Graduate Employability Project
The Graduate Employability Project is a 3-year Scottish Funding Council funded project which aims to improve the proportion of our graduates entering into employment – particularly into professional/ managerial level employment. The project aims to achieve this through 5 strands of distinct, but inter-related, activity:
The GEP, collectively branded as ‘StandOut’, supports the University’s new Strategy 2020 which has building innovation, enterprise and citizenship and delivering an excellent personalised student experience as two of its key strategic objectives. Together, they have enabled the University to raise the profile of employability and to consider how to balance the systematic development of skills and graduate attributes with a student experience which facilitates flexibility and contextualisation while acknowledging different starting points and aspirations.
Project Impact
The project has led to significantly enhanced student engagement and outcomes during 2013/4. For example:
- a significant increase (3.1%) in the proportion of leavers in employment or further study.
- 159% increase of Scottish domiciled students accessing careers advice.
Careers now offer Recruitment Assessment Centre experiences to prepare students for the recruitment process.
- 66% increase in 3rd and 4th year Scottish domiciled undergraduate students participating in professional development workshops. Two new workshops have been developed (Negotiating Skills, Building Resilience) and a bank of employer ‘talking heads’.
- 60% increase in students participating in existing mobility programmes and a 43% increase in students participating in employer mentoring.
- 67% increase in the number of employer networking events for students.
Overall, 56% of the total Scottish-domiciled undergraduate population engaged in our professional services employability provision in 2013/4 (4,219 out of a total of 7,036). This included attendance at workshops, one-to-ones and employer events, and many more engaged in School-led provision.
Faculties have also developed and delivered significant amounts of curriculum development activity within modules and programmes. This includes large scale change, such as the introduction of new employability modules, for example:
- The School of Computing’s ‘Professional Identity through Portfolio’ module.
- The Business School’s ‘Professional Practice’ and ‘Personal Selling Skills and Sales Process’ modules.
- The School of Life Sports and Social Sciences’ ‘Skills Passport’ module.
Much of the curriculum development continues to be embedded during 2014/15.
One of the key successes of the GEP has been the significant growth in engagement with employers of all sizes across the University and their engagement in the learning experiences of students. For example, the University’s Employer Relations team interacted with 549 businesses in 2013-14, an increase of 216%. School-based initiatives such as internship programmes, increased focus on placements and new employer events, has led to a major expansion in the breadth, range, number and type of opportunities for students to gain insight into and experience of employment in their chosen field.
The GEP has enhanced our employer engagement practices. A cross-University employer group has been established to oversee our employer services and to improve employers’ understanding of us.
The second year of the project continues to monitor value and impact and is embarking upon a programme of dissemination within the sector.