Mapping the University of Abertay’s Graduate Skills Rosemary Allford, Project Lead Dr Alastair Robertson, Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement 17 October 2013

Project Drivers Transformational change in Higher Education. Changes to funding, increased student diversity, flexible learning, advances in technology, demands from employers for graduates with a complex set of attributes, knowledge and skills, committed to life long learning. SFC Outcome Agreements

Context Abertay mission is to provide a distinctive and high-quality university education that empowers our graduates socially, culturally and economically, and to generate new knowledge and learning that reinforces national competitiveness. How is this to be achieved?

Context A co-ordinated strategic approach to support… Pockets of Excellence eg world leading games applications Increasing level of engagement across the University and wider Community Revised Teaching and Learning Enhancement Strategy Integrated Employability Strategy

Methodology Project methodology (defined, risk, boundaries, time constrained) Senior Management Project Sponsor Outputs defined through national policy and initiatives Primary and Secondary research Importance of added value at the ‘margins’ of the student learner journey and experience

No Surprises! Outcomes reflected/ a systematic evidence base A series of Recommendations and Reflective statements Raised profile of importance of employability enhancement (not static process) Abertay Community Attributes Enhanced employability strategy Identification of continuing need for a common language for discussions around employability Student participation

Outcomes Extended the university’s knowledge base around existing practice and identified examples of good practice that can now be shared more widely The report provided the basis of a focussed enhancement action plan which the University has reflected upon and is largely recommending to its Teaching and Learning Committee to take forward (some tweaking required e.g. all students should have wrl opportunities rather than work placements), Facilitated a more University-wide dialogue and conversations, including School-School, School-Service and Service-Service.

Mapping Work Placements Appendix 4: Student Placements at University of Abertay SchoolDisciplineNumber of Student Placement s 2012/2013 Number of Student Placement s 2011/2012 Comments paid/unpaid Comments Credit bearing Comments Duration of Placement Institute of Arts, Media and Computer Games 00n/a There are no formal placements. The School supports students who source placements for 3 or 12 month. School of Contemporary Sciences Biomedical Science 106Unpaid60 SCQF18 weeks Civil Engineering3632Unpaid (7 students were paid for insurance and H&S reasons) 60 SCQF12 weeks (all Semester 2) Food, Nutrition and Health;Food and consumer Science;Food Product Design 5155Unpaid60 Credits10 week placement Biomedical Science 10ERASMUS grant No3 months Dundee Business School Business & Management 349unpaid15 credits1 day/week for 10 weeks 3 noERASMUS 10 Extra-curricular work based project

Mapping Work Placements School of Eng, Comp & App Maths nil School of Social and Health Sciences Sport385459UnpaidCredit bearingApprox 30 hours spread across both semesters (= 24 weeks) Nursing (including Mental Health Nursing) Unpaid ( SAAS bursary to support including travel costs) Credit bearingApprox 766 hours/year of study (or 18 weeks of practice per year in years 1 and 2; and 21 weeks of practice in year 3) Nursing (Community Health) (including Mental Health Nursing) 109Unpaid ( SAAS bursary to support including travel costs) Credit bearing13 weeks Sociology1612UnpaidCredit bearingApproximately 1 day/week for 20 weeks Counselling – PGDip students 3835UnpaidCredit bearingNeeds to total 150 hours of practice Partnership Office All Schools disciplines 140 total over the period of the eie LTW2 project (2010 – 2013) UnpaidNon credit bearing Offered to those students studying courses where there was no existing placement opportunity in their subject area Short placements minimum of 10 days Small and medium size enterprises Onsite/offsite full time or part time

Transforming the curriculum 1.Review structure of undergraduate programmes, balance of depth vs breadth, set of electives in cross-cutting interdisciplinary themes e.g. ethics, entrepreneurship, “service learning”. 2.Enhance graduates’ employability, refining GAs, all programmes with employer engagement in delivery and work-related learning. 3.Create more flexible learner journeys and pathways.

Lessons Learned Sustainability of initiatives Embedding into policy and practice Distributive Leadership models Differing portfolio lifecycles means differentiated curriculum solutions

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