The concession of the project took place on Wednesday 19 October, after being signed by the Executive Vice President of the General Foundation of the Universitat de València, Antonio Ariño, and, on the part of Obra Social La Caixa, the director of the Institutions Centre Caixabank in the Valencian Community, Fernando Corell. 

It has also attended to the signing the Manager of the General Foundation of the Universitat de València, Cristóbal Suria; the director of the Institutional Banking Caixabank in the Valencian Community, Rocío García; the Regional Coordinator of the Adecco Foundation, Merche Alcover; and on behalf of the Professional Insertion and Work Assessment Observatory (OPAL), Vicent González Romà.

Antonio Ariño has reminded that the UV is the higher education institution in Spain with the highest number of enrolled students with functional diversity, and he has also highlighted, in this sense, that this kind of projects respond to the consolidated social and insertion policy of the UV. 

For his part, Fernando Corell has emphasized the achievements by the UV, in terms of inclusion and integration of this group and has celebrated the success of its inclusive policy. «Giving support to social inclusion projects is for us a very important economical effort; however, our policy has not allowed us to reduce the budget of Obra Social “La Caixa” to this effect», he has added.

At the same time, the regional coordinator of Adecco Foundation has recognised her satisfaction with collaborating again in a project of this nature, with Obra Social “la Caixa” as well as with the General Foundation of the Universitat de València.

The main objective of the project «Talent y Ability of the University» is to promote professional integration of the graduate students with disabilities in different entities and companies and promote, in this way, quality employment. Ultimately, the goal is to encourage the employability of this group as highly qualified professionals with job offers in accordance with their competences and training, having an impact, in this way, in the improvement of their quality of life, promoting their autonomy and improving their social inclusion.

To that end, pathways for job counselling, training activities and awareness among companies that will be coordinated by the General Foundation of the UV will be carried out through the management of the Professional Insertion and Work Assessment Observatory (OPAL) and the Unit for the Integration of People with Disabilities (UPD) together with Adecco Foundation.

That way, the project is divided in four stages of implementation or activities. The first one, about diagnosis, individual advice and labour orientation, will serve to know the current situation of the participant and to identify his professional objective, all of this by means of individual personal interviews. The second one, via training activities, workshops, mentoring and modelling, will consist of the promotion of self employment among the candidates by offering them online legal advice and a business-plan elaboration service and also a mentoring service for entrepreneurial projects launched with Capazia, a company specialised in the support to start-ups leaded or co-leaded by people with functional diversity.

The third stage will develop through a «Speed Networking» session of professional volunteering, directed by Adecco Foundation, in which a dozen of volunteer companies will do simultaneous interviews to the project beneficiaries with a double purpose: on the one hand, improve the insertion of participants and, on the other hand, make companies aware of the integration of disabled people and place value on the university talent of the programme. With this method, which consists of the development of abilities for the increase of employability, the candidates are prepared and trained for job interviews in order to confidentially face future recruitment processes.

The fourth and last activity will be about the search of business prospects to make known the project «Talent and Ability in the University» to the companies, rise awareness of the participants recruitment, advise, analyse job posts of free places, act as job intermediaries with them and invite professional volunteering.

With this project, the General Foundation of the Universitat de València responds to one of its social goals: the comprehensive care to people with functional diversity and the job promotion of this group through benefits and free services.