Spotlight on our SET Conference 2020 sponsors: FE Week

We are hugely grateful to our sponsors of the SET Conference 2020 (#SETConf20) and thank each of them for supporting us this year. Here we shine a light on one of our silver sponsors, FE Week, to find out more about its work and achievements across the sector.

FE Week was founded in September 2011 and has firmly cemented itself as the go-to news source for further education and skills. We are proud of our reputation for breaking news, investigations, and expert analysis, which is second to none in the sector.

We have come a long way in the last nine years. FE Week is now a digital-only newspaper, with around 12,500+ weekly readers, and our website receives over 600,000 page views per month. Now more than ever, the sector is relying on us for breaking news and independent journalism, and we will always be the first to report on the news that matters.

What are you most looking forward to about the SET Conference 2020?

Ahead of the SET Conference, we are looking forward to speaking with delegates, seeing both new and familiar faces on the virtual platform, and being on hand to answer any questions about FE Week and Education Week Jobs.

We had a fantastic experience at last year’s SET Conference, and so we were keen to support this year’s virtual conference. In a time when in-person events are not possible, this has provided us with a great opportunity to speak with new and existing clients, and sector professionals. We hope that the event being virtual will enable more delegates to attend. The interactive features of the conference platform will also be beneficial for both delegates and sponsors.

If you could tell our SET members one thing about your organisation which they may not already know, what would this be?

We have recently launched a new and updated jobs board, which we are very excited to share with SET Members. Education Week Jobs advertises the top roles in the sector, so it’s worth checking out our latest opportunities.

If a year ago today you could have seen what life in 2020 would have been like, what advice would you have given to your colleagues?

Purchase a decent office chair for your home! But in all seriousness, I think I would encourage the team to be more open about how they were feeling. Lockdown was a really tough period for many of us, especially for those living alone. We often get wrapped up with day-to-day flow of work, and don’t make enough time to take five minutes and talk to our colleagues, friends and family. In an office environment this occurs throughout a day. But when working from home, you need to schedule that time.

What is your organisation most proud of?

At the start of the pandemic we were able to rapidly provide the sector with a free weekly (sometimes twice a week) webinar covering the latest development for the FE sector. These were watched by around 5,000 people. There was a huge demand for information, and we’re proud that were able to convene the relevant officials and help share vital updates.

Can you tell us one fun fact about your organisation?

Our company is called Lsect, which was launched 10 years ago this month. When we launched there was a sector quango called LSIS. This confused some folk in the sector, especially a couple of finance teams. There were a few occasions when we were incorrectly the recipient of monies due for LSIS, not Lsect. We of course revered these transactions.