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Negotiating Neoliberalism: Interdisciplinarity and the Employability Agenda Nick Witham

Negotiating Neoliberalism: Interdisciplinarity and the Employability Agenda Nick Witham. CCCU University Strategic Plan.

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Negotiating Neoliberalism: Interdisciplinarity and the Employability Agenda Nick Witham

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  1. Negotiating Neoliberalism: Interdisciplinarity and the Employability AgendaNick Witham

  2. CCCU University Strategic Plan “A distinct curriculum offer with a strong focus on developing student employability and preparing students for employment, lifelong learning and citizenship in the modern global world.” Key aims: • “Integrate employability skills within the curriculum.” • “Maximize the opportunities for our students to develop entrepreneurial and work-based skills.”

  3. Stefan Collini’s “HiEdBiz” • Since 2003, governments have conceptualized universities in increasingly corporatized, neoliberal terms. • “Use value” of HE: • Maintenance of cultural tradition. • Transmission of civic values. • “Exchange value” of HE: • Research in STEM subjects. • Training future employees, or “Manpower planning”.

  4. A Middle Way? • Can an employability agenda for an interdisciplinary humanities degree negotiate this corporatization without: • Giving in to obsession with the “exchange value” of education? • Refusing to engage with an increasingly important dimension of the HE landscape, especially in post-92 institutions?

  5. Employability and Interdisciplinarity 1: Focusing on Skills and Experiences • Skills: • Making sound evidence-based judgements. • Thinking critically. • Managing sources effectively. • Communicating clearly and coherently. • Demonstrating an independent work ethic. • Managing diverse workloads and meeting deadlines. • Using technology for communication and presentation purposes. • Experiences: • CPD for students – consistently emphasizing the utility of skills. • Range of assessments (essays, presentations, public history exercises, non-traditional writing). • Group work, team work and debates in class.

  6. Employability and Interdisciplinarity 2: The Employability Week • W/C 3 March 2014: teaching suspended across programmes. • Range of employability events organised, centering on University jobs fair. • Generic employability advice: • CV writing and applications. • Psychometric testing. • Personal branding and social media. • Subject-specific workshops and talks: • Law, media, publishing, teaching, heritage. • Optimizing experience abroad. • PG study at CCCU and elsewhere. • Alumni discussions.

  7. How Might We Define “Success”? • League table metrics? • Employment after 6 months. • “Value added”. • Establishing realistic expectations? • Thinking about medium- and long-term objectives. • Non-graduate or volunteer work as a “springboard”. • Creating better citizens? • Historical and cultural awareness. • Tolerance and understanding.

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