Leadership, employability & supporting students in
achieving graduate attributes in NBS
Fiona Winfield, Employability Coordinator & Principal Lecturer
Dr Dean Garratt, Course Leader & Senior Lecturer - Economics
Chris Lawton, Senior Research Fellow – ESRB, Economics
ALTC: 26.3.13
Leadership, employability & supporting students in
achieving graduate attributes in NBS
• UNDERPINNING…
• CareerEDGE mode
• NTU’s Global Citizenship Graduate Attributes
• NBS’S SOLUTION: ‘Leadership & Employability’
• ‘EMPLOYABILITY’ SKILLS AND THE ECONOMIST’S SKILLSET: Reflections on
Delivering an Employability Module to 3rd Year Economics Students
CareerEDGE Model (Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007:np)
Employability
Self esteem
Self efficacy
Self confidence
Reflection and Evaluation
Career
Development &
learning
Experience
Work & life
Degree subject
knowledge, skills
& understanding
Graduate
attributes &
enterprise skills
Emotional
intelligence
Global Citizenship: Graduate Attributes…
• International awareness and openness to the world,
based on appreciation of social and cultural diversity,
respect for human rights and dignity.
• Understanding and appreciation of social, economic or
environmental sustainability issues.
• Leadership capacity, including a willingness to engage in
constructive public discourse, and to accept social and
civic responsibility.
Fiona Winfield
How can we use the CareerEDGE model and ensure all
the GAs are achieved?
NBS’s solution:
• New level 3 ‘Leadership &
Employability’
• Core Module - most final year
u/g
• c1200 students
• 1 module but 8 versions
Fiona Winfield
Accounting & Finance
Business
Economics
Human Resources
International Business
Int’l Business Admin'
Management
Marketing
Leadership & Employability Structure 2012-13
(2013-14 may vary slightly once review has taken place!)
All Year: Career Management/Skills Workshops & Events, including
lectures, talks, films, competitions…
Term 1:
Term 2:
Course/Discipline based
 Group Assessment (50%)
Global Citizenship/Career Mgt
Individual Report/Portfolio
(50%)
(consultancy, event, presentation etc.)
All Year: Personal tutor Groups
6
Learning Outcomes (A&F)
a)
Demonstrate knowledge of your chosen profession or discipline and a critical
understanding of associated leadership and employability issues.
b)
Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of social, economic and
sustainability issues within the context of your chosen profession or
discipline.
c)
Demonstrate how effective strategic leadership improves strategic and
financial management decision-making, leading to achieving and sustaining
competitive advantage.
d)
Demonstrate the ability to work effectively as a member of a team.
e)
Demonstrate the ability to reflect critically on your achievement of NTU’s
Graduate Attributes and your own employability, allowing you to manage
your future career.
f)
Demonstrate the ability to employ diverse research methods and
communicate findings in an effective manner.
Fiona Winfield
Learning Outcomes (Economics)
a) Demonstrate knowledge of your chosen profession or discipline and a critical
understanding of associated leadership and employability issues.
b) Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of social, economic and
sustainability issues within the context of your chosen profession or discipline.
c)
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the skill-set which economists can
bring to the workplace.
d)
Demonstrate a critical understanding of the applicability of economic concepts
and techniques to a range of workplace scenarios.
e) Demonstrate the ability to work effectively as a member of a team.
f) Demonstrate the ability to reflect critically on your achievement of NTU’s
Graduate Attributes and your own employability, allowing you to manage your
future career.
g)
Present economics-based information in an effective manner, appropriate to
its potential audience.
Fiona Winfield
‘Employability’ Skills and the Economist’s Skillset
Reflections on Delivering an Employability Module to 3rd
Year Economics Students
Outline Questions
• What are ‘employability skills’ and why are they important at
this time?
• What’s our take on this, from previous non-academic work
experience as well as from an educational and economic
perspectives?
• What’s the evidence on the skills employers value?
• How have we tried to apply this evidence in a 3rd year
assessment task?
• What elements of this practice went well and less well, and
what can we learn for future practice?
Why are Leadership & Employability skills so important?
• UK, European and North American labour markets all affected by
recession
• UK unemployment increased from 5% in 2007 to 7.8% in 2012/13
• Unemployment in the EU was 10.8% in January 2013
• Young people particularly affected. UK youth unemployment (1624) has almost doubled – to 21% nationally and 29% in
Nottingham
• There are 5 unemployed people to every 1 advertised vacancy
• The number of recent graduates has increased from 1 million to
1.5million between 2001 and 2011
• An increasing proportion of recent graduates are in low-skill jobs
compared to 10 years’ ago
11
Graduate Employment Rates
Source: ONS CROWN COPYRIGHT, March 2012. ‘Graduates in the Labour Market -2012’. Online
Resource. URL: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_259049.pdf [accessed 7th September, 2012].
