MMU Placements
Network
News Update,
October 2015
Careers & Employability Service
0161 247 3483
careers@mmu.ac.uk
MMU Placements Network - News Update, October 2015
Contents of this newsletter:
Outcomes from the MMU Placement Staff Development Day June 2015
Every MMU Faculty now has a placement administrator
Placements and Student Enterprise
Innoflux 2015-16
The new placements repository
My Career Hub launches
Latest Research & Publications
ASET staff development courses scheduled for the autumn term
Other support networks for placement staff
Reminder of important reference documents for MMU placement staff:
Guidance on the Risk Management of Student Placements
NCVO good practice guidance on internships in the voluntary sector
Appendix: Key Contacts for Placements and Work-based Learning
Please contact Jan Moore if you:


do not wish to receive MMU updates or the monthly bulletins from ASET (the professional body for
university staff with responsibilities for organising placements)
have colleagues who would like to have their names added to the MMU database of staff with
responsibility or an interest in placements and work-based learning.
Jan Moore, Careers & Employability Service Manager (Labour Market and Employer Services)
Employability Hub, Business School & Student Hub Building
Tel: 0161 247 3481 : Email: j.d.moore@mmu.ac.uk
Outcomes from the MMU Placement Staff Development Day June 2015
We were delighted that so many staff were able to attend our annual event. We hope you found the
sessions of interest and that you had ample opportunity to share good practice with colleagues from
other departments.
The PowerPoints from the Health and Safety, Insurance and CASQE sessions together with the
scenarios and outcomes can be accessed at www.celt.mmu.ac.uk/placements/staffdev_docs
(password protected).
Chris Bolam is still compiling the FAQ information sheet based on the queries raised by staff during
the day. Please send through any further questions that you have direct to Chris at
c.bolam@mmu.ac.uk. We aim to keep adding to the document so that it becomes a key, up to date
guide for MMU staff.
This year, the emphasis was on compliance as this remains such an important issue for the
university. The planning team will be looking closely at the feedback in the coming months to see
how best to take staff development forward at the 2016 event. Hopefully, we can turn our attention
more to student support and assessment then. Ideas for sessions are always welcome and can be
fed through to Jan Moore at j.d.moore@mmu.ac.uk
Every MMU Faculty now has a placement administrator
Over the summer, Crewe appointed their first placement administrator - Ian Jones. With Ian’s
appointment, the network across the University is complete. In his previous role, Ian coordinated
placements at Reaseheath College of Agriculture. Ian is already networking with other placement
staff based at the Manchester campus to ensure he is operational as soon as possible.
The full team of Faculty placement administrators now is: Business & Law: Lindsay Halliday, Placements Manager & Careers Advisor - L.Halliday@mmu.ac.uk
Hollings and Science & Engineering: Amy Dutton, Placements Officer - A.Dutton@mmu.ac.uk
Manchester School of Art & Humanities, Languages and Social Science: Kirstin Burke - Placements
Officer - K.Burke@mmu.ac.uk
Education & Health, Psychology and Social Care: Paula Ollerenshaw, Placements Officer P.Ollerenshaw@mmu.ac.uk
Cheshire Campus: Ian Jones, Placements Officer - IJones@mmu.ac.uk
Each Faculty also has an academic whose role is to be the Faculty E3 (Employability, Employment &
Enterprise) Champion. They too have a strong interest in placements, especially where they relate to
employability development.
Currently, the Faculty E3 Champions are:
Manchester School of Art:
Ian Roberts I.D.Roberts@mmu.ac.uk
Humanities, Languages and Social Science:
Olga Khrushcheva O.Khrushcheva@mmu.ac.uk
Business & Law: Mel Powell (Acting) M.Powell@mmu.ac.uk
Science & Engineering: Lindsey Munro L.Munro@mmu.ac.uk
Hollings: Nicky Smith N.Smith@mmu.ac.uk
Health, Psychology and Social Care: Kathryn Heathcote K.Heathcote@mmu.ac.uk
Faculty of Education: Val Butcher v.butcher@mmu.ac.uk & Elaine McCreery
e.mccreery@mmu.ac.uk
Crewe Campus: Dr. Jason Woolley j.woolley@mmu.ac.uk
Placements and Student Enterprise
MMU’s E3 strategy group has now convened a small working group to look at how student
enterprise activities can be further developed across MMU. Chaired by Penny Renwick, members of
the group currently include Ian Roberts (MSA), David Taylor (Business School/enterprise) Mark
Ratcliffe (Knowledge Exchange), Louise Kenworthy (Innospace) and Jan Moore.
