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Rising to the challenge: frameworks for employability in the new HE landscape. A strategic approach to embedding co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to enhance employability in the undergraduate experience at the University of Plymouth. Workshop aims.
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Rising to the challenge: frameworks for employability in the new HE landscape A strategic approach to embedding co-curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to enhance employability in the undergraduate experience at the University of Plymouth.
Workshop aims • Stimulate and facilitate discussion/sharing around: • Things that work (or might work) for you and your institution in principle. • Implementation strategies • Challenges in implementing a strategic approach to an employability framework.
Workshop Structure • Brief presentation on Plymouth strategy. • Break up into discussion groups to review: • Things that work (or might work) for you and your institution in principle (10 mins) • Feedback from each group (5 mins) • Implementation strategies and challenges in implementing a strategic approach to an employability framework (10 mins) • Feedback from each group (5 mins) • Where next for you and your institution?(10mins) • Feedback from each group (5 mins)
University of Plymouth • Strategic positioning: enterprise, student experience, graduate employability. • Mission : to significantly enhance graduate employability. • Strategic convergence: • Student experience, • Employability framework, • Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) trial.
UoP stakeholders • Academic staff : all, but particularly work based learning coordinators in each school (reporting to HoS). • Support staff: particularly work placement coordinators/managers in each Faculty (reporting to associate Dean T&L). • Careers Service: all. Part of individual role is to service specific Faculties. Links to employers. Central service/Directorate. Challenge of perceptions of role.
Some Challenges and responses. • Development and Ownership of institutional strategies (central, devolved, top-down, bottom-up etc). No single effective response to this challenge! • Defining roles and responsibilities at Faculty/Directorate level. Response: talk, debate, resolve, disseminate decisions. • Identification of stakeholders: students, employers, careers service, academic staff, support staff, etc. Response: audit, advocacy, identify effective champions in each stakeholder group tasked with taking employability forward. • “Employability” of graduates is a concept and potentially differently understood and measured by different stakeholders. Response: discussion & debate at all levels: programme, Faculty, institutional, leading to common understanding. • DELHE data is simplest KPI but flawed. Some stakeholders can use this to advantage, others are inherently disadvantaged. Response : disaggregate DELHE data to programme level. Invite comment and alternative KPIs.
Developing and implementing a framework : a fine balance! • Pick up best practice developed within programmes and share. • Employability yes, but not expense of academic integrity. “Enhancement of employability not displacement by employability”. • Ownership is key: hub and spoke model and DELHE data. Central direction and support but owned and contextualised by programmes. Accountability by programme. • Consciousness of student journey: the career development cycle. (denial, acceptance, ownership, action). Stage 1 is too early. Stage 2 is critical. Stage 3 is too late!
UoP Employability Framework • Within curriculum: basic career development cycle; PDP/personal tutorials (lifewide learning); accredited work placements/work based learning opportunities; principles and experience. 5-10 credits per stage. Owned by programme. DELHE KPI. • Co-curriculum: enhancement of employability through additional, optional, credit-rated modules, up to 20-credits per stage. Development of accreditation framework. Delivery by range of stakeholders (careers service, academics, SU staff, HR staff, professional services staff). Key elements: theory, practice, reflection, articulation. • Extra-curriculum: Plymouth Award and Leadership Award. Not credit-bearing. Life-wide, experiential learning. Key elements: experience, reflection in- and on-action, articulation of learning achieved.