The Staffordshire Graduate
Rosy Crehan
Executive Pro-Vice Chancellor
Dr Steve Wyn Williams
Director of Academic Policy and Development
Structure of Presentation
• Graduate Attributes: the context
• Implementation of the Staffordshire Graduate Attributes
(SGA) across all level 4 undergraduate programmes
being delivered in 2012-13 and the mapping of the SGA
at levels 5 and 6 for delivery in 2013-14 and 2014-15
repsectively
• The Staffordshire Graduate Employability Programme
(SGEP) –the innovative pilot programme that forms a
key part of the delivery of the Staffordshire Graduate
Graduate Attributes: the
context
What are Graduate Attributes?
Graduate attributes are commonly understood as an
articulation of
“…the qualities, skills and understandings a university
community agrees its students should develop during their
time with the institution. These attributes include but go
beyond the disciplinary expertise or technical knowledge
that has traditionally formed the core of most university
courses. They are qualities that also prepare graduates as
agents of social good in an unknown future.” (Bowden
2000)
What’s New?
A University training…is the education
which gives man a clear conscious view of
his own opinions and judgments, a truth in
developing them, an eloquence in
expressing them, and a force in urging
them…It teaches him to go straight to the
point, disentangle a skein of thought… It
prepares him to fill any post with credit and
to master any subject with facility.
John Henry Newman(1853)
Idea of a University
It shows him how to accommodate himself
to others. He is at home in any
society;…he can ask a question
pertinently;…he knows when to be serious
and when to trifle, and he has a sure tact
which enables him to trifle with
gracefulness and to be serious with effect…
Graduate Attributes:
some current trends
• An increased interest in the development and
embedding of Graduate Attributes (GAs) within
Universities
• GAs are deemed to be important insofar as they
should make clear to a range of stakeholders
what are the core learning outcomes of a
university education
Graduate Attributes:
some current trends
• Universities have always endeavoured to develop desirable
qualities in their graduates. BUT in recent years there has
been an increased focus on articulating graduate attributes
explicitly rather than implicitly
• For many universities, however, GAs have been viewed as a
set of additional learning outcomes rather than learning
outcomes inherent in core university learning and teaching
experiences.
• “Such responses, while making such outcomes more explicit,
typically focus on a limited range of decontextualised skills
and are consequently perceived by students and educators as
having little to do with the type of learning normally associated
with higher education” (Hughes and Barrie (2010))
Graduate Attributes:
some current trends
• Increasingly recognised that there is a need to
demonstrate the achievement of these important GAs
through assessment.
• If GAs are not assessed they will not be taken seriously
by students or teachers, in addition:
– Employers value GAs and often seek information on these
achievements from applicants
– Governments expect evidence of GA achievement because of
links made with the knowledge economy, innovation and national
well-being
– Assessment of GAs supports students and teachers in their
monitoring and development
Implementation of the Staffordshire
Graduate Attributes
The Staffordshire Graduate
The Staffordshire Graduate represents a set of
qualities that the University passionately believes
is necessary for success in the 21st century. The
Staffordshire Graduate is a reflective and critical
learner with a global perspective, prepared to
contribute in the world of work.
Developing Global
Citizenship
Knowledge and
Understanding
Reflective and Critical
Enquiry for Lifelong
Learning
Global Citizenship
Communication
and Teamwork
Reflective and Critical
Learner
Lifelong Learning
Professionalism
Extra-Curricular
support for 3Es
and recording of
achievement
Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
(the 3Es)
The Staffordshire Graduate will:
Discipline Expertise:
•Have an understanding of the forefront of knowledge in their chosen field
Professionalism:
•Be prepared to be work-ready and employable and understand the importance of being
enterprising and entrepreneurial
Global Citizenship:
•Have an understanding of global issues and of their place in a globalised economy
Communication and Teamwork:
•Be an effective communicator and presenter and able to interact appropriately with a
range of colleagues
•Have developed the skills of independence of thought and (when appropriate) social
interaction through teamwork
Reflective and Critical Learner:
•Have the ability to carry out inquiry-based learning and critical analysis
•Be a problem solver and creator of opportunities
Lifelong Learning:
•Be technologically, digitally and information literate
•Be able to apply Staffordshire Graduate attributes to a range of life experiences to
facilitate life-long learning and life-long success.
