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Employability: Feedback on Institutional Plans

Employability: Feedback on Institutional Plans. Graeme Roberts Senior Associate Higher Education Academy. SFC Proposals (June 2006). Two-year £2m programme of collaborative development projects to help HEIs progress their strategic priorities for employability Proposed themes:

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Employability: Feedback on Institutional Plans

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  1. Employability: Feedback on Institutional Plans Graeme Roberts Senior Associate Higher Education Academy

  2. SFC Proposals (June 2006) • Two-year £2m programme of collaborative development projects to help HEIs progress their strategic priorities for employability • Proposed themes: • embedding employability in teaching, learning and assessment – particularly in “non-vocational” subjects • PDP for employability • models for engaging learners, partnership working and integrated support for learners

  3. Sector response • Not more development work but injection of funds to help HEIs implement employability strategies and build capacity • Council decision to invest £4m over four years “to help enable institutions to better meet the challenge of improving their contribution to learners’ employability through all of their learning and teaching provision” • Required HEIs to focus on key priorities and how Council support can best be used to deliver them

  4. Succinct plan for use of funds • Institutional context; extent to which HEI has explicitly addressed employability to date; and key priorities for development (w.r.t. gaps, opportunities and challenges) • Intended use of funds to implement its priorities, address barriers and embed good practice into all its learning and teaching • How plan will take account of knowledge and materials already available • How HEI intends to collaborate with other HEIs, and other bodies as appropriate, in fulfilling its objectives

  5. Institutional context • Outlining current structure • Explaining special circumstances • Describing student profile • Demonstrating understanding and commitment • Alluding to employment markets and/or success of graduates in obtaining employment • Discussing strengths and weaknesses

  6. How employability explicitly addressed to date (i) • Engagement with enhancement theme • Establishment of employability group • Development of employability strategy/action plan • Audit of employability practice • Definition of graduate attributes • Development/implementation of PDP/mentoring schemes • Introduction of career planning/management modules • Engagement with employers and/or community and voluntary bodies

  7. How employability explicitly addressed to date (ii) • Initiatives to embed employability/enterprise in academic curriculum, increase opportunities for work placements and enhance provision of careers education, information and guidance • Creation of new posts and provision of development funds • Collaboration with student associations on co-curriculum • Enhanced provision for research students (Roberts Report) • Aiming University Learning @ Work project

  8. Gaps, opportunities and challenges (i) • 1. Institutional working • creating a more joined up, strategic approach across the whole institution • developing institution-level systems while working with a wide range of local practices • developing a common knowledge and understanding of employability issues across the institution • supporting the development of employability at faculty/ department level • exploiting opportunity of merger or move to new campus or re-engineering of curriculum

  9. Gaps, opportunities and challenges (ii) • 2.Engaging staff and students • refining/clarifying language of employability to improve understanding • combating staff complacency • raising low levels of student confidence and engagement • raising student awareness and take up of activities to enhance employability, especially in early years • increasing student recognition and ability to articulate value of university experience • introducing and embedding clearly defined PDP process for all students, with sustainable support infrastructure • meeting employability needs of particular student groups

  10. Gaps, opportunities and challenges (iii) • 3. WRL, work experience and employer engagement • provision of work-related learning • making work experience available to more than a minority • creating a shared set of university-wide systematic processes and practices for supporting work experience • managing the multiplicity of valuable but disconnected initiatives to build long-term business partnerships • working with a wide range of employer/PSB requirements • preparing students for private practice in their profession or for career that will involve a portfolio of activities

  11. Gaps, opportunities and challenges (iv) • 4. Information collection and management • lack of longitudinal graduate destination data • lack of an infrastructure to collate and disseminate information • ensuring that the strategy has measurable effects

  12. Key priorities for development • Embedding employability in the academic curriculum • Personal (and professional) development planning • Work-related learning • Staff development • Employer engagement • Career development, management, information and advice • Integration • Awareness raising • Resource creation

  13. Point to ponder • Council objective is “to help enable institutions to better meet the challenge of improving their contribution to learners’ employability through all of their learning and teaching provision” (my emphasis) • Only one specifically mentioned meeting employability needs of particular groups of students – international, postgraduate and access: “it is important that we prepare students to enter employment at whatever stage they exit” • Overwhelming focus on undergraduate employability, even amongst institutions with large postgraduate cohorts

  14. How institution intends to use resources • To appoint one or two new staff • To second existing academic or support staff • Funding staff development • Funding project support

  15. Examples • Abertay – additional post to develop a project to embed employability issues throughout all four levels of its undergraduate programmes • St Andrews – full-time post as champion/facilitator to embed employability initiatives across all its schools • Dundee – buying out academic staff time to implement initiative to support employability needs of students in non-vocational areas in College of Arts and Social Sciences; rest used to expand its Enterprise Gym • ECA – seconding Employability Officer to work with Academic Employability Champion (also seconded) to develop existing initiatives and create new opportunities

  16. More examples • UHI – part-time Employability Officer to help programme teams develop employability and PDP profiles • Glasgow – additional post to assist Employability Adviser to develop PDP infrastructure and staff training; buying out staff time at faculty level to develop curriculum content and support PDP and work placements • Paisley/Bell – post to support curriculum re-design and harmonise practice across merged institution • RSAMD – setting up Forum for Research into Employability in the Performing and Theatre Arts

  17. Some posts based in careers service, others in or linked to educational development unit • QMU Employability Co-ordinator in Centre for Academic Practice • OU in Scotland to make part-time appointment to Learning Development Team • Napier to use funds to boost activity of Educational Development Unit • Aberdeen to co-locate Employability Development Adviser in Careers Service and Centre for Learning and Teaching • This recognises the important link between employability and good teaching and learning practice and the implications for staff development of embedding employability in the academic curriculum

  18. Other examples • GCU – Employability Officer to report to Director of Caledonian Academy: “academic appointment will lend greater academic credibility to the role particularly in raising the profile of employability as an academic issue and countering arguments put up by schools in making…curricula changes” • Abertay – holder of employability post to be embedded for extended periods of time within each of its four schools

  19. Stress on importance of partnership working • GSA – Employability Project Officer to work closely with the Careers Advisor but not to be part of Careers Service • Paisley/Bell – post holder to work as part of a team with members of the Centre for Academic and Professional Development but will liaise fully with Careers staff • Heriot-Watt – EPCR Project Consultant will operate in conjunction with the Students Association, Careers Advisory Service and Educational Development Unit

  20. How plan will take account of knowledge and materials already available • Most plans referred in very general terms to materials and resources from ESECT project and Enhancement Theme • Two referred to support for PDP from HEA and CRA [N.B. most HEIs now members of Scottish Joint Forum] • Only two mentioned the Student Employability Profiles and two to resources provided by HEA Subject Centres • References also to AGCAS, CIHE, Careers Scotland, the World Association for Co-operative Education and the Centre for Outcomes-Based Education (COBE) • COBE booklet on Enhancing Employability a useful resource for curriculum teams – http://www.open.ac.uk/cobe/docs/FINALEnhancingEmployability-web.pdf

  21. Little awareness of employability-related resources being generated by: • Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning • Centre for Employability Through the Humanities • Centre for Excellence in Work Based Learning • Centre for Career Management Skills • Embedding, Enhancing and Integrating Employability • Fund for Development of Teaching and Learning projects • Problem-based case studies for enhancing work related learning in Politics (Huddersfield) • E-evolve: Enhancing Employability and Vocational Opportunities Through Learning in Virtual Environments (Central Lancashire) • Enhancing graduate employability: embedding employability skills in the curriculum (Oxford Brookes)

  22. How institution intends to collaborate • Most refer to SHEEN • Three to working with AGCAS • Three to working with Dundee on PDP • Three to membership of AUL@W; two to ISLE • Two specialist art colleges to possible collaboration area • Two to HEA and subject centres; one to HEA and CRA • One to soliciting help from St Andrews and Strathclyde • One to working with PSBs • Only one to HEI outside Scotland – Gloucestershire (PDP) • Dundee and Heriot Watt (WRL); Glasgow and OU (PDP tool); Scottish Enterprise, Careers Scotland and Scottish Institute for Enterprise

  23. Finally… • How project would be phased - twelve • How project would be managed - eleven • How project would be monitored and evaluated - eight • How work would be sustained after funding ends - seven

  24. Questions and comments? • graeme.roberts@heacademy.ac.uk

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