Our impartial approach

At the University of Edinburgh, we’re committed to keeping our campus a place where everyone can freely inquire, study and learn; an environment where all members of our community are able to freely explore and express our thoughts. 

Academic freedom & freedom of expression

At the Careers Service, we offer fair and impartial careers education, information, advice and guidance, including access to resources and opportunities, to help you make informed decisions aligning with your own personal values.

Most importantly, we’re here to support all our students to explore and discover their futures - we do not define what that future should be.

Understanding what’s important to you

Exploring your own personal values

We want to empower you to reflect on your university experience, develop your skills and personal attributes, understand how to market these, and interact confidently in the workplace.  

People want different things from their careers and people with similar skills may, because of differing values, wish to use them for varying purposes. For example, you could put good communication skills to use in advertising, teaching or banking.

We can support you to reflect on and recognise your personal values, which is a crucial step towards finding opportunities that align with what’s important to you.

Understand yourself

Finding out about different careers

Respecting different views

We recognise and value the diversity of our student body, shaped by a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences. Each student brings their own personal values and beliefs.

Our aim is to support all students to make informed choices about their futures, and we believe that access to the widest possible range of opportunities helps to achieve this. We also understand that, because students hold different values and preferences, not every experience or opportunity we offer will feel right for everyone.

We respect every student’s right to express their views on issues that matter to them, and we are committed to fostering an environment where people can be heard and engaged through open, thoughtful, respectful dialogue and mutual understanding.

The Careers Service and student activism

Listening and responding to your interests

We listen and respond to student views, needs and interests regularly, and feed this into our planning. We listen through:

We seek and welcome feedback from students: careers@ed.ac.uk

Committed to impartiality

In short, we are committed to being fair and neutral. We promise to give you unbiased help and support, no matter the job or industry you’re interested in.

As members of Graduate Futures Institute, the careers service at University of Edinburgh is bound by a professional code of ethics that requires us to act with impartiality in the delivery of career development services.

Our commitment to quality

This gives students and graduates freedom to develop their own career paths based on their interests. Individual institutions use a range of factors to decide which employers and organisations to engage with and invite to careers activities and events. Here at Edinburgh, we work with a range of local and national employers.

You can find out how we work with employers here:

How we work with employers