Creating and embedding an employer liaison group (ELG)
to enhance employability and higher level skills in science students.
Dr Susan Smith, Professor Alistair Warren (Faculty of Science)
and Ms Marie Evans (Learning and Teaching Services)
Abstract
Effective employer-university engagement benefits students, employers and Society
by producing graduates better aligned to the work environment.
Our project aimed to develop a model for establishing an employer liaison group
(ELG) at a Higher Education Institution to enhance employability and higher level
skills in Science students. Although, as a STEM funded project, the remit of our ELG
focussed on undergraduate students taking degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics &
Statistics and Physics & Astronomy, the project demonstrates the relevance of this
approach to other disciplines.
A second aim of the project was to provide, via case studies, a detailed insight into
the approach taken by the Faculty of Science to creating an ELG as well as the
benefits (and pitfalls) of this approach. The case studies provide step-by step advice
on topics from examining existing practice to ensuring sustainability.
The project has successfully developed a dialogue between employers and
departments within the Faculty of Science and created opportunities to share ideas
and experiences in a more systematic way than has been achieved previously. As
well as the immediate benefit of a forum for the stakeholders to gain a mutual
understanding of their respective environments, the project has generated a number
of positive outcomes including student bursaries and internships.
1.
Background and Rationale
There is a greater need than ever for universities and employers to have meaningful
engagement. Recent publications including “Business-university engagement: a
collection of best practice” (CB1, Dec.2010) and “Working towards your future:
Making the most of your time in higher education” (CB1, Mar. 2011) highlight this.
The Faculty of Science at the University of Sheffield obtained funding from the
National HE STEM programme to create, explore and articulate a model for an
Employer Liaison Group (ELG) to enhance employability and higher level skills in
Science students.
As a STEM funded project, the remit of our ELG focussed on undergraduate students
taking degrees in Chemistry, Mathematics & Statistics and Physics & Astronomy.
These disciplines, as with others in Science, cover a wide range of topics, not all of
which have a vocational aspect. In addition, universities have an increasing need to
demonstrate that their graduates have the knowledge, skills and attributes required
by society. Although links exist at individual level and there are high-level committees
between universities and employers, formal links at discipline level remain less
common. This project sought to improve communications with employers and provide
opportunities for employers, University staff and students to meet and explore the
key issues of interests to all parties and share understanding.
Our approach was also driven by a desire to ensure the sustainability of the ELG
within the Faculty of Science and a desire to disseminate our experience of the
process.
An immediate benefit has been the establishment of a forum for the stakeholders to
gain a mutual understanding of their respective environments. In addition, there has
already been an increased interactions between employers and the University for
student recruitment (including students with unique skills, such as language abilities),
provision of placements, bursaries and material for degree courses.
2.
Implementation overview
The ELG project started on 1st May 2011 and ran until 30 June 2012.
During this period, we:
Appointed a Project Manager;

Convened a Steering Committee;

Surveyed academic staff from the relevant Schools or Departments teaching
Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics, as well as the Careers Services, from the
White Rose Universities of Sheffield, Leeds and York on the extent of their
current employer engagement.

Identified stakeholders and invited their participation in the ELG. This included a
number employers from both the city and the region;

Convened an Employer Liaison Group and hosted two meetings (December
2011, February 2012). Membership of the ELG is attached as Appendix 1;

Developed 8 case studies where we provide a detailed account of the process
we undertook and describe the key factors (and pitfalls) that we feel have been
important to our success. The case studies focus on the following themes:1.
Employer liaison: Understanding existing practice.
2.
Identifying and engaging the stakeholders
3.
Finding and engaging suitable employers
4.
Ensuring participation in the ELG benefits all stakeholders
5.
Planning the ELG meetings
6.
Identifying and capturing impact from the ELG
7.
Resources needed to set up an ELG
8.
Sustaining the Employer Liaison Group;

In developing the case studies, we made some suggestions and offered practical
advice that we hope will be useful for others either thinking about or in the
process of setting up an Employer Liaison Group. We collated these in the form
of “Hints and Tips”;

