Chris Procter Salford Business School placements

Introduction Who am I? Placement co-ordinator, Senior Lecturer in Project Management (ex IT), Education in a Changing Environment co-chair – ece.salford.ac.uk Salford Business School programmes with sandwichoption: Business and Management, Finance and Accounting, Business IT, MSc Managing IT, Project Management, Events Management, Int. Tourism Management – approx 350 – 400 eligible students this year

Advantages of placement year High degree results Excellent employability prospects (and less anxiety) after graduation Clearer ideas about future Greater maturity and confidence Better rapport with staff

Support provided Placement co-ordinator and placement administrator Weekly workshops Online support pre and during placement Academic visits, 60 credit module External City and Guilds LCGI accreditation No fees Student Life Placement Fair and other events Low take up - typically 10-20% of cohort

Why didnt you do a placement? 2009/10 Questionnaire Results for 150 final year students who had not done a placement 51% of people considered a placement 34% made applications after considering doing a placement 6% of respondents made between 1 and 2 applications. 16% made between 3 & 5 applications. 3% of respondents made between 6 & 10 applications and 7% made over 11 applications. 40% of respondents did not attend any of the placement workshops 41 people said that they did try for a placement, but werent successful 77 people said they wanted to finish University as soon as possible 28 people thought the jobs available did not appeal to them/werent appropriate 21 people didnt want to relocate 8 people did not feel capable of doing a full time job 9 people couldnt afford a placement 9 people didnt have time to apply

Why didnt you do a placement? I had already taken a gap year and didnt want to do another. Felt a little old Didnt get a placement despite applying for many vacancies. Regretfully I was too lazy. Didnt have confidence and I felt I wouldnt be successful. I thought if I leave Uni for a year and then come back, it would be very hard to adapt again. Recommendation is the best way of offering places to students in need of placements. Its good to get a placement, but I wanted to finish Uni as soon as possible. I am going on to do a Masters I applied for a placement but didnt pass my second year. Already have 15 months professional work experience as a network engineer. Also, 2 years part-time PC technician. I am working with my family.

CEPPL innovation fund project Project objectives Recruit and train a group of student mentors Gather ideas and set up activities Enhance pre-placement experience for students eligible to undertake a placement year Improve proportion of students taking a placement Improve experience of students starting a placement Review and report

Meet the mentors

Mentor recruitment and role Basic objectives of providing encouragement, motivation and practical help Started in September Application by means of suggestions for project Talks in induction week Survey of final year students

Mentor activities Daily drop in sessions Some workshop participation Facebook group and some SMS Following review in January: Speaking to all students in lectures Gathering of interested names Provision of one to one support (face to face and online)

Results Project not finished … Pre-placement student view: mentors very helpful, but only a minority sought this help. Some thought mentors could write their applications for them/ find jobs for them …

Mentor view The experience has been incredibly valuable. Great development of: Communication skills Teamworking Confidence Much better understanding of employment process Minor interpersonal problems Friendships

Staff view Mentors are world beaters and the project is valuable for that alone Incentives and support make relatively little difference to proportion of students securing placements Placements have to be compulsory to improve take up Mentors can take up some of the staff workload (although many students prefer to see a member of staff) Mentors arent always ruthless enough!

Conclusion Report to be written in June – let me know if you want a copy Bidding for University funding for 2010/11 – 800 hours of support cant be bad Full results available in September Research to be written up (I need a mentor!) Suggestions welcome

Future developments One year placement option to be offered to all BSc and MSc Business School students from : approx 800 students. FdSc and HND students also have possible placement pathway. UNITE project (partnership of 6 NW Universities) now approved offering approx 150 students/gradautes 1 month paid placements with SMEs over 3 year period