What are ‘Employability Skills’:
Definitions from the Literature
• Inherent outcomes of an academic curriculum?
• Course/Discipline specific (and applicable in the workplace)?
• Job specific vs. lifelong learning?
• Generic/Transferable – e.g. communication, presentation, team
working, planning & organisation?
• Career Management & Job Search?
• Reflection (on all of the above, or principally on the utility of
the discipline to the workplace and wider world)?
National Employer Skills Survey
• Majority of employers have a positive view of graduates’ skills
• 82% of employers who recruited graduates straight from education found
them ‘well prepared for work’ – compared to 64% for school leavers and
72% for college leavers
• Attributes lacking in young recruits: lack of motivation/poor attitude (less of
an issue for graduates – just 4% of graduate recruiters)
• Skills lacking: planning & organising, customer handling, oral
communication, problem solving, written communication and team-working
skills – but again, much more likely to be lacked by school or college leavers
• For all recruits – employers place a priority on ‘job specific’ skills (almost half
of unfilled vacancies ) with ‘transferable’ or ‘generic’ or ‘softer’ skills
accounting for a significant, but smaller share (around a third)
Economics Network Alumni and Employers’ Surveys
(2004 and 2007)
Economics graduates’ strengths
• Analytical thinking
• Familiarity with use/misuse of data
• ICT Skills
• Understanding of core principles of their subject and technical
ability
• Willingness to learn and continually update their knowledge
• Transferable skills, applicable across Service sectors, such as
project management and presentation skills
Economics Network Alumni and Employers’ Surveys
(2004 and 2007)
Economics graduates’ weaknesses
• Applying their knowledge to practical problem solving
• Applying knowledge in situations that require improvisation, commercial awareness
or a sensitivity to human or cultural contexts
• The ability to work in teams
• Communication (written and verbal) of technical information– the ability to clearly
describe theory or approaches, especially during the interview and application
process
• Limited communication styles – require experience of a wider range of
communication formats, incl. presentations, reports, management briefings,
journalistic articles
Weaknesses observed in both new recruits and applicants –a large share of
applications insufficiently detailed or accurate
ECN Survey, 2007: Skill requirements of employers
who recruit economists
ECONOMICS NETWORK and ROYAL ECONOMICS SOCIETY, 2007. ‘The Skills
and Knowledge of a Graduate Economist’
Term 1 Leadership & Employability Assessment
Generic/transferable skills developed/assessed:
• Planning and organising
• Communication:
– Verbal
– Written
• Team work
Project management life-cycle;
Group project;
Formative presentation;
Summative consultancy ‘bid’;
Problem-based learning
Discipline specific skills developed/assessed:
• Application of theory and approaches to contemporary problems – within resource
constraints (time/client’s budget)
• Development of method
• Data presentation and interpretation
• Critical assessment of theory
The Brief for the Group Consultancy Bids
Demonstrate how you would deliver a consultancy project on one of these
themes, within a £50,000 budget
Align your group’s skills and experience to your client’s needs
• The environmental impacts of the ‘Boris Island’ airport proposal
• The impact of new regulation on the competitiveness of the UK finance
sector Evidence required to inform the business strategy of a new mortgage
lender
• Evidence on equality and diversity issues for apprenticeship provision in
Nottingham
• Evidence for Information, Advice & Guidance on the graduate labour market
in Nottingham
Reflections on the Exercise
Assessments were good because:
– Professional presentation of bids - ‘business-like’ voice, good presentation
and interpretation of data
– Team working (in most cases!)
– Appreciation of the nature of the task – almost all students understood
what was required and were able to appreciate the real-world relevance
– Appreciation of challenges/wider applications of the discipline
Assessments were weaker because:
– Individual reflective element - how well equipped are NBS 3rd years to
critically evaluate their own performance?
– Ability to work in a problem-based assessment environment – many
students needed significant supervision/tutor input
– Identification and application of theory and literature (unprompted)
Which of these definitions of Employability can
we/should we deliver against?
• Inherent outcomes of an academic curriculum
• Course/Discipline specific skills (and applicable in the workplace)?
• Job specific vs. lifelong learning
• Generic/Transferable – e.g. communication, presentation, team working
• Career Management & Job Search
• Reflection (on all of the above, or principally on the utility of the discipline to
the workplace and wider world)
…. Across the curricula? In a standalone cross-discipline module (at level 1, 2
or 3)? In a discipline-specific module? What are the costs/benefits/risks of
each…..
Your thoughts?
• How would you embed the Global Citizenship Graduate Attributes?
• (or how are you doing this?)
• What about encouraging ‘Emotional Intelligence’?