Embedding employability in the student lifecycle

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Embedding employability in the student lifecycle

• Professor Rosalind Foskett

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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

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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

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Graduate Prospects
University 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
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Graduate Employability

• Employability 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.

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Employability of Graduates

• The 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)

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Definition of Employability
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An employer perspectiveKPMG
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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

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Whats on an employers wish list?

• I dont 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

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A research perspective
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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.

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Typology Factors

• Policy frameworks
• Funding drivers
• QA/QE
• Devolution of
• political power

Macro-level

• Type of integration
• Disciplinary integration
• Optionality
• Personnel involved

Micro-level
Meso-level

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

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Credit-bearing careers education

• Type 1 Standalone, generic unit
• Complete 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 provision
• Generic careers education integrated into
  programmes as part of units (e.g. PDP integrated
  into the programme offer)
• Type 3 Integrated, discipline-specific, units
• Provision tailored to target disciplines and
  integrated into programmes as an entire unit
  (e.g. The Professional Engineer)

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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)

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Employability Life-cycle
Personalised Careers account
Applicant portal
Freshers Fair
New Students
Website
Open Days
Prospective Students
Video- Streamed events
Campus Events
Institute induction
Volunteering
Alumni Case Studies
Careers Advisory Service
Clubs and Societies
Podcasts
Existing Students
SU activities
Job Shop
Bespoke Institute Events
Interview rooms
Seminar space
Student enterprise activities
Lifetime UW membership
Employers
Alumni
Graduate Internship
Business Development Office
Employability- Focused curriculum
Work-based learning
Institute- Employer links
Careers network
Subject Sell sheets
On-campus recruitment
Leavers Pack
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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?

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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

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Example Alumni

• What mechanisms do we have to support leavers in
  their transition to life post-University e.g.
  Outduction 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?

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Thank you for listening