SLICE of Employability – Notes from the 3rd session held on 12th June
Present:
Jay Dempster, Bob Thomson (CAPD: facilitators)
Fiona Anderson-Gough (WBS), Kate Astbury (French), Deborah Biggerstaff (WMS), Kevin Moffat (Biosci),
Robin Naylor (Economics), Sean Russell (Careers), Kay Sanderson (CSDE)
After reviewing postings to the forum on the general field of enquiry and survey needs, the group
discussed the objectives for this session and agreed to use the time in three main ways.
1. to work towards a proposal/recommendation for a university-wide survey to underpin future
developments for a broad-reaching employability agenda.
2. to review possible questions and identify/agree common elements across the group
3. to develop individual plans for a pilot survey (with an agreed set of common elements) to be
conducted within the next few weeks in the departments represented in the group, which could
be of both practical value now and could inform the wider approach.
1) Proposal for a university-wide survey
The recommendation would be that the University create a focus in this area and that it set up a
longitudinal study following students from day 1 to beyond graduation to explore themes of
employability, including both knowledgability and wellbeing.
Actions:
i.
Jay to set up new threads on the forum for each of the following:
ii.
Sean to draft a ‘contextual’ statement to set the breadth of the term ‘employability’ and
national and international contexts, and the depth in terms of the University’s and
departments’ needs and likely benefits of focussing on, co-ordinating and actively pursuing
this agenda. This might also include some background: an emerging identify for the SLICE
group, how it was formed – individual roles and interests; what ‘employability’ might/should
mean; what the University does to support students.
iii.
Fiona & Robin to work up some draft statements/recommendations around key messages
to take to the University, including (but not restricted to):
a. Broaden the notion of employability that the University works with/is seen to be
working with (follows on from Sean’s context-setting above)
b. Joining up the variety of opportunities for students which are currently scattered
across the University (Careers, CSDE, Warwick Skills, Warwick Volunteers, SU
activities, etc) to devise a common approach to how we help students see the
employability benefits of taking part in certain curriculum & extra curricular activities.
c. Developing a longitudinal understanding of how what we do here helps students,
and crucially if/how that student perception of ‘relevance’ changes over time
d. Establish an effective ‘ownership’ to improve structures & processes to support
debate, decision making, planning & co-ordination (and avoid the fragmentation that
occurs through the current committee and working group system and potential
duplication/competition for students’ engagement across different initiatives).
iv.
Group members submit to the forum details of references/documents of existing surveys,
or other relevant studies & data - those mentioned so far: DLHE, Careers service survey
just completed, FutureTrack UCAS survey (Kate Purcell in IER), Robin’s data from
Economics research, SU? Wellbeing surveys? …
v.
The group approach the Institute of Employment Research with regard to
designing/undertaking an initial study and the department of Psychology with regard to
considering its position in delivering wellbeing aspects of this.
Notes from the discussion:
(Kay) CSDE student survey on students’ use of support services: 25% return
– Sent out a mass email to target audience of UGs (many 3rd years)
– Done after exams seems a good time to survey as students have a window of
space/interest
(Kate) in all year within our depts, current and wellbeing
(Sean) 1st, 2nd & final years + 2 years on would be useful; WGA input also desirable.
Next meeting, scope for group continuing, less pressure of time
(Robin) Keen to tie in with research-led approach – research into our own activities related to
student performance and behaviours.
Good output from this group, need to underpin with evidence/research-based approach.
Hard thinking, resource spent on commissioning of a significant study.
Move away from a narrow definition of “employability” and combine with evidence from students
views to shape the University’s approaches and decisions.
Academic satisfaction survey needs to be more forward looking, exploring prospective skills and
longer term needs, how have students’ view evolved.
Some listing of skills we seek feedback on- how useful do you think they are e.g. research-led
skills?
Make contact with a group of graduates to set up communication with them over time (tie in with
first destination survey – 1 year on
(Sean) WGA would work with us on this is give them the heads up.
Feed through – good will relations, know what we’re doing and where we’re coming from
(Kevin) Interested in views from students out on work experience – 2nd years are a key group for
biological sciences and comprise about 1/5th of the year group
(Kate) in French, it’s the entire year group that takes the year abroad.
(Fiona) WBS – see from day 1, knowledge of self, begins and ends across 3 degrees, including
year abroad. 3 yrs who have had year abroad cope much better than those who do not – how do
we articulate the skills and attitudes they have developed.
(Kay) Case study approach could be useful initially. Open questions – to what extent do you feel
what you are doing here makes you employable?
(Robin) Ask for reflections on what you have done, that prepares you to develop skills for life not
just skills for work.
(Sean) Avoid an artificial divide between academic and employability skills (and avoid horrors of
bad measurements); take a collaborative approach, potential skills, examples on the ground.
(Robin) University like to think we’re developing movers and shakers – how is this expressed in
terms of ‘capabilities’?