Created a web-site to aid dissemination:(http://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/science/learning-and-teaching/employer-liaisongroup) .
3.
Evaluation
To capture opinions, impact, tangible and intangible benefits we have found
questionnaires to be very useful. The case study entitled ‘Identifying can capturing
impact from the Employer Liaison Group’ provides a detailed account of our
approach to evaluation.
4.
Discussion, Learning and Impact (Success)
Discussion and Learning
An initial requirement of the project was to survey how employers were being
engaged in a number of departments across the White Rose universities of Sheffield,
Leeds and York. This revealed that universities and careers services had developed
links with employers but that many academics wanted further employer engagement.
Thus, there was a real need to develop and disseminate a model by which ELGs
could be readily established. Important factors that resulted in the successful
establishment of our ELG included:
Developing an understanding of current practice with regard to employerengagement and maintaining awareness of their needs;

Buy-in of senior academic staff in the Faculty, including Heads of Departments

Identifying stakeholders who are interested in debates about graduate
employability and want to contribute;

Involvement of key stakeholders in the ELG itself i.e. relevant academic staff (e.g.
careers liaison staff), students (through the Students’ Union, departmental staffstudent committees etc..), Careers Service staff and, crucially, employers;

A very clear idea of the remit of our ELG, namely, to enhance employability and
higher level skills in Science students, a topic of relevance to all stakeholders;

Engaging employers by approaching them through personal contacts,
knowledge exchange staff and/or directly at careers fairs, although details of
employers from the Careers Service also proved useful;

Establishing an Steering Committee;

Keeping meetings to 2 hours and scheduling them over a buffet lunch;

Building and sustaining relationships via effective communication.
For a more detailed account of the process we undertook and key factors (and
pitfalls) that we feel have been important to our success, please refer to the case
studies.
Impact
The establishment of an ELG has proved highly beneficial. The meetings remained
true to the initial goal. Two ELG meetings have been successfully held with good
representation from 7 or 8 employers (some sending more than one representative)
as well as academics from the relevant departments, several students and
colleagues from professional services.
The first event served to introduce members of the ELG to the project and each other
and also to ascertain what they considered to be desirable employability skills in
students. This gave rise to the agenda for the second meeting which focused on how
employability skills can be delivered.
The ELG has created a forum for employers, students and academic departments to
share ideas and experiences at a level where it didn’t previously exist. This has had a
number of benefits, for example, students have been exposed to comments from
employers about how to make a successful application from the broad issues of
being determined and presentable to the specifics of researching what the employer
does and demonstrating a passion for the job. In addition, the ELG has generated
student bursaries and internships from one company, the offer of training material
from a second employer and another has been in touch with the Careers Service to
target Science students with particularly sought after language skills (such as
Cantonese). Meetings with academics outside the ELG have also been set up to
discuss possible ways to collaborate on research.
All of the employers has given permission for their businesses to be named and
associated with the ELG project at the University of Sheffield.
All the companies involved to date, including those who have not been able to attend
a meeting of the ELG, remain committed to the ELG as it moves forward beyond the
HE STEM funding period.
The project has also had an impact externally:
we presented our work via a lecture and by chairing a workshop at the Royal
Society of Chemistry’s RSC “Industrial Advisory Boards Workshop” in October
2011 and the RSC ‘Custodian Workshop’ in February 2012