The definition of student enterprise adopted by MMU is: Developing students and graduates who seek to achieve goals and respond flexibly to challenges;
creating and implanting new ideas and new ways of doing things whether through employment,
self-employment or entrepreneurship.
The work of this group should further develop and enrich the delivery of work-based learning.
Innoflux 2015-16
One event already on the student enterprise agenda is this year’s Innoflux competition which will be
taking place between 9.30am and 3.00p.m. on Friday 6th November in the Business School.
Flux is an ideal enterprise learning opportunity. It centres upon a fast paced, challenging but fun
business game that puts students in the driving seat of planning and managing an enterprise – and in
a way that does not require any prior business management knowledge. Working in teams*,
students are given a business idea to develop taking into account keys areas such as marketing,
finance, human resources and business strategy. During the day, students will exploit a range of
skills essential for ANY future employment as well as gaining commercial awareness and developing
skills in project management and team work.
Experienced local business managers are on hand to guide students through the day providing
essential support and guidance. The day culminates in a 5 minute pitch given by each team to the
panel of business executives. These 'Dragons' will choose their favourite team and each member of
the winning team will receive £20 worth of Amazon vouchers and a trophy for the team to share.
The best performing students will be invited to represent MMU in the national Flux finals at
Lancaster University in January with the chance of winning up to £1200.
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers/students-graduates/career-development/flux500/
*Students can register to take part as a course or Faculty team or as an individual at
https://mycareerhub.mmu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/858267.
The new placements repository
Hosted by CELT, a new web area to support the development of placements and work-based
learning has been created. After some final checks by the planning group, the link will be mailed out
shortly to all staff on the MMU placements database.
The repository will offer:
1. INTRODUCTION: The Benefits of Placement and Work-Based Learning; Assuring Quality
Placements and Work-Based Learning
2. GOOD PRACTICE SUPPORT: five members of MMU staff describe how they approach key
aspects of placement provision
3. DEVELOPING PLACEMENTS AND WORK-BASED LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MMU
STUDENTS: MMU’s Definition of Placements and Work-based Learning; Design and delivery
of MMU programmes; Online sources of placements and internships
4. MMU QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES: Health & Safety; Legal; Insurance; Equal
Opportunities and Diversity; Disabled Students; International Students; Students
undertaking placements abroad
5. PLACEMENTS AND WORK-BASED LEARNING OUTSIDE OF THE CURRICULUM: Volunteering;
Freelance commissions; Internships; Graduate internships
6. CONTACTS AT MMU
7. RESOURCES: CELT; Faculty placement handbooks; MMU placement newsletters; Staff
development and training; ASET; HEA; Toolkits, Research reports, Journals
Once the repository goes live, please feedback any omissions or inaccuracies and forward details of
any resources that you feel would make a valuable addition to Jan Moore at j.d.moore@mmu.ac.uk
My Career Hub launches
Over the summer, the Careers and Employability Service has invested in My Career Hub, a CRM
system which has been designed specifically for university careers services. Staff and students can
use My Career Hub to search and apply for full-time and part-time vacancies, together with a range
of work experience opportunities, and book onto our events.
In the next phase of development, the Business School placements team will be piloting the system’s
use as the means of tracking their students through all their varied placement and work-based
project cycles. Once proven, other Faculties will be offered the opportunity to adopt the system
which will facilitate the collection of placement activity data.
You can take a look at My Career Hub by logging in as a staff member using your MMU ID Number
and password at https://mycareerhub.mmu.ac.uk
Latest Research & Publications
1. The Higher Education Academy
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/towards-competency-framework-student-work-basedlearning
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/enhancing_employability_through_ent
erprise_education_good_practice_guide.pdf
2. The National Centre for Universities & Business (NCUB)
Following on from the publication of their online report ‘Quality Placements’
http://www.ncub.co.uk/placements-report/the-benefits-of-a-high-quality-placement.html
NCUB has been ratcheting up its activity to collate placement opportunities for students in UK higher
education. Introductory information about work experience opportunities while at university,
together with links to placement sites and opportunities, are provided at:
http://www.ncub.co.uk//students/home.html
http://www.ncub.co.uk/students/placement-search.html
In addition, NCUB are working on the next stage of the Global Graduates programme:
http://www.ncub.co.uk/what-we-do/global-graduates.html
and supporting the British Council’s Generation UK-India programme,
http://www.britishcouncil.in/generationuk, which encourages students in the UK to undertake
placements in India. NCUB are looking to engage with institutions who currently provide, or are
interested in providing, placements in India to see how they can offer support to the placement
provision and increase the opportunities for UK students. For further information, email
generationuk.india@britishcouncil.org
Two blog posts by NCUB Research Analyst Joan Wilson, over the summer may be of interest:
http://www.ncub.co.uk/blog/work-experience-and-social-mobility.html
http://www.ncub.co.uk/blog/work-esperience-essential-for-employability.html
NCUB issues a free regular newsletter to update University staff interested in all aspects of HE
collaboration with industry. Email shivaun.meehan@ncub.co.uk to subscribe.
