Embedding employability in the student lifecycle

Professor Rosalind Foskett

External drivers for change

• Increasing competition for good students• Student fees and ‘value for money’ judgements• Changing patterns of student employment and

unemployment• HEFCE/Research Councils emphasis on employer

engagement in funding decisions• League table positions• Bologna process identifies employability as a key factor

in curriculum design and university experience

Internal drivers for change

• Aspiration to provide top quality education for all students• LTA Strategy identifies employability as a key theme:

“development of strong employability, entrepreneurial and creative skills in our graduates”

• Emerging Research and Knowledge Transfer Strategy identifies links between enterprise, entrepreneurship and employability

• Issues of retention and progression

Graduate ProspectsUniversity Rank in league

table% Graduate employment

Warwick 13th 79.2

Aston 17th 78.1

Birmingham 39th 72.7

Keele 47th 70.4

Staffordshire 56th 69.0

Worcester 59th 68.2

Coventry 62nd 67.5

Birmingham City 67th 65.7

Gloucester 75th 64.2

Wolverhampton 89th 60.9

Good University Guide 2010; Times online

Graduate EmployabilityEmployability skills include:

• Cognitive skills - higher level intellectual or academic skills (eg interpreting, analysing, researching)

• Key skills – personal skills and qualities which are generic to a range of both academic and employment settings (eg enterprise, criticality, teamwork, communication, planning and organising)

• Career Management skills – skills required to manage career development (eg self analysis, networking, self reliance and reflection)

• Enterprising Attitudes – personal qualities to spot opportunities and have the skills to act on them.

Employability of GraduatesThe University, its Institutes and Services should develop mechanisms for engaging with employers to broaden their understanding of the value of our programmes and our graduates through:

• Fostering and developing professional networks (eg through use of alumni, employer fora and partnership)

• Engaging employers in the curriculum (eg through membership of programme development teams, validation panels and curriculum review)

• Developing the knowledge of employers of the work of students and staff (eg internships, placements, project work, and knowledge transfer activity)

Definition of Employability

Employability

Graduate Employability

Employment of Graduates

Cognitive Skills

Key Skills

Career Management Skills

Fostering Professional

Networks

Engaging employers in the

curriculum

Developing employers’

knowledge of the University

Enterprising attitudes

An employer perspectiveKPMG

KPMG: So what do we look for?

• Business Focus• Taking Responsibility• Motivation and Resilience• Continuous Learning• Building Relationships• Communicating• Problem Solving• Organising and delivering quality• Acting with Integrity

What’s on an employers wish list?

• I don’t want you to train students to be accountants• 17% of our intake are accountancy and finance

• I do want you to provide them with new learning opportunities and the skills to reflect on those experiences

• Group projects• Live case studies• Presentation opportunities• Work experience• Exposure to employers

• Preferably within the curriculum but bolt on is better than nothing

A research perspective

The Project

The project aimed to:• map the provision of credit-bearing careers education within UK HE

and FHE institutions and to produce a fine-grained typology for this provision;

• identify the nature and characteristics of the provision; and

• identify, through a number of vignettes, examples of interesting and innovative practice of credit-bearing careers education in higher education institutions.

Typology Factors

Policy frameworks Funding drivers QA/QE Devolution of political power

Institutional focus Institutional type Institutional history Institutional policy Discipline autonomy Resource allocation

Type of integration Disciplinary integration Optionality Personnel involved

Credit-bearing careers education

Type 1: Standalone, generic unitComplete free-standing unit of largely generic careers education, as part of HE programmes (e.g. A career development unit)

Type 2: Integrated, generic, intra-unit provisionGeneric careers education integrated into programmes as part of units (e.g. PDP integrated into the programme offer)

Type 3: Integrated, discipline-specific, unitsProvision tailored to target disciplines and integrated into programmes as an entire unit (e.g. The Professional Engineer)

Credit-bearing careers education

Type 4: Integrated, discipline-specific, intra-unit provision

Provision tailored to target disciplines and integrated into programmes as part of a unit (e.g. Programme of career development within a discipline)

Type 5: Fully integrated provision

Provision fully integrated into, or mapped onto units of HE programmes (e.g. accredited WBL programme; all staff/all units/all students/all programmes embed careers education)

Employability Life-cycle

ProspectiveStudents

Open Days

WebsiteApplicant portal

Alumni CaseStudies

NewStudents

Personalised Careersaccount

Instituteinduction

Freshers’Fair

Job Shop

Volunteering

Clubs and Societies

SUactivities

ExistingStudents

CareersAdvisory Service

CampusEvents

Podcasts

Video-Streamed events

Employability-Focused curriculum

Institute-Employer links

Work-based learning

BespokeInstitute Events

Alumni

Careersnetwork

GraduateInternship

Lifetime UWmembership

Leavers’Pack

Employers

On-campusrecruitment

Subject Sellsheets

BusinessDevelopment Office

Interview rooms

Seminar space

Student enterpriseactivities

Example: Within recruitment

• Does the programme publicity give details about possible employment opportunities for graduates of the course?

• Does the programme publicity identify the employability skills that a student will gain from the programme?

• Do you talk about employability at Open Days and recruitment events?

• Do student employment profiles feature in publications or as posters within your Institute?

Example: Curriculum

• How has the curriculum development process been informed by employers?

• Is the issue of employability addressed in the rationale for the programme?

• Are the employability skills identified clearly in the module outlines and the programme specification?

• Could careers education and employability skills be embedded in the curriculum and attract credit?

• Have you considered including opportunities for work-related learning in your programme?

• Have you considered the issue of employability in relationship to the diversity agenda

Example: Alumni

• What mechanisms do we have to support leavers in their transition to life post-University e.g. ‘Out’duction schemes, graduate salaried interns?

• What information/support can be provided as on-going support e.g. Leavers’ packs, sell sheets, lifetime email

• How do we integrate the alumni process with employability e.g. Alumni providing help ‘in kind’; relationship marketing

• How do we ensure that alumni links feed into employer links for the Business Development Office?

Thank you for listening