Humanities, Enterprise & Higher Education 10 October 2007 The Centre for Employability through the Humanities Billy Frank & David Bagley

Aim of ceth To enable Humanities graduates to be enterprising, employable and entrepreneurial.

Realistic Work Environments Students can gain academic credit and develop employability skills by working on projects in teams in near commercial environments: Publishing, Independent Cinema, Media Development, Theatre/Events, Museums/ Exhibitions, Gallery/ Retail. They do not become experts but do gain insights into particular careers.

Some things we have been working on 1.Entrepreneurship 2.Active learning approaches.

1. Entrepreneurship

 Workshops in Enterprise.  Modules & e-learning courses.  Incubation facilities.  Grants to assist start ups.

Workshops on Enterprise (extra curricular) 1. Entrepreneurship 1.Inspiration for Starting a Business 2.Enterprise Skills 3.Managing Your Business 4.Social Enterprise

Modules & E-Learning Courses on Starting a Business 1. Entrepreneurship

Incubation Facilities ceth has purchased 8 ‘pods’ for people planning start ups. 1. Entrepreneurship

Incubation Facilities There is a variety of incubator spaces for start up companies. 1. Entrepreneurship

Many Humanities graduates wish to start their own business. In future, ceth will provide 3 grants of £3000 each year to help Humanities students and graduates to start up. 1. Entrepreneurship Grants to assist start ups

2) Active Learning We want students to be able to apply their learning and not simply to be able to recall what they have memorised. A variety of methods are used to ensure that students engage with the materials and play an active role in classes.

2. Active Learning  Live projects.  Work related learning.  Paid work placements.

History students worked for Preston City Council to produce an exhibition documenting the history of Frenchwood (an area of Preston). a) Live projects 2. Active Learning

b) Work Related Learning This year, students of English will work closely with small businesses to undertake an ‘English audit’. They will assess how English is used by the business and make suggestions as to how it might be improved. 2. Learning & teaching

Museum RWE

c) Work Placements Last year History and Film students undertook work placements. 2. Active Learning

Negotiated Learning Model

Student feedback “Actually having something tangible to see/hold, like an anthology that I have helped to bring to publication, from scratch, is still making me grin, and will do for a very long time.” “It's a breath of fresh air from ‘academic’ study, but much harder, as so much of it is to be tackled independently.”

What have we learnt?  Humanities students respond well to different teaching approaches.  A fundamental change in approach for non-vocational courses.  Difficult.  Heavy investment in staff development.  Needs commitment from all concerned.  Needs resources (time especially). BUT....

What have we learnt? Employability can be taught! (or at least, students can learn it).

Further Information: Billy Frank David Bagley UCLan Preston PR1 2HE O