Pam Crawford, Rod Furnish, Mario Kolberg Experiences with integrating Employability into the Curriculum for Computing Science Students Pam Crawford, Rod Furnish, Mario Kolberg

What is Employability in the curriculum? University of Stirling Employability Strategy “a set of achievements, understandings and personal attributes that make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen careers, which benefit themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.” (Yorke, LTSN Generic Centre et al. 2004) Employer engagement Career management skills Reflective practice and Personal Development Planning The Student experience Work-based learning and work-related learning Graduate Attributes

Context: External Yet Computing Science as a discipline has one of the lowest employment figures after graduation (Shadbolt Review) A lack of (soft) skills is a "critical barrier as companies report increasingly hard-to- fill vacancies and specific skills shortages” (ScotlandIS) Feedback from an IT company who had received CVs from our (Stirling) students for graduate positions: “The CVs don’t say very much, are the students any good?” Acute skills shortage in Scottish IT Sector 70% of IT businesses expect to take on more employees this year Software and web development skills were the most in demand followed by commercial and business talent and project management experience. Graduate trainees and operative level IT workers were the categories of staff most needed. ScotlandIS calculates that 45,000 new professionals will be required in the next five years.

Context: Internal findings Computing students are often introverts Computing students find it hard to identify and articulate their skills, both technically and soft skills Computing students often do not understand the competitive nature of the jobs market PTES qualitative across all subjects: feedback indicates a desire for increased employer engagement and placements

The focus was largely on TPGs Where we started from? The focus was largely on TPGs Industrial Advisory Board: Largely virtual Offered a limited number of MSc dissertation projects with companies in the last 6 years Supported through the SFC funded project “Making the Most of Masters”: Sourcing projects; Providing material for companies and students This proved very popular and successful In the last two years we have significantly increased the number of company MSc projects through support from the DataLab

Company Feedback on TPG MMM Making the Most of Masters provided an excellent opportunity to undertake a business development related project with a good student and excellent academic supervision. You felt you were benefiting directly from the project whilst assisting the next generation of young professionals get a flavour of what business is about. All round a very worthwhile and well organised process.” John Ferguson, Binn Group “"Our experience of Making the Most The programme provided us with access to potential Graduate Application Developers and it was clear that MMM had worked very hard in preparing students for the commercial workplace. Being based at Stirling University and having a relationship with MMM continues to provide us with a potential and local talent pool. One of our recent projects led to the appointment of a Graduate Developer, who has since proven himself to be technically capable and he also has a combination of valuable people skills and a mature awareness of workplace discipline and commercial practices, which are sought by employers in today's competitive marketplace.” Nick Pye, CEO. Youmanage HR Ltd

Student Feedback “Coming from China to study in Scotland was a huge experience which was enhanced by being able to work in a commercial setting. I was challenged both technically and personally.” “During this project, I learned many aspects of developing a live business, knowing the pitfalls and dangers of getting things wrong. The aspect I learned most about concerned communication with my clients; to understand their wishes and to interpret their needs.” “It was very rewarding to have such a valuable experience, and I feel confident to put my project on my CV and I can certainly talk about it in an interview.” “Through the ‘Making the Most of Masters’ initiative, I had the opportunity to carry out my dissertation with a Stirling-based software firm. Upon completion of the project I was offered full-time employment and I now work as a web developer. To progress from an entirely non-computing background to a career in IT in such a short time was truly beyond my expectations!” “I learned a lot and gained valuable experience working in a commercial setting. Best of all, was seeing my project work getting used for real! It was such a memorable experience. ”

Introduced placements Introduced a personal development module So what next? Reflections: TPG experience of Work-based learning positive on various levels – lets extend that to UGs! Need to introduce placements UGs to provide more work-based learning and insight into employment Upskill UG to be more reflective and able to identify and articulate their skills Increase UG confidence Equip UG students with career management skills What did we do? Introduced placements Introduced a personal development module

Introducing Undergraduate Placements Why What Where are we now? External drivers Competition: other institutions were increasingly offering undergraduate placements Extended our offering to summer and year long placements Organised by computing science with help from CES Summer placements run for 3-months in June, July, August Assessed as a Pass/Fail, not credit bearing two years 40 students are currently looking for a placement Students can continue to work with placement company during their final year honours project. Slow start with about 10 students for the first

Placements, Outcomes Feedback Students learned a lot! Benefitted from being out of their comfort zone! Learned about AND DEVELOPED soft transferable skills! Increased their employability! Placements have been very successful Companies benefitted directly from the placement projects Students have continued with Placement companies to work on their final year honours projects Students have secured jobs with placement companies

Student Feedback “This 12-week placement has provided me with invaluable experience of a work in a professional technology company, and has taught me a great deal about team work and project management, these are lessons that will hold me in good stead for the future and gives me a firm footing after graduating.” “This placement allowed me to further improve my skills that I had learning within the academic environment. Being within a real high pressure environment where the work is the leading research for today's technology was really enjoyable.” “Upon commencing this internship I was thrown into the deep end. This was a daunting experience having a project with all new skills being handed to you and being expected to learn it instantly. Looking back I feel as if this was the best thing that the organization could have done as I learned many new skills as the internship carried on.” “ “ “As I was able to learn in such a short space of time, dedicating myself to this work and working successfully with other team members I have been offered a full time position within BTs graduate scheme.”

Placements, Outcomes But … a number of students struggled to secure a placement in the first place: Poor CVs; Poor presentation skills; Poor interview skills; Poor understanding what companies are looking for 3 careers session, not well attended by our students One-off sessions specific for computing science students, not well attended Needed to improve provision so that students make use of it and to improve numbers of students who successfully secure a placement

PDP Module: what was delivered? Personal and Professional Development Module for Computing Scientists was introduced in 2016 during Autumn semester in Year 3 to prepare students for placements and professional life after their studies. Professional development sessions are bundled as a module which appears on the transcript to increase the perceived importance of the module and to encourage student attendance. Not credit bearing, so not to push out technical content of the degree Contains 10 weekly sessions External consultant delivers session on presentation skills and prepare and deliver an elevator pitch CES to deliver most sessions: Students create their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profile, CV, covering letter, practise interview and assessment centre situations. Worked with E-placements Scotland to bring in a number of companies for a speed-networking event

PDP Outcomes 45 students participated in the first running of the module Very positive results in the module evaluation questionnaire: “The speed-networking session was really useful. It gave me an opportunity to meet with six companies in one session.” “At first the presentation skills session were a bit off-putting as I don’t enjoy standing up in front of others and talk. But the advice given in the sessions has helped me with my anxiety.” “I enjoyed meeting the companies. I was surprised how different they are!” “The MBTI analysis really helped me to understand my strengths and weaknesses and I will use this to find a placement which I will be good at.” “I really benefitted from the advise on writing my CV and covering letter. Now, I understand what companies are looking for.”

Next Steps Prepared an outline for a 2-day residential course to complement the PDP module Teach students business skills for the IT industry including project management; leadership; pitching for business contracts; team working; negotiating skills Currently preparing a bid together with Forth Valley College to Skills Development Scotland for Graduate Level Apprenticeships Developing impact evaluation for PDP and Placement modules 2017-18

Q & A