Enhancing Student Employability Coordination Team

1
Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team

• The state of play, September 2003

2
ESECT people

• David Baume, independent evaluator
• Val Butcher, LTSN Generic Centre
• Carl Gilleard, Association of Graduate Recruiters
• Margaret Dane, Association of Graduate Careers
  Advisory Services
• David Gosling, National Co-ordination Team
• Lee Harvey, Sheffield Hallam University
• Sophie Holmes, National Union of Students
• Peter Knight, Open University
• Brenda Little, Open University
• Rob Ward, Centre for Recording Achievement
• Mantz Yorke, Liverpool John Moores University

3
ESECT problem 1

• Wheres the problem?
• All our students get jobs.
• Widening participation is the priority, along
  with
• foundation degrees.
• Its easier to argue that there is a problem
  since the lead story in the THES, 9 May 2003.
• It provided data suggesting that significant
  numbers of some institutions graduates were
  going into non-graduate jobs.

4
ESECT problem 2

• Were OK because weve up-rated Careers
  provision and have skills certification.
• One of our problems is helping colleagues to
  appreciate that this is not enough.
• Employers are looking for more.
• Higher education can do more.

5
The ESECT view of employability

• Research-based.
• All client groups

6
The ESECT mission

• Challenge the idea that it is employability
  versus education rather, employability is
  enhanced by good learning. The complex
  achievements employers value sit well with good
  learning in higher education (THES, 2/8/02).
• Promote integrated approaches to employability.
• Help employers to recruit well from the diversity
  of talent.
• Help students know what this means for them.
• Pass a strong legacy to the HE Academy in 2005.

7
A. Allay academics fears

• A fear employability is toxic to academic
  values.
• Our achievement will be to
• Show teachers in HE, through evidence and
  academic concepts, that synergies are possible.
  The Learning and Employability series does this.
• Set out principles for programme design that can
  reconcile the two.
• Provide tools to help them.

8
B. Encourage integrated approaches

• We will show HEIs and partner organisations ways
  of supporting employability
• Throughout programmes of study and the student
  life-cycle.
• By getting students to reflect on and document
  in- and out-of-class achievements - Personal
  Development Planning is going to be important
  here.

9
C. Help employers

• The Association of Graduate Recruiters will work
  with its 600 members to encourage equity and
  diversity in recruitment.
• We work with CRAC, STEP and Shell LiveWire to
  reach SMEs.
• Regional activities are important ways of helping
  higher education institutions to imagine ways of
  influencing recruitment practices.

10
D. Help students

• The National Union of Students will raise student
  unions capacity to contribute to employability.
• We are sensitive to the Access to What? projects
  findings on combating patterns of disadvantage.
• We will raise students capacity to represent
  their achievements through
• Promoting effective PDP practice.
• Helping departments and institutions create
  knowing students.

11
E. A living legacy

• We will link employability with key themes
  occupying HEIs - PDP, teaching and learning,
  widening participation, e-learning, assessment.
• We are doing a lot of capacity-building with LTSN
  subject centres, the HE Academy and institutional
  change agents.
• We will leave behind a slew of briefings and
  toolkits on what works.

12
ESECTs work five phases

• Phase 1. What is known? The Perspectives series.
• Phase 2. Briefings for eight client groups.
• Phase 3. Dissemination activities, including
  regional conferences.
• Phase 4. Development of materials designed to
  help the eight sets of clients to make a
  difference.
• Phase 5. Training in using, customising and
  disseminating these materials.

13
Client groups

• LTSN subject centres.
• Heads of department.
• Careers services.
• Student Unions.
• Employers.
• Pro Vice-Chancellors.
• Curriculum and other development projects.
• Educational developers.

14
Making a difference

• Our fourth set of deliverables.
• Originally described as toolkits.
• They could contain
• Audit tools.
• Examples of practice elsewhere.
• Suggestions and prompt lists.
• Access to an enhanced resource data-base.
• And
• Help and suggestions welcome.

15
Learning more

• Contact Peter Knight by email (peter.knight_at_open.a
  c.uk)
• Contact Val Butcher by email (val.butcher_at_ltsn.ac.
  uk)
• Visit the LTSN Generic Centre/ESECT website
  www.ltsn.ac.uk/genericcentre/ESECT