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Laura Winer, David Syncox, and Martin Kreiswirth McGill University Enhancing Professional and Transitional Skill Development for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows: SKILLSETS at McGill University

2008, Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS) seminal paper articulated skills and competencies required for “HQP” + necessary for the knowledge economy 2009, McGill University embarked on a professional development program using CAGS paper as framework guided creation of the university-wide program called SKILLSETS Background

Provides and sponsors professional development offerings Includes all graduate students and postdoctoral fellows Enhances and supplements their disciplinary training SKILLSETS

Nine Competencies for Success 1.Communication and interpersonal skills 2.Critical and creative thinking 3.Integrity and ethical conduct 4. Knowledge mobilization and knowledge translation 5. Leadership 6. Life skills 7. Research management 8. Societal/civic responsibilities 9. Teaching competence

Branding: developed a brand for the suite Surveying and benchmarking: surveyed existing internal offerings benchmarked & analyzed peer offerings Partnerships: developed collaborations with McGill Faculties, departments and service units Model: Hub and Spoke used to centralize workshops resources, offerings – clearinghouse & initiator Processes and strategies used

Generosity and collegiality of McGill community E.g., More than 40 graduate students, 100 professors and 63 academic administrators have been involved in developing and co-facilitating events Partners include: Library + Student Services (internal) Hospitals (MUHC-Quality Assurance Office) Gov. of Canada (Canadian Intellectual Property Office); Sister universities (Concordia, UdeM) Partnerships

Improved communication: Web/calendar, direct Effectiveness: measured by three different criteria: Comprehensiveness – each of nine themes addressed (over 225 offerings annually) Attendance: over 2,500 attendees annually Satisfaction: roughly 90% of participants agree Support for critical links: Industry, government + NGOs Enriching the environment

Budget: Graduate student employment accounts for roughly 60% of the budget Cost-sharing with partner units Graduate student hiring: five graduate education assistants annually from a range of disciplines Mentorship: Students have varied experiences and training opportunities Optimized Resources

Provides value-added experience to the university training environment Better preparation of research trainees for their future careers in industry, government or academia Benefits of program