EMPLOYABILITY OF GEOGRAPHY GRADUATES

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EMPLOYABILITY OF GEOGRAPHY GRADUATES

• In the
• GIS and Geographic
• Information-related fields
• Krystyna Brown
• School of Geography and Environmental Management
• University of the West of England, Bristol

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INTRODUCTION

• Employability
• A set of achievements skills, understanding
  and personal attributes that make graduates
  more likely to gain employment and be successful
  in their chosen occupations which benefits
  themselves, the workforce, the community and the
  economy (Yorke, 2004)

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GIS and Geographic Information

• GIS is often described as a technology used to
  collect, manage, analyze and report
  geographically referenced information in the form
  of maps.
• An estimated 80 of all data has a spatial
  component.
• Hence GI is information about objects or
  phenomena that are associated with a location
  relative to the surface of the earth.

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Example of GIS and GI
Spitalfields , London - location of recent
crimes (Stringer A, Macbean H, Gorst L and
Taylor S (2003)
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METHODOLOGY

• Employees - Former students
• Mail shot with questionnaire to students of the
  past two years who had completed the
  'Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing' module.
• This module offered a range of skills as well as
  fundamentals of GIS and GI.
• Used as a discriminant in understanding what
  Geography graduates had to offer to prospective
  employers.

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Employers

• A questionnaire - employers in the GIS and
  GI-related fields.
• Employers from companies in the commercial world,
  quangos, government and local government.
• Followed up with semi-structured interviews.
• What qualities did Geography graduates have?

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MAIN FINDINGSEmployment Former students

• A mail shot found that over 21 of the 65
  students obtained employment in the GIS and
  Geographic Information (GI) -related
• sectors.

Some Job titles from employees Cartographer Planni
ng Technician Graduate Environmental
Engineer Environmental Health Technician Transport
and GIS officer Environmental advisor Graduate
placement County Borough Council Sales
Recruitment Consultant
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Employees

• All had used their GIS (team) project
• 
  
  
• and
• Some had also used their
• dissertation in job interviews.

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Main findings - Employers

• Enhance employability for these jobs?
• (extracted from semi-structured interviews with
  employers).
• Digital mapping
• Spatial awareness
• GIS analytical skills
• Data management skills

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Employers and Employees

• Comparison of Software requirements
• Similar software given - with the most often
  referred to
• ESRI GIS software (Arcview and ArcGIS), Mapinfo,
  CAD.

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WHAT EMPLOYERS VALUE IN NEW GRADUATES (Brennan et
al. (2001)

• Working under pressure
• Oral communication skills
• Accuracy
• Attention to detail
• Working in a team
• Time management
• Adaptability
• Initiative
• Working independently
• Taking responsibility and decisions
• Planning, coordinating and organising

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From Employers Qualities most valued in a new
graduate

• Working in a team
• Oral communication skills
• Accuracy
• Initiative
• Working under pressure

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Student comments on PDP and a portfolio of work

• These would stand as proof that I have done the
  work it is evidence to prospective employers.
• It would describe how advanced I was in certain
  skills.
• This documentation would suffice to employers and
  they would not require you to retrain.
• Useful for a prospective employer to see the
  progression.

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Negative comment

• BUT
• Just because you have a PDP does not mean you
  would get a job

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IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING

• PDP
• Portfolio of
• work
• Make students
• aware of their
• achievements

Coffin B, Colfox E, Hazlewood P and Whitehead S
(2003)
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Future research

• Add to the data by following up the next cohort
  of students.
• Undertake further research with employers on
  employability in this job market.

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REFERENCES

• Brennan J, Johnston, B Little B, Shah T and
  Woodley A (2001) The Employment of UK Graduates
  Comparisons with Europe and Japan. London The
  Higher Education Funding Council for England.
• Coffin B, Colfox E, Hazlewood P and Whitehead S
  (2003) GIS A Tool For Planning Bristols
  Natural Resources. Student presentation.
• Knight, P (200?) Higher Education and
  employability some views from unemployed recent
  graduates online .COBE, Open University.
  Available from http//www.open.ac.uk/vqportal/Ski
  lls-Plus/documents/Notesonastudy.pdf Accessed 1
  July 2004.
• Stringer A, Macbean H, Gorst L and Taylor S
  (2003) Spitalfields, London - location of recent
  crimes. Student presentation.
• Yorke, M. (2004) Learning and employability, Book
  1. LTSN Support Network, ESECT Publication.