Implementing the Staffordshire
Graduate
Academic Board decided in October 2011 that all
undergraduate programmes:
• should be structured normally on the basis of
modules of 30 credits with normally no more
than two 15 credit modules per level
• should demonstrate in detail at each level how
the Staffordshire Graduate Attributes would be
addressed through the curriculum.
Implementing the Staffordshire
Graduate
• A University Standing Panel (USP) considered proposals
made by Programme teams. The Programme
Specification, approved by the Faculty, included a
detailed mapping of where in the curriculum the SGAs
are located and assessed
• Most staff teams felt they had already facilitated to some
extent the SGAs in their programmes, many felt this had
previously often been only implicit; they welcomed the
opportunity to consider in some depth precisely where
the SGAs sat in their programmes of study and, in
particular, how they were assessed.
The Staffordshire Graduate
Employability Programme
‘Staffordshire Graduate Promise’
•
•
•
•
•
•
Marketing Materials/video/prospectus
Mantra – VC, staff, stake holders
Open days
Leaflets
Film (Advertising Standards Agency)
University USP
Staffordshire Graduate Curriculum
•
•
•
•
•
•
Subject relevant - some consistency
6 Champion UG Programmes
15 credits of subject related curriculum
Level 4 and Level 5 – generic outline.
Embedded in a year long module (15/30 credits)
Core to UG Programme
Student Opportunity
• Develop a key set of employability skills
• Develop reflective practice
• Undertake work experience/work integrated
learning within the curriculum so as to develop
vocational identity and build job-related
networks.
• Develop skills and attitudes that can enable a
culture of identifying opportunities, creativity, risk
taking and innovation.
Level 4
• Employability Skills/Reflective Practice
– Interactive student centered skills workshops
– Attendance at internal/external co-curricular events
– Teamwork presentation exercise
– CV development
– Personal development statement as part of a
reflective portfolio
Level 5
• Engaging in work related study
• Skills workshops
– Working in the workplace
– Enterprising/Entrepreneurial/Intrepreneurial mindsets, behaviours and Innovation and Risk-taking
– Developing Citizenship, personal and corporate
responsibilities
– Further CV development
Level 5
• Attendance at internal/external events
– negotiated in teams
• Group presentation on learning relating to aspirations &
development of career skills.
• Engage in and reflect on a work related experience.
– Work placement
– Volunteering experience
– Social enterprise project
– Existing part time work
– Organising an event or series of events
– Setting up a new club/society
Assessment
• Staffordshire Graduate ePortfolio
– Pebble pad
– Records learning Experiences
– Uses Badging and Tagging to Identify Staffordshire
Graduate Attributes
– Assimilation and accumulation of learning
experiences as evidence of attainment is achieved
automatically and incrementally.
– Used to self-direct personal development whilst
providing evidence for seeking employment upon
graduation.
Where we are now
• Pilot - 70 staff, 700 level 4 students
• Structured Induction Programme
• Staffordshire Graduate Experience (STAGE)
– Resource bank
• University Calendar of Events
• Programme Coordination
– Professor of Enterprise
• Staffordshire Graduate ePortfolio
– eLearning Facilitators
– Student employability ambassadors-advisers
Developments - 2012/13
• Sharing of good practice/problem solving during
the Pilot
– Staffordshire Graduate Forum
• Workshops for partner organisations
• Level 5 – bringing together Unitemps, SU,
Creative Communities Unit, volunteering
• Level 6 – development of Staffordshire Graduate
module on Entrepreneurship
Why are we doing it?
• New phase in University’s development
• Commitment to excellence and improving the
student experience
• Increasing costs of a degree
• Meet/counter a period of unprecedented change
- fierce competition for students/growing student
expectations
• Improve standing in NSS/League Tables