profile pages – the Butterfly ‘Flashcard,’ – and posting thoughts and confessions, users can chat with their course-mates or explore societies and campus events before deciding to attend, taking a bit of the anxiety out of trying something new.

Regular giveaways and prizes keep the community engaged, and there are perks for registered users such as discounts. Alex says “We now have over 60 discounts at partner stores, exclusive to Butterfly users. Our partners now include Kasbah, Tenpin, Phat Buns, Royal Pug, and Boom Battle Bar Coventry.”

“We also have a fantastic partnership with Benugo,” Alex added. “Butterfly users can get 10 per cent off anything on the menu and we ran a competition last year where the app’s most enthusiastic users won a free meal with a plus one. That really captured our ethos of supporting students to grow their real-life friendships.”

Commenting on the app, first year student Sofia said: “Butterfly has completely changed my university experience at Warwick. It has built my confidence and encouraged me to go to loads of events.”

Since its launch in September last year Butterfly has been downloaded 3,000 times. Its creators have won Warwick’s Student Enterprise Competition and been accepted onto Google’s Startups for Cloud Programme.

The app is available in the App StoreLink opens in a new window and Google PlayLink opens in a new window .

We are delighted to announce that one of our recent graduates has been awarded The University’s Outstanding Student Contribution Award (OSCA) for 2023.

The Department of Politics and International Studies has achieved the Athena Swan Silver award, a prestigious UK charter mark that recognises the advancement of gender equality in higher education. This is an important acknowledgement of the ongoing dedication and progress of the department in promoting gender equality for staff and students.

Warwick Philosophy has been ranked 4th in the UK by The Times Good University Guide 2024.

The league table is made up of eight indicators including student satisfaction with teaching quality and their wider student experience, research quality, graduate prospects, entrance qualifications held by new students, degree results achieved, student/staff ratios, and degree completion rates.

We are delighted with the result, which reflects consistent high rankings in the National Student Survey (NSS) and strong graduate prospects.

Find out more here.

Are you interested in developing your skills, enhancing the student experience, and being paid in the process?

The Department of Sociology is currently inviting applications from finalist students for a number of 'Student Voice' Ambassador roles. Ambassadors will act as an interface between students and staff, feeding back both ways. The role will include, for example, inputting into departmental discussions on teaching policy and curriculum change.

If you are interested in this role, please send your CV and a supporting statement (of up to 350 words) outlining why you feel you would make a good 'Student Voice' Ambassador to the department’s Director of Student Experience, Dr Andre Celtel (A.Celtel@warwick.ac.uk).

The closing date for applications is 2 pm on Thursday 03 October 2019.