Head of Student Support and Wellbeing

Mitesh Vagadia, Head of Student Support and Wellbeing (Development, Communications and Projects)

I joined UCL in 2013 after working for Hertfordshire County Council for six years as a Personal Adviser to care leavers in higher education. But my actual job career started with Asda supermarket, working part time stacking shelves in the ‘fruit and veg’ department whilst going to college and then onto university. It’s been a somewhat ambiguous journey to get to where I am today, but I wouldn’t change it. After five years of Asda and with a 2:2 in BA Marketing and Business under my belt I decided to pursue a career in marketing with my first opportunity coming at BPP. After a year of working there, I’d had enough and decided at the time that marketing wasn’t for me. So, I packed up my things and for the next year I went travelling around the world, doing various temp jobs from bar tending to call centre work. This might sound cliché, but I actually came back a different person with a different perspective. I started working with young people in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and became an Adviser/Support Worker to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Even though my background and experience were in welfare and support, my UCL journey started in the Student Funding Office. An area of work which was also fundamental to supporting care leavers who progressed to university. I joined a great team which was led by a great Manager (shout out to KK) who gave me the foundation to build my UCL career path by encouraging my personal and professional growth. With the gradual expansion of the Student Funding Office, which started providing bespoke student funding advice, my career swiftly progressed within the department and I became the lead Student Funding Adviser for UCL. From day one at UCL, I was keen to get to know people and would say yes to every opportunity or request. For example, within a few months of starting I was asked if I wanted to be trained to sit on interview panels, something I’d never experienced. I attended a half day ‘Selection and Interview’ training course and was ready to be on an interview panel. Within a few weeks I was asked to join a recruitment panel for Student Residence Adviser (then known as Vice Wardens). I didn’t have a clue what they did but was eager to find out. That’s when I met Frank Penter, then Warden of Ramsay Hall who filled me in about the role of a Warden and SRA which I had no idea even existed.

I was fascinated by the role of a Warden and wanted to use my background and experience to one day become a Warden. So, when the next Warden opportunity came up the following year, I applied and boom I got it. With the role of the Warden focusing on welfare and pastoral support and based within the Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW) team, it provided me the opportunity to work closely and build positive relationships with SSW colleagues including fellow Wardens. I’ve been a Warden now for five years and its undoubtably supported my development both professionally and personally. It’s helped me develop the ability to think on my feet and deal with serious ‘student incidents' first hand.

These skills along with managing a team of thirteen SRAs and my experience working as a Student Funding Welfare Adviser gave me the platform to apply for my current role as Head of Student Support and Wellbeing (Development, Communications and Projects). I’ve been in my current role since October 2018. At first imposter syndrome crept in and I believe this was down to my own ego. I moved from a role where I was the guy who had the answers to the questions to a guy who was always asking the questions, this and moving from a grade 7 position to a grade 9 position took a few months to overcome. I’m glad I did and can now openly share this with you. I’m an ambitious person by nature and always have one eye on the next possible opportunity. My advice to colleagues who feel the same would be to remain open-minded and say yes more, embrace change and most importantly build relationships (really get to know the amazing people who work here) and instead of sending them an email take them for a coffee/tea.