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 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
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.
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)
Definition of Employability
Graduate
Employability
Employment of
Graduates
Fostering
Professional
Networks
Cognitive
Skills
Key Skills
Career
Management Skills
Enterprising
attitudes
Employability
Engaging
employers in the
curriculum
Developing
employers’ knowledge
of the University
An employer perspective
KPMG
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 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)
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
Website
Applicant portal
Personalised
Careers
account
Freshers’
Fair
Open Days
Alumni
Case
Studies
New
Students
Institute
induction
Prospective
Students
Clubs and
Societies
Seminar
space
Student enterprise
activities
Careers
Advisory Service
Lifetime UW
membership
Bespoke
Institute Events
Graduate
Internship
Business
Development
Office
Campus
Events
Work-based
learning
Employers
Alumni
On-campus
recruitment
Subject Sell
sheets
Leavers’
Pack
Podcasts
SU
activities
Job Shop
Interview
rooms
Volunteering
VideoStreamed
events
InstituteEmployer links
Careers
network
Existing
Students
EmployabilityFocused
curriculum
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