As the end of the year approaches we wanted to reflect on the transformational work that our alumni, friends and partners of the university have made possible throughout 2018.

Spring

Annual Hallam Fund Telephone Campaign Raised £75,000 - This year in our third annual telephone campaign, our student callers spoke to over 1500 alumni and raised an amazing £75,000 to support the Hallam Fund over the next five years. These donations will have a transformational impact on the lives of our students and researchers.

Sheffield Business School: Alumni Leaders Circle - April saw the launch of the SBS Alumni Leaders Circle, which is a small community of alumni who are in positions of leadership and influence from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds. The Leaders Circle is an opportunity for alumni to support our students and the Business School through mentoring, offering placements, internships, student visits and much more.

Summer

Alumni outreach in Europe - International outreach activity with our alumni took us to Europe this summer where we hosted events in both Spain and France. Our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Chris Husbands attended the Santander Universities Conference in Madrid and then met with alumni based in the city for a networking dinner. It was a valuable opportunity to reconnect with one of our international alumni communities.

In Paris, a group of alumni were invited to a networking dinner alongside students who are on placement in the area, reconnecting both former and current students of the University.

Santander pledges to support our students - This year saw the culmination of the first year of our a three year partnership agreement with Santander Universities. Launched by Santander in 1997, Santander Universities are one of the largest corporate supporters of university education, with almost 1,200 universities partners in over 20 countries across the world. Over our first year of working together, 39 students from Sheffield Hallam have been supported to launch their own businesses, experience global exchanges and secure internships with small businesses in the region. We are excited to watch the scheme grow to help more students over the next two years.

Autumn

Women in Engineering - We celebrated the end of the first 2 year programme which supports women in engineering at Sheffield Hallam to succeed, and shared the news that the next 2 year programme will once again be funded by AESSEAL. The funding will enable the continuation of the undergraduate prize and bursary programmes and the post graduate scholarship programme.

As we look ahead to the centenary of the Women's Engineering Society in 2019 we are working with our current and former students to build a network of support to help address the skills gap in the sector.

Launch of Hallam Give Crowdfunding site - October saw the launch of Sheffield Hallam’s very own crowdfunding site – Hallam Give. This exciting initiative has been set up to enable our students to raise money for projects which enhance the Hallam community, and beyond.

Winter

Graduation 2018 - This month we will award over 11,000 graduates and welcome around 8,000 of our 2018 graduates and their guests to City Hall to celebrate. Graduation marks the point where we officially welcome our most recent graduates into Hallam's alumni community.

Launch of departmental scholarships – This September we welcomed our first departmental scholarship students, funded entirely by generous donations to Sheffield Hallam University . The four new scholars who come from disadvantaged or under-represented backgrounds will be supported for the duration of their studies with a grant of £3,000 per year. We are looking forward to seeing our first scholarship students develop throughout their studies, and to welcoming our second cohort in September 2019.

Partnership with Wipro Limited is announced - A ground-breaking partnership between Sheffield Hallam University and global tech company Wipro Limited will seek to address the shortfall and high turnover of STEM teachers in South Yorkshire through a new support programme commencing in January 2019. The programme will support newly qualified and mid-career teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through the ‘Wipro Teacher Fellowship’ and ‘Wipro Teacher Mentor’ programmes at Sheffield Hallam’s Sheffield Institute of Education (SIoE).

This year we have seen the Hallam Fund continue to grow, which is supported entirely by donations from our alumni community. You have helped us to extend our support for current students who are estranged from their parents and offer life-changing opportunities for our students to gain real work experience internationally. This includes enabling students to work at the commonwealth games in Australia, and funding transformational research projects like our auxetic materials project which could increase life chances for premature babies and change neonatal care in the future.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to transforming more lives in the New Year.