EMPLOYABILITY: STRATEGIC OVERVIEW Lee Harvey

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(No Transcript)
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EMPLOYABILITYSTRATEGIC OVERVIEWLee Harvey
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Overview
Focus on the ways that higher education is
addressing employability

• Background
• Employer and graduate needs
• Employability and recruitment
• Developing employability in HEIs
• Conclusions and recommendations.

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HE and the economy
enhancing employability
lifelong learning
widening participation
Importance of higher education to
the knowledge-based economy
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Diversity
higher education
student background
Institutional responses to developing
employability
mode of study
graduate labour market
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Initiatives
new courses and qualifications
enhanced curricula
developments in work experience
accreditation of work experience
progress files and pdp
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Dearing and precursors

• Sandwich and professional placements.
• EHE and HEC.
• NCIHE raised
• profile of employability
• emphasised work-related learning
• key skills.

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Changes

• Awareness of employability issues.
• Changing graduate labour market.
• SMEs/portfolio working.
• Reflection on experience.
• Lifelong learning and continuous professional
  development.
• Moving beyond a skills agenda.

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Employability

• Development of the individual.
• HE and extracurricular activity.
• Conceptual understanding.
• Employment rates of graduates ? employability.

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Magic bullet
HEI
Employability development opportunities
graduate
employability
employment
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Model
Subject area
Employability development opportunities
HEI
pedagogy
Graduate
engagement

• employability attributes
• self-promotional skills
• willingness to develop

Extra-curricular experiences
reflection
Employability
External factors
articulation
Recruitment process
Employment
Employer
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Recruitment

• More sophisticated.
• Own image.
• Disadvantaged groups
• mature graduates
• working-class
• ethnic minorities
• females.

Higher education and employers need to work
together to overcome biases in recruitment
against some groups of graduates.
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Model
Subject area
Employability development opportunities
HEI
pedagogy
Graduate
engagement

• employability attributes
• self-promotional skills
• willingness to develop

Extra-curricular experiences
reflection
Employability
External factors
articulation
Recruitment process
Employment
Employer
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Model

• employability attributes
• self-promotional skills
• willingness to develop

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Bolt-on approach
employability attributes
willingness to develop and reflect
self-promotional skills
bolt-on skills module
bolt-on skills module
taken for granted
central services
work experience
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Holistic approach
employability attributes
willingness to develop and reflect
self-promotional skills
Holistic approach
embedded attribute development
work experience
recording/ reflect-ing on experience
enhanced central support
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Holistic approach
willingness to learn reflect
attribute development
self-promotion career man.
in programmes
central support
work experience
recording exp.
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central support

• Wide range of activities.
• More targeted (initiatives/Harris Report).
• National (CRAC, NUS).
• Career management
• c.m. skills modules
• on-line/hard copy resources
• Collaboration with departments
• design and delivery.

Central services have been transformed and are no
longer marginal to learning.
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in programmes

• Embedding attributes in subject curricula
• increasing trend
• extent difficult to assess informal.
• Employability audits
• national (Wales)
• Institutional (UWIC).
• Pedagogical shift culture?.
• Outcome statements and benchmarks
• problematic variable creativity (nat. curr.).
• MLEs/VLEs.

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work experience
organised work experience as part of a programme
of study
organised work experience external to a programme
ad hoc work experience external to a programme
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Endorsement of work experience

• employers graduates are more effective
• recruitment route
• added success in the job market research.

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recording experience
learning from work experience
progress files
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Examples

• LTSN Generic Site Employability
• Transition to work electronic version, with
  embedded sites, as a word file on
  http//www.shu.ac.uk/cre/employability

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Progress in Wales

• Wales first off the blocks
• Audit and WEEPs
• Significant changes
• delivered
• approach

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Progress in Wales Questions

• Conceptual approach to employability?
• Strategic approach?
• Mechanism for monitoring implementation?
• Array of employability enhancing opportunities?
• Internal audit of work experience?
• Is there a central employability forum?
• Views of external stakeholders incorporated?
• Holistic approach?
• Is reflecting on employability an integral part
  of the learning process?
• Has enhancing students employability become
  embedded in the academic culture?

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Progress in Wales Answers

• Conceptual approach to employability?
• Mostly but varies
• Strategic approach?
• Nearly everywhere
• Mechanism for monitoring implementation?
• Most places although of varying sophistication.
• But clear plans and targets in all institutions
• Array of employability enhancing opportunities?
• Mostly, although some places concentrate on work
  experience
• Internal audit of work experience?
• Some very comprehensive

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Progress in Wales Answers (continued)

• Is there a central employability forum?
• Mostly but sometimes monitoring rather than
  developmental
• Views of external stakeholders incorporated?
• Variable. Acknowledgement of stakeholders but not
  always clear mechanisms
• Holistic approach?
• Increasingly
• Is reflecting on employability an integral part
  of the learning process?
• Nearly everywhere
• Has enhancing students employability become
  embedded in the academic culture?
• Pass!

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Thank you
http//www.shu.ac.uk/cre