As the academic year draws to a close, many universities find themselves with remaining budget and a familiar question: how can this be invested in a way that delivers meaningful, lasting impact to our students and staff? 
 
Coaching Skills Training offers a practical and scalable answer — one that benefits not just students, but entire university communities.

 
What is Coaching Skills Training? 

At its core, coaching is about building confidence, self-awareness and agency. These are critical foundations for student success, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds navigating higher education. 
 
Equipping students with coaching skills helps them to: 
• Set and achieve meaningful goals 
• Reflect on their progress 
• Navigate challenges with resilience 
• Build confidence in their own decision-making 
 
These are life skills that support progression, retention and long-term success. 

 
How can Coaching be used? 

1. Strengthening peer support and student leadership 

Many universities invest in peer mentoring, ambassador roles and student leadership through Students’ Unions. Coaching Skills Training enhances these roles by giving students the tools to listen effectively, ask better questions and support others without feeling responsible for “fixing” problems. 

This leads to: 

• More confident peer mentors 

• Higher quality student-to-student support 

• Stronger, more inclusive student communities 

2. Building capability across staff teams 

The impact of coaching extends beyond students. When staff — from professional services to academic teams — adopt coaching approaches, it can transform how they support students and collaborate with colleagues. 

Coaching skills enable staff to: 

• Have more effective, student-centred conversations 

• Support independence rather than dependency 

• Navigate complex or sensitive situations with confidence 

• Foster a culture of reflection and continuous development 

 
 
How can we help at Inclusive Futures? 

At Inclusive Futures, we work with universities to design and deliver Coaching Skills Training tailored to their students and staff. If you’re exploring how to make the most of remaining budget while investing in long-term impact, we’d be happy to talk.  

With budget cycles in mind, Coaching Skills Training represents a high-impact, flexible investment. It can be delivered at scale, adapted to different groups, and embedded quickly — with benefits that extend well beyond a single academic year. 

We’ve seen this in practice through our work with the University of York’s On Track programme, where we have worked with over 150 students and those who support them. Embedding coaching skills across the programme has strengthened both student experience and the capability of those delivering support. 

Click to read our Case Study on our work with UoY 
 
 

If you’d like to chat about how we can help support your students and staff, contact us: 

Jess@inclusivefutures.co.uk  

Jess Woodsford is Co-founder and Director at Inclusive Futures CIC, specialising in our work for education. Learn more about Jess and connect with her on LinkedIn here.