Employability developments and the Stirling Context

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Employability developments and the Stirling
Context

• Mark Wilkinson
• Head of Student Support Services

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Aim

• To report back an overview of the Employability
  Enhancement theme and discuss the relevance and
  potential of outcomes for the University of
  Stirling.
• Note some of the key resources available to the
  sector to support employability initiatives.

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• the main reasons learners are studying relate to
  acquiring skills/knowledge and their career
  development.
• On Track the Class of 2004, MORI Scotland, 2005

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• Employability
• a set of achievements skills, understandings,
  and personal attributes that make individuals
  more likely to gain employment and be successful
  in their chosen occupations.
• (Yorke, 2004)

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QAA Employability theme 2005

• Raise the profile of employability and its
  benefits
• Create a clear understanding of the term
• Support institutions to develop employability
  strategies
• Assist staff to embed employability in the
  curriculum
• Work in parallel with PDP project

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Learning To WorkScottish Funding Council, 2004

• Raised the profile of employability nationally
  and sets a challenge to institutions to put
  employability at the heart of the learning
  experience and the curriculum.

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Strand 1 Embedding employability in the
curriculum

• Output Innovative projects from across the
  curriculum (case studies)
• Projects promote the idea that employability
  should be a key concern for students,
  institutions and employers and that it should be
  approached in a serious, considered and
  academically robust manner.

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Strand 2 Enhancing students employability
through the co-curriculum

• Output Working Together survey of 60 projects
  which examine the enhancement of employability
  through the co-curriculum.
• Examples include sports clubs and societies
  student welfare activities volunteering
  initiatives entrepreneurship and enterprise
  schemes.

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Strand 3 Engaging Employers in the Curriculum

• Output Guide to International Best Practice.
• A resource for staff wishing to enhance
  employability by engaging employers more
  effectively in the curriculum.

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Some key lessons and issues

• Sustainability
• Engaging and motivating students
• Connecting the classroom with the workplace
• tuning in the curriculum to enhance
  employability

• How to create space in the curriculum at
  different stages of the academic programme
• exploiting the co-curriculum for student benefit

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Main findings - Engaging academic staff

• Long term evaluation of the benefits of embedding
  employability within the curriculum.
• Minority of academics engaged in the theme
  relatively low levels of participation in events.
• Researching, designing, testing and delivering
  curricular initiatives requires commitment and
  additional resources

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Main findings Engaging Students

• Student participation in employability activities
  was low.
• Some longer term initiatives eg. Employability
  officer/ staff member now employed in some
  student associations.
• The value of the Erasmus scheme as an
  employability activity proposed.
• Student engagement with employability should be
  further promoted via the work of other
  enhancement themes eg. The First Year.

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Main Findings Engaging Employers

• SFC will continue to work with Scottish
  Enterprise, Sector Skills Councils and others to
  increase employer awareness.
• Institutions should reflect on their current
  links with employers and their capacity to
  develop appropriate and proactive relationships.

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Main Findings Engaging Institutions

• Several institutions developed employability
  strategies and framed action plans.
• Key success factors in promoting employability
  include discreet support from careers service
  funding for a dedicated employability support
  post employability champion/s access to project
  funding co-ordination of activities.
• Main challenges increasing buy in from academic
  staff combating student apathy managing
  information addressing the enterprise agenda
  sustaining momentum.

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Response of the University of Stirling

• Secondment of staff member to undertake
  employability related activities departmental
  audits drafting of employability strategy and
  action plan creation of Employability web site
  creation Employability newsletters.

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Proposed key aims of Employability Strategy

• To increase the employability of the
  institutions students and to ensure that
  students can apply their employability skills in
  a lifelong learning context
• To develop the university of Stirling's
  reputation as an institution which produces
  employable graduates
• To prepare students for the local, national and
  global economy.
• To create a coherent support structure for all
  staff involved in the delivery of this strategy.

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Employability at the University of Stirling

• http//www.quality.stir.ac.uk/employability/index.
  php
• Via employability web site access to information
  for staff, students and employers the national
  context and policy resources and case studies.
• http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/Employability.htm
• http//www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/Index.aspx