we are a partner on the RSC’s STEM Adopters Process project. Acting as the
‘custodian institution’, we are sharing our experience of developing a
sustainable ELG with two other universities who wish to create something
similar within their own institution. We are presenting this work at the National
HE STEM conference in September 2012.
We anticipate further impact as the ELG moves beyond the life of the project.
5.
Further Development and Sustainability
The STEM funding the Faculty of Science received has been promoted via an article
in the University’s Learning and Teaching newsletter. Copies of this newsletter are
made available to every student and member of staff within the University (c. 5,500
staff and c.25, 000 students) and externally (for example to external members of the
Learning & Teaching Committee including employers and local schools/ colleges).
The work of the project will be disseminated via the Faculty’s Learning and Teaching
Committee, the University’s Enhancement and Strategy Sub-Committee, the
University’s and Faculty’s newsletter, the project’s dedicated website and Learning
and Teaching Services’ on-line toolkit as well as the HE STEM conference in
September 2012. Additional means for dissemination, for example, via the Higher
Education Academy will also be explored.
Activities and opportunities do not, in themselves, ensure sustainability. The Faculty
of Science is actively building relationships with the group of 9 employers all of whom
have sites or offices located in Yorkshire, Derbyshire or Humber region. Links have
also been established between companies and the Careers Service to highlight
opportunities to Science students with, for example, unique language abilities
(Mandarin, Cantonoses) and discussions are on-going with regards to collaborative
research between academic departments and companies that could ultimately
benefit students through teaching.
The already tangible benefits of the ELG demonstrate the value and impact of the
ELG to all stakeholders and there is clear enthusiasm from all stakeholders to
continue these meetings. As a result, sustaining the ELG has been identified as a
Faculty of Science learning and teaching priority for 2013 and onwards. In support of
this, the outcomes of this work will be presented to the Faculty’s newly convened
Employability Group on 19 July 2012 for consideration of next steps.
5.
Outputs
The following outputs have been generated:1)
A series of 8 case studies, as follows.
 Employer liaison: Understanding existing practice.
 Identifying and engaging the stakeholders
 Finding and engaging suitable employers
 Ensuring participation in the ELG benefits all stakeholders
 Planning the ELG meetings
 Identifying and capturing impact from the ELG
 Resources needed to set up an ELG
 Sustaining the Employer Liaison Group
2)
“Hints and Tips” which offer some suggestions and practical advice to others
thinking about, or in the process of setting up an Employer Liaison Group.
3)
Two meetings of the Employers Liaison Group with students, academic staff
from within the project’s STEM disciplines, employers and members of the
professional services as members. The Group’s discussions focused on what
the desirable employability of skills of students are and how these might be
delivered.
4)
A dedicated website which houses the final report, case studies and “Hints and
Tips”. See:- (http://www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/science/learning-andteaching/employer-liaison-group)
5)
Regular progress reports for the National STEM programme and participation in
Yorkshire and North East Spoke events.
6)
A partnership with the RSC and two other HEI’s as part of the STEM Adopters
Process project.
7)
A presentation of the project at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s “Industrial
Advisory Boards Workshop” in October 2011 and the RSC’s Custodian
Workshop’ in February 2012
8)
A presentation of the project, as part of the STEM Adopters Process project, at
the National HE STEM conference in September 2012
APPENDIX 1
MEMBERSHIP OF THE ELG
University of Sheffield staff

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Professor Alistair Warren, Faculty of Science, Director of Learning and Teaching
(Chair)
Dr Susan Smith, Project Manager (Secretary)
Professor Alan Zinober (School of Mathematics and Statistics)
Dr Alistair Buckley (Department of Physics)
Dr Simon Jones (Department of Chemistry)
Ms Marie Evans, Learning and Teaching Support Officer, Learning and Teaching
Services
Miss Claire Wilkinson, Project Officer, Faculty of Science
Ms Hilary Whorrel, Careers Service
Ms Maria-Cruz Barluenga, University of Sheffield Enterprise
Employers (spanning the local region and some with a global presence)
 Ernst and Young (Local office)
 Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies (Billingham, County Durham)
 HBM nCode (Rotherham, South Yorkshire)
 Kostal (Rotherham, South Yorkshire)
 RWE Npower (Drax office, Selby, North Yorkshire)
 ReckittBenckiser (Hull, East Riding)
 TeachFirst (Leeds, Regional office)
 Peakdale Molecular (Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire
 ITM Power (Sheffield, South Yorkshire)
 Croda International Plc (Goole, East Yorkshire)
Students
 Sarah Browne, School of Mathematics and Statistics
 Tom McMahon, School of Mathematics and Statistics
 Josh Kettlewell, Department of Physics and Astronomy
 Waleed Arshad, Department of Chemistry
 Jon Narcross, Education Officer, Students’ Union
 Nabil Alizai, Activities Officer, Students’ Union