A modern university should have capacity to do research into its own practice, including the
numerical capability to analyse quantitative and qualitative data. The University central admin
should manage:
- Research on own activities
- Coordination and/or a working group who are generally responsible for thinking about
issues
- Within that, more specific, research funds available to be allocated to IER/CAPD etc to pay
for Ras (e.g. £10-15k) for work part-time under supervision
- This group can do focus groups to get sense from students
- Departmental reviews highlight areas to survey.
-
Tie in with skills for life/wellbeing more generally – but possible wellbeing is a separate
agenda and we might recommend the University reflects on the notion of wellbeing in
association with the Dept of Psychology – “wellbeing” is very fashionable.
Conclusions:
i.
Well thought through methodology is important and politically astute.
ii.
University should be set up to do this kind of work.
iii.
Two elements emerge.
- Firstly, that IER could be invited to bid to look at the notion of the student experience
and how it affects employability – in particular the kinds of things on the Academic
Satisfaction Survey asked 1,2, 5 years on.
- Second, the Psychology department might be approached to do a separate piece of
work on employability including the broader sense of wellbeing. The question of
entrepreneurship would also need broadly defining. These two elements should be
mutually informative and longitudinal.
iv.
Who are the stakeholders/target audience for these recommendations?
-
(PVC, VC, Ken Sloan/Nicola Owen, Jon Baldwin, International Office, IER/Kate Purcell)
-
How would the results of the research have an impact?
-
Careers and CSDE work closely together already to clarify/agree ‘other’ skills
experience for students. But it’s difficult to work towards integrating curricular, extra
curricular and personal development as they happen in different & unconnected places.
The issue is not one of providing these opportunities but in how students access and
benefit them and how we can help them know what they’re getting out of the activities.
-
How can we inform the SU’s work from induction to recognition (not necessarily
accredited) of skills developed through SU oriented activities (e.g. Chair of the Hockey
Club). Start labelling it/ideas. Point of student input is crucial.
-
Students’ contribute working hours to the University with very specific skills-related
outcomes & life/work experience.
2) Key questions
Areas covered: Scope, Timing, Methods (RAs), Engagement/benefits to students needs to be clear
Purpose of the survey is to “hear the students’ voice”:
a) What do students feel they spend most of their time on (including curricular, extracurricular,
personal skills development activities)
b) What they’ve particularly found enjoyable, valuable, useful
c) How much they’re thinking about the future world of life/work ahead of them.
Methods: Open-ended questions; Online questionnaire; Scoping interviews/focus groups
Given the timing for the departmental pilots, the preferred approach was felt to be questionnaires
with space for comments. From the comments, themes would emerge and interview schedules
could be designed for a larger university-wide study.
3)
Departmental plans
Kevin Very focused initially – not trying to mimick the wider study – two student inputs:
a. looking at 2nd year students on work experience (about 20 intercalated year students
approached by email with link to an online questionnaire)
b. 3rd years who are still around (possibly another 20). (Need some advice/help with
running focus groups.)
Debbie
WMS – pockets of things already happening.
- 1st cohorts of fast track graduates survey
- GMC surveys
- Masters students – no data as to what happens to them after they complete.
Slant around skills & competencies (buzz word for doctors) gained on MChMB course – what did
they find useful – 1 year time horizon. Now these graduates/doctors are in post, what skills &
competencies do they feel they needed that they didn’t get from the course (on-going TNA/CPD
requirements).
SHOs replaced by F1&F2s – due to over-capacity, the F1s need to take non-(doctor) career track
and hope to get a on the ladder later so this is a key group.
Masters graduates – explore added value – do qualitatively: perceptions of (as opposed to reality)
and how students express these skills & competencies.
(Sean) specify what they think are going to be important skills & competencies in employability and
reflect on opportunities they took at University.
Kay Focus on P/T students – undertake an ‘academic review’ as part of a 3 hour “action” workshop
– about 12 over 25s through CLL after 2yrs (after pre-honours). Catch them at a later stage, yr4.
Kind of questions and how to get them to confront these questions, with a scribe. What skills felt
developed in prior work experience, what change in their thinking/approaches have they noticed
since coming to the University. How they feel these changes happened? (what activities may have
caused the added value?)
Back to experience of being an employee – employers responsibility to their skills.
What are you bringing in? Changes in their own aspirations/abilities as a result of being at the
University for 2 years.
Use Fiona’s question 14 (on post-its, ask them to prioritise)
Kate – pilot short questionnaire online with students who take a year abroad.
Fiona – bit stuck on short term activity. The big interest is the bigger integrated view and tracking
students over time. WBS currently interested in its 1st years – how students see themselves and
the Management degree preparing them for the future. Questions need to allow us to gauge a few
things – UG team under-resourced to undertake this work.
Plan first to offer some thoughts on the questions, then identify someone to create an online
questionnaire in quizbuilder (elab, unitemps, CAPD) and someone with relevant experience to
analyse the data.
Robin – individual plan in Economics to be forwarded later (as he had to leave the meeting early
before this part)
Jay to set up a new thread on the forum for all of us to swap questions and collaborate on
identical questions that would go into an online questionnaire.