Discipline and inter-disciplinary issues...

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Discipline and inter-disciplinary issues...

• Paul Chin
• Senior Advisor for Employability

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Aims of session

• Identify challenges
• Possible solutions
• Recommendations

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Some background...
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The employability agenda

• Benchmark statements
• Increased expectations for publication of
  employability related data
• Tuition fees (value for money e.g. Plymouth?)
• Graduates for the 21st Century
• HEAR?

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Importance of promoting employability

• Ensuring Institutions can blossom in changing
  times
• Celebrating your success with prospective
  students/employers
• Promoting the strengths of the curriculum
• Supporting students in developing and evidencing
  their skills
• Helping students maximise their
  potential/opportunities during their course

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Debunking myths

• Myth 1Including more employability-related
  activities in the curriculum will displace core
  discipline teaching and learning
• Myth 2Even if I wanted to promote
  employability in my teaching Im not a careers
  expert

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The Employability Jigsaw
Internships
PDP
???
Volunteering
Curriculum
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Challenges

• Academic attitudes vocational or a
  knowledgeable graduate?
• Work placements
• Coordinated approaches vs individual contacts
• MChem placements
• Employer relationships
• Long standing (sciences?) new?
• Audience challenges...

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Additional challenges

• Curriculum whats HE for?
• Work or education?
• Employer agendas
• Education vs training
• Student first as learner?
• Addressing SMEs more
• Different strategies for different faculties?
• Student backgrounds meeting their needs?

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Additional challenges

• Professional bodies
• Careers led teaching resources
• Compulsory career skills in curriculum
• Needs negotiation
• Social mobility
• Employer database ownership?
• Undergraduate and alumni links?

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Possible solutions

• Departmental liaison contacts
• Central services Careers service, Study Advice
  Service...
• Online careers management skills module,
  curriculum integration
• Curriculum skills/modules embedded in programme
• Scalability...

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Additional solutions...

• Audits (of employability practices, including in
  the curriculum)

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Recommendations...

• Co-curricular awards?
• ...
• PDP structured time and space
• Maximise part time work (which students undertake
  e.g. Bar work)

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Aims of session did we succeed?

• Identify challenges
• Possible solutions
• Recommendations

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Links

• Employability resource packhttp//www.jorum.ac.uk
  / (type in employability resource pack in
  search box to locate resources)
• http//pdp.northampton.ac.uk/