Employability by design Q-Step at Manchester

Manchester Q-Step Integrated programme of curriculum developments and work placement opportunities to engage and enthuse students in learning quantitative methods Sociology, Politics, Philosophy, Social Anthropology, Criminology and Linguistics

The paradox of Quantitative skills Employers love them Students (think they) hate them

What’s wrong Can’t do maths? Lack of integration– frequently parcelled off to ‘quantitative methods’ or ‘research skills’ module Perceived as boring: disconnected from learning the substantive discipline Perceived as hard: Stats anxiety Perceived as alien to real life: lack of ‘real data’ ‘real applications’ Perceived as something to be got through and ‘passed’ - very few go on to pick ‘quants’ options

Re-wiring quantitative skills Methods Work Placements Substantive Curriculum Employers

Making Students part of the Dataset Views of cultural impact of immigration over last 10 years 2011 British Social Attitudes

Summer work placements Work with organisations – internal and external Define a ‘project’ Students apply Work with careers service – Interview – Appoint – Place Manage expectations Support everyone Review

Q-Step summer placements projects, 10 organisations; 19 students Sociology, politics, criminology, linguistics 6-12 weeks long; generous stipends Quantitative skills Real world data, real world research and applications Not credit bearing Students produce (at least) a poster as an output – some will have academic papers, briefing papers, publications, blog posts

Who we are placing students with Think tanks Polling organisations Local government Universities Data consultancies and services

Who we will also place students with International statistical organisations Larger companies Third sector Cooperatives