Strategies for Supporting Student Employability Employability and Marketing Sept 2013

E&M Structure  Information & Publications  Careers Unit  Work Experience Unit  Marketing Unit  School & College Engagement Unit  Employability Unit

Content:  Curriculum development via EDORT, Career Development Learning and Graduate Qualities  Designing and developing activities for the Ulster EDGE Award and HEAR  Overview of employer engagement strategies  Introducing your students to the DHLE survey

Why does Employability matter?  Students motivation for entering HE  Government Policy – Dearing, Browne, KIS/WIS, Wilson Review  Institutional Drivers –Corporate Plan  Emphasis by employers on generic competencies rather than direct subject relevance  HESA employment performance indicator

 Key initiative helping to:  identify skills  the structures in place to support employability  identifying & disseminating good practice  create employability action plan  EDORT Toolkit: Staff and Student engagement  Both paper & pencil and online version available  24 schools, 76 programmes and 1195 students  EDORT toolkit, summary report, action plans, test online version available: Reviewing Employability

What areas does EDORT review? 9 subsections: Curriculum development Learning from work PDP Enterprise/ innovation/ creativity/ Transfer learning between contexts Real world activities Graduate/postgraduate employment Career development learning (CDL) Extra-curricular activities

Engaging with EDORT Online: Key Facts  It facilitates course teams to review employability within their degree by taking account of both staff & student views.  The toolkit is adaptable. It contains sets of core questions however, academics have the flexibility to create bespoke questions in relation to their degree programmes.  It generates an automatic feedback report which can help inform and map into current revalidation documentation  Refined to include statement of graduate attributes, KIS & HEAR

Getting started:  Contact Sharon Milner to develop staff and student questionnaires  Url will be sent to a contact within School to distribute  Encourage small teams of staff to engage not just one person  Macro-enabled excel SS, word documents and powerpoints will be generated

Career Development Learning at Ulster – Delivery Strategies  Bespoke assessed modules (10 & 20 points) on Career Management Skills developed for particular schools or programmes  Integrated Career Development Learning components into core modules within programmes  Modules offered to schools or programmes within the Certificate of Personal & Professional Development (CPPD)  Programme specific non-assessed Career Management Skills Units delivered within and outside the curriculum  Generic open careers workshops available to all students  Generic Skills Training Careers Programme for PhD students

Topics:  Self-Awareness  Personal Development Planning  Exploring Career Options  CV Building / Applications / Interviews  Assessment Centres  Action Planning  Communication and Presentation Skills  Work Values Assessments:  Career Report  Professional Action Plan  Placement CV  Skills Audit  Reflective Journal  Mock Interview  Finalist CV  E-portfolio on PACE  Mock On-line Application  Group Presentations

Career Development Learning  ACF343 Career Planning & Skills Development  Mock Online Application form using Survey Gizmo  ACF327 Graduate Employment Skills  Career Research topic group presentation to expert panel including graduate employers and academics.

Ulster Graduate Qualities Resources to support the implementation of the Institutional ‘Statement of Graduate Qualities’.

Enhancing employability via EDGE  An employability Award for F/T Undergraduate Students  Provides official recognition and evidence for activities outside the students programme of study  Taken in addition to degree  Enrolment is free  They have up to 3 years to complete the award.  Presented at graduation  Will appear on the students HEAR

