7 See: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/econome. 3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  3  That being said, an economics education is certainly not a prerequisite to a career in the Bank. The Bank offers on the job training for all ages to entice diverse talent. Our Future Capability programme is aimed at pupils keen to get their careers started after leaving school. Almost 90% of our 2018 Future Capability intake were from a state school and over half were female. Historically, one impediment to improving diversity in central banking has been the lack of diversity among economics graduates. Just under a third of students studying economics to A-level and undergraduate level in British Universities are female.8,9 To enable the Bank to hire from a broader set of disciplines and train them as economists and technical specialists we have introduced an in-house Central Banking Qualification (CBQ), in which graduate hires can earn a Masters Degree in Central Banking. This means that only half of our graduates study economics, with the remainder plucked from the sciences, business and the humanities. In recent years, our graduates have come from 40 different universities, a six-fold increase in the past decade. In the Bank’s September 2019 intake, we expect that almost half – 46% – of graduates will be female. This is the most diverse outcome since we began recording the diversity of graduate intakes. Last year, the Bank won the TARGETjobs 'Most Popular Graduate Recruiter in Banking, Insurance and Financial Services’ for the second year running.
An important aspect of successful job applications and interviews is being able to demonstrate personal development. For too long at the Bank, the opportunities to broaden skills and experience were granted on an informal basis to those who either knew about the opportunity or were recommended by a colleague. This tended to further reinforce homogeneity in senior leadership. In 2017, to level the playing field we launched an internal “opportunities” board. This connects people who need help with a short-term project to those able to offer it. Since we launched the site two years ago, 700 opportunities, from speech research to short-term holiday cover have been advertised across the organisation. The Bank has also created a ‘high potential’ talent pipeline, which has 50% female representation, and coupled this with new approaches to development support. Our new sponsorship programme connects a high potential candidate and senior colleague to help sponsees identify assignments and opportunities to hone their skills and increase their experience. The pilot consisted of 19 colleagues, 84% of whom were female at the scale just below senior management. Building on this success, we have extended the programme and 80% of colleagues in the second phase are female. As well as sponsorship the Bank recognises that mentoring (both formal and informal) can have a positive impact on an individual’s confidence to progress their careers. That’s why we launched our One Bank Mentoring Scheme in 2017 and ensured it is open to all staff.