Reimagining Graduate Employability Kinash, S. (2015, December). Reimagining Graduate Employability. Presentation at the Reimagine Education Conference, Philadelphia.

Supporting Graduate Employability from Generalist Disciplines through Employer and Private Institution Collaboration

Australian Government Office for Teaching and Learning Special Thanks To: Australian Government Office for Teaching and Learning Project Team Students, Graduate, Employers, Educators & Career Development Professionals who shared their stories Image from: http://www.firstchance.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/thank-you-clothesline-752x483.jpg

Project Rationale Unsatisfactory rate of graduate employment Graduate Careers Australia found less than 70% of undergraduates are employed full-time 4 months after graduation Image from: https://cdn.twproject.com/site/wp-content/uploads/project-costs-management.jpg

Research Methodology What can universities do to improve graduate employability? Surveys (705 Completed) Students Graduates Employers Higher education career development professionals and educators Interviews In-depth interviews and focus groups completed with 147 people Image from: https://santhoshpinintiblog1.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/agilepicture.gif

Research Findings The common definitions of employability must be expanded to acknowledge the importance of identity and to include making as well as taking careers Universities can improve graduate employability but there are strong discrepancies between the four stakeholder groups as to which strategies are the most important and effective Widespread agreement that graduates have heightened employability when their student experience represents both a strong disciplinary knowledge and broad based experiences T

Achieved Project Aims Greater clarity on the issues, challenges and contexts of graduate employability Identify and review the strategies that have been successfully used to address these challenges Create opportunities for the diverse stakeholder groups to share their perspectives Promote strategies that maybe used by the various stakeholder groups to collaborate on improving graduate outcomes Image from; http://www.appladesign.net/domains/create//documents/lrn_aims_274.gif

Project Outcomes New definition of Graduate Employability Higher education alumni have developed the capacity to obtain and/or create work Institutions and employers have supported the student knowledge, skills, attributes, reflective disposition and identity that graduates need to succeed in the workforce Image from: http://blog.vistage.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Project-Manager-219x300.jpg

Case Studies 11 Case studies each providing strategies, suggestions and directly quoted perspectives from across the 4 stakeholder groups

Graduate Employability Framework As compared to previous frameworks, this one is distinctive because it displays the student/graduate at the centre of the process

Employability Mapping Worksheet This tool allows students and educators to depict the knowledge, skills, attributes and activities in context of the university and workplace and then see the gap between these contexts

Employability Survey Four versions of the survey with twelve employability strategies Respondents were asked to select the strategies in response to stakeholder prompts: Students – Which of these employability strategies are you using or are you planning on using? Graduates – Which of these strategies did you use to improve your employability? Educators – Which of these employability strategies are you able to provide/support for the students Employers – Which of these strategies influence recruitment?

Employability Strategies Students Graduates Educators Employers Capstone Career Advice  Extracurricular Int Exchange Mentoring Networking PT Work Portfolios Prof Assocs Social Media Volunteering Work Experience

Contact Us http://GraduateEmployability.com/ http://PostgraduateStudentExperience.com http://HigherEducationStudentEvaluation.com Shelley Kinash skinash@bond.edu.au Linda Crane lcrane@bond.edu.au Madelaine-Marie Judd mjudd@bond.edu.au