Why do internships and placements matter?

1. Why do internships and placements matter? Carol Faiers Suffolk Business School 2 May 2014

2. The context • UCS’s core value: employability • Encouraging Business Management undergraduates to carry out summer placements • Research* shows students who complete placements are: • more likely to be employed six months after graduation and less likely to be unemployed • have a higher annual salary; and • the experienceenhances their academic performance * CBI, 2013; CBI and UUK, 2009; High Fliers Research 2013; and the Wilson Review 2012

3. The research • What motivates students to engage with these placement opportunities? • What are the students’ perceptions of the benefits of placements in enhancing their employability? • How can we use this feedback to impact on ‘employability’ in learning, teaching and assessment?

4. The findings Motivation to undertake a placement: • Consistent message received from (some of) the teaching team • Local, regional, national and international guest speakers, business presentations • Offered support to find placement and apply • ‘Employability’ modules • UCS Careers team events • Peers

5. The findings • Student perceived benefits of placements in enhancing their employability 5. Informing future career choices 1. Enhancing personal development 4. The recruitment and selection process 2. Developing job specific skills and/or learning new skills 3. Making explicit the relationship between academic study and work

6. The students’reflections Academic study develops skills at university but you only know if you’ve got them when they are tested at work. • I had to impress someone every day at work; I was always ‘on show’. I never knew what questions people would ask me or what tasks I would be given. Being employed is hard work and I felt exhausted. • This was ‘real’ work and developed my skills in a practical way and ‘for real’. This experience changed me. Your career is not on the line but your potential career is on the line. ‘For real’ can be frightening. • Learning to work with people is as important as learning to work: dealing with personal sensitivities and political considerations is paramount.

7. The impact on learning, teaching and assessment • Has to be a consistent message from the teaching team • Provide opportunities for students to share placement experience, peer to peer • Offer practical support and encouragement (Careers team) • Value of ‘employability’ related modules – explicit • Extend employer partnerships and integration of employers into the curriculum

8. Theprocess Engaging initial student interest Recruitment and selection process Finding placement opportunities Guidance and support for application • Teaching team • Careers and employability • Employer speakers • Students • Teaching team • Careers and employability • Business School Networks • Careers and employability • Degree employability modules • Students • Employer workshops • Careers and employability • Degree employability modules Review of Learning, Teaching, and Assessment Reflection and sharing Placement • Teaching team • Students • Nominated coordinator • Employer support • Teaching team support • Business management in practice module • Students

9. The challenges • ‘For real’: helping students transfer knowledge and skills from an academic context to the workplace • Being professional: skills, attributes and behaviours • The ‘dark side’: relationship to others - office politics; impact – taking responsibility for consequence of tasks • Are placements good for everybody? • Longitudinal study – not just first job but subsequent career path