Open to 1st Year students Reflect on Me PPD131‘ Building your skills PPD105 Open to 2nd Year students Developing Skills for Work PPD104 Peer Assisted Study Skills 1 PPD037 Peer Assisted Study Skills 2 PPD051 Open to 3rd Year students Graduation- what next? PPD102 Career management Skills PPD103 Open to all students Skills Development through Student Representation P/T job Work Experience Skills Builder Module PPD 184 Year long Placement – DPP(I)/DIAS Year Long Placement Study USA Study Abroad International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP) Language Assistant Ulster Sports Outreach Educational Placement Programme Erasmus Short-term placements – via 'employability through work experience' PPD100) Washington Ireland Program IAESTE Placement Preparation Module (only open to computing students) Placement Preparation PPD120 Business LaunchPad Enterprise Development PPD183 Open to all Sports/Students Union Club or Committee Member Student Union Rag Volunteer Volunteering with External Organisations Business Enterprise Academy Business Bootcamp Careers Plus Open to Social Work students Social Work Individual Practice Development Days Open to UOTC students Leaderhsip Development Programme Module 1 &2 Open to Sports students Ulster Sports Outreach Education Induction Training Programme Ulster Sports Outreach Sport for LIFE programme Open to UBS students Entrepreneurship Competitions CIMA Accredited SAGE certificate Open to Nursing students Disaster Risk Reduction Immediate Life Support Open to Computing & Engineering Stem Ambassador Open to Media, Film & Journalism Entrepreneur Residency Open to Sports and Creative Dance Dance for Life Programme Open to Communication/ Art & Design students Publicity Association of Northern Ireland/ University of Ulster Advertising Competition (PANI) Tutoring in schools Students Union Enterprise Competition Team Member Sciences and Ethics: Debates and Dilemmas Developing Digital literacy Accredited co- curricular modules Work experience, Study Abroad and Enterprise Internal and External Opportunities Formal University Wide Opportunities Category 1:Category 2:Category 3:Category 4:

Photos of students that graduated with EDGE available on flicker

HEAR 6.1 Protocols  The achievement is verifiable and endorsed by the University.  The opportunity to undertake the achievement is open to all students, in principle.  Information is presented factually, not opinion-based.  The role/achievement/outcome is defined by regulation (e.g. prizes, sabbatical officer).  The role/achievement/position supports a University process and is verifiable.  The achievement/role supports wider University policy and strategy.

Proposing Activities for inclusion in the Award  Activity proposal form available on the EDGE website Activity-for-Inclusion-in-Ulster-Edge-Award Activity-for-Inclusion-in-Ulster-Edge-Award  Minimum criteria – 30 hours, no impact on 360 points and an output that requires student to reflect on skills they have gained from the activity e.g logbook, ppt presentation etc..  Discuss ideas for activities to be included in the Award contact Dr Sharon Milner:  Approved activities will be provided with EDGE Award kitemark to put on School website to link to the Award

Careers Events  Autumn Careers, Placement and Postgraduate Fairs – 14 th & 15 th Oct Assembly Hall UUJ; 16 th Oct UUC, 17th Oct UUM  Northern Ireland Graduate Recruitment Fair Spring 2014  Series of mini sector specific events – Law, Accountancy, Teaching, IT  Employer Presentations on Campus Employer Engagement

Work Based Learning  Support for Placement Preparation / Placement Tutor Briefings  Work Experience Week – Beginning 25 th February  Joblink, Placement Management System  Business Launch Pad(Enterprise Development Module)  Paid Graduate Internships in Industry (PEP/ Santander) Employer Engagement

 Undertake the Student Survey twice a year April and January: 6 months after graduation (6130 students (3940 UUJ/UUB; 2190 UUM/UUC) 80% response)  Deadline 14 th March 2014  DLHE statistics on PACE (graduate destinations on portal)  Results published on KIS – employability benchmark DLHE Survey

Methods of contact  Postal mailing  Telephone questionnaire  PDF version (e- mail)  Centrally-hosted online questionnaire

Other methods  Direct contact During the field work period e.g. they visit the careers office or during the graduation ceremony  Academic departments Last resort Can also be used as a source of information as they may have on-going interactions with the leaver(s)  Employers Last resort If employer is known to the institution they too may be contacted

What you can do..  Promote the survey to students (from second year)  Briefing sessions to students on how to fill the form in – final year  Keep in contact with your finalists – let us (careers) know where they are  Send out PDF link - Institutions can this version of the questionnaire to leavers for completion. Leavers should print the form in order to complete, sign, date and return it to their institution  Send out Online link We need: Student Number, Programme Code, Full Time/Part Time, Job title, Name of Employer

What you can’t do…  Fill in the form for a student  Send it out to everyone – there is a target population – generally full time undergraduate

Staff Employability Newsletter Further Information visit: