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[ Music ]
I'm Danny Smith. I'm a Solicitor-Advocate practicing
in Shropshire. I'm an alumni, that is
a graduate from Staffordshire University
having graduated in 2004 and the Legal Practice Course in 2005
I decided to become involved in pledging
my support to the Annual Fund because I felt that
it needed the foundations to be out there.
We are the foundations of the University as previous graduates
so I wanted to want to one, to support University financially
but also with my time to allow other students who are
coming up through the ranks to come and meet somebody
who have been there, have graduated and has secured employment
to come and have a save environment for them to do that.
With any course, law being no exception,
you need to buy books or to travel to university or to travel to a
work placement, so the university's
additional financial help from a European fund,
from the Access to Learning Fund really assisted in being able to do that.
My family are not from a traditional academic
background. What flows from that is we don't have a huge pot of money
to be able to access so that additional financial support, and support by way of
placement really did help in being able
to continue the course. I think as time has gone on
the support for students from central government along with
other departments has decreased and therefore that
gap between those who can go to university and those who do
again is widening. Now one should look back from where you come from
and put something back into it because
it's not us who are the future, it's those who are coming up
through the ranks that are the future to secure. I have pledged my support in relation to
mentoring and
work placement because I think it is important to offer people
an opportunity where you've experienced what
they're experiencing at the moment so to
give them the opportunity to come into a work place which is safe for them.
They know that we would have experienced exactly what they have.
By pledging your support in terms of your time and money
it really does allow the University to continue and
students to feel that they can access and continue in Higher Education.
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