ASET staff development courses scheduled for the autumn term
http://www.asetonline.org/events/staff-development-workshops/
http://www.asetonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ASET-WShop-Booking-09.151.pdf
As MMU is an ASET member institution, the fee to attend each event is £155 per delegate, inclusive
of VAT
An Introduction to Work Placement Management
Thursday 8th October (10am-4pm)
ASET Offices, Sheffield
Note: the last day for booking on this workshop is Thursday 1 st October
Facing Facebook, Tackling Twitter &Living with LinkedIn (#FFTTLL)
Tuesday 17th November (10am-4pm)
Sheffield Hallam University
Developing Overseas Placements
Thursday 26th November (10am-4pm)
Glasgow
Supporting International Students on Placement
Tuesday 8th December (10am-4pm)
Glasgow
Engaging with SMEs for Placement Opportunities
Thursday 17th December (10am-4pm)
Senate House, London
Plus Advance notice of the 2016 ASET conference
6th – 8th September, University of York
Please note: All staff on MMU’s placement circulation list are automatically subscribed to
ASET and should be receiving ASET’s monthly e-bulletins which provide updates on:
 relevant legislation
 teaching resources and good practice
 training days and ASET’s annual conference.
ASET have experienced problems with getting information through to a number of MMU
email addresses in recent months. Please notify Jan Moore if you suspect your mail account
is one of those affected.
Other support networks for placement staff:
ASET Placement and Employability Professionals on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/ASET-Placement-Employability-Professionals1929302/about
Place.Net http://placenetuk.blogspot.co.uk/p/membership.html
Annual membership is £195 for individual HE members.
JISC mail list for HEI Employability Developers - employability-development@jiscmail.ac.uk
The list has recently featured some interesting threads regarding placement development and its
contribution to student employability.
Reminder of important reference documents for MMU placement staff
Updated Guidance on the Risk Management of Student Placements for MMU staff
The Guidance documents can be downloaded from www.mmu.ac.uk/health-and-safety. If you have
any questions about the advice and procedures outlined, please contact Chris Bolam in Health &
Safety on ext. 3309 or at C.Bolam@mmu.ac.uk
NCVO good practice guidance on internships in the voluntary sector
The background to the guidance is outlined at http://blogs.ncvo.org.uk/2015/03/04/making-thecase-for-volunteer-internships. This also contains the link to the full guide.
Key Contacts for Placements and Work-based Learning at MMU
If you need advice on any issues relating to Placements and Work-based Learning at MMU, please
make contact with the appropriate member of staff below: Department
Contact(s)
Position at MMU
E-mail
Health and
Safety
Insurance,
Legal
Services
Legal
Services
International
Chris Bolam
Health & Safety Advisor
C.Bolam@mmu.ac.uk
Katie Miu
Insurance Officer
Disability
Support
Gill Rice
Equality and
Diversity
Disclosure
and Barring
Service
(DBS) checks
Careers &
Employabilit
y
CASQE
Mona Patel
CELT
Linda Matthews
Network
sub-group
member
representing
administrati
ve staff
Network
member
representing
academic
staff
Kirstin Burke
Stuart Roberts
insurance1@mmu.ac.uk
Extens
ion
3309
5992
or
4696
3400
David Worrall
Deputy Head of Legal
D.Worrall@mmu.ac.uk
Thereza Bandouna
Immigration Compliance
& Experience Manager
Learning Development
Advisor
T.Bandouna@mmu.ac.u
k
learner.development@
mmu.ac.uk
6713
Equality & Diversity
Officer
Head of Widening
Participation & Student
Financial Support
mona.patel@mmu.ac.u
k
P.Riley@mmu.ac.uk
3301
Jan Moore
Careers & Employability
Service Manager
J.D.Moore@mmu.ac.uk
3481
http://www.mmu.ac
.uk/academic/casqe/
contact/staffresponsibilities.php
Academic Framework
Team
casqe@mmu.ac.uk
1053
L.Matthews@mmu.ac.u
k
4679
Placements Officer, MSA
& HLSS
K.Burke@mmu.ac.uk
6611
Senior Lecturer, Nursing
(UG)
Stuart.Roberts@mmu.a
c.uk
2561
Peter Riley
3491
1967