Employability: University of Aberdeen Development Plan 2010/11

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), through its corporate plan, has signalled the importance of the development of employability skills and attitudes in students in further and higher education. The definition of employability used by the Scottish Funding Council in its publication Learning to Work, is that employability constitutes -

'a set of achievements - skills, understandings and personal attributes - that make individuals more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen careers'.

The SFC's corporate plan includes a priority action 'improving the employability and skills of learners' with the associated aim, 'learning programmes offered by Scotland's colleges and universities to be relevant to students' lives and careers, society and the economy'. As a main strategy to meet this aim, the SFC has made available funding, for a 4-year period, to each HEI to help enable institutions to better meet the challenge of improving their contribution to learners' employability through all of their learning and teaching provision.

During the SFC employability initiative the University also began an extensive review process to modernise Aberdeen degrees to ensure they match the needs of graduates and employers. After extensive reflection and widespread consultation, the Final Report of the Curriculum Reform Commission was published in November 2008 (see www.abdn.ac.uk/cref). This sets out a range of proposals to modify the structure, content, delivery and flexibility of our degrees and other awards to ensure that they address the needs of leavers, employers and other stakeholders. A key aspect of the Reform is the development of a set of University of Aberdeen-specific Graduate Attributes (see www.abdn.ac.uk/graduateattributes).

The University's Curriculum Reform project has build upon the progress made through the SFC employability initiative, and has ensured that employability plays an even more significant role within both the new curriculum and co-curriculum which emerged this academic year.

The University of Aberdeen has used the SFC funds to:

  • Enhance employability within the curriculum and academic engagement with this process, develop the co-curriculum, including the STAR (Students Taking Active Roles) Award, and build relationships with a wide range of employers.
  • Re-define the roles of existing careers advisers, each now having a specific employability remit, e.g. relating to international students, early years careers engagement, work-related learning, graduate attribute development and postgraduate career development. This will allow careers advisers to work with several academic Schools and disciplines simultaneously on issues, specific to their employability roles, and thus allow employability to become embedded with the work of all the careers advisers.
  • Contribute to the activities of the Work Placement Team within the Careers Service, and support work-related learning, work experience placements and the development of a database of employers.

Aim

Drive forward Year IV of the Employability Development Plan ensuring our strategy for developing graduate employability within the Aberdeen student experience aligns with our newly reformed curriculum. Underpinning the development plan are six key employability objectives.

Objective 1: Work Placements

Increase and enhance work-related learning opportunities for penultimate year students across the three Colleges. 

Key Actions

  • To work with academic Schools to promote curricula which embed summer and year long undergraduate work placement opportunities.
  • To further develop the employer database of local, national and international graduate recruiters to facilitate the sourcing of work placements.
  • To establish a new MyAberdeen site, to support students to find, apply for and secure a work placement.
  • To continue working with existing work placement providers to sustain non-credit bearing summer placement opportunities.
  • To develop robust means of supporting students on placement, ensuring compliance with the QAA Code of Practice for Work-based & Placement Learning.

Objective 2: Career Development Learning

Deliver effective careers education, information, advice and guidance.

Key Actions

  • To further build upon the credit-bearing undergraduate and postgraduate careers education courses by designing a Level I employability course.
  • To increase the number of students who successfully complete a credit-bearing careers education course.
  • To heighten the profile of career development learning to academic staff and students through a range of awareness raising activities.
  • To further develop the use of technology-based guidance to complement traditional careers guidance provision.

Objective 3: Graduate Attributes

Encourage a culture of graduate attribute development and achievement in the curriculum and co-curriculum.

Key Actions

  • To raise student and staff awareness of the values, competencies and skills which are characterised through Aberdeen Graduate Attributes.
  • To further develop the MyAberdeen 'ACHIEVE' site to support progression of graduate attributes from Levels I-IV to enable students to self-assess, reflect upon, and improve their development of Aberdeen Graduate Attributes.
  • To undertake a longitudinal graduate attribute survey of September 2010 entrants.

Objective 4: Employer Engagement

Heighten the profile of the University and its capabilities to a range of employers.

Key Actions

  • To develop a marketing approach to build more sustainable relationships with employers.
  • To increase the number of employers involved in various stages of the student experience, for example through employer workshops, programme advisory boards, work placements and career mentoring opportunities.
  • To further develop the Careers Service Board as a conduit for the collection and dissemination of high quality labour market intelligence.
  • To investigate opportunities to work more extensively with alumni to benefit current students. 

Objective 5: Curricula Development

Increase the visibility of employability in teaching, learning and assessment.

Key Actions

  • To continue to provide opportunities for new academics to be introduced to the employability agenda.
  • To continue to make employability explicit at the SENAS course and programme approval level.
  • To disseminate effective employability teaching and assessment practices through staff development events and the provision of small teaching development grants.

Objective 6: Co-curricular Activities

Develop and promote employability enhancement as part of the co-curriculum and the Aberdeen student experience.

Key Actions

  • To up-scale and deliver the STAR (Students Taking Active Roles) Award to recognise and reward a wider range of student co-curricular achievements.
  • To raise the profile of co-curricular opportunities (e.g. study abroad, enterprise and entrepreneurship) to students, staff and employers as part of the University's reformed curriculum.
  • To pilot a career mentoring student in partnership with the Alumnus Relations Office.
  • To investigate HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Record) as a vehicle to recognise co-curricular achievements.

Employability Development Plan Evaluation

The effectiveness of the University's Employability Development Plan is monitored using a diverse range of indicators, these are assessed and evaluated on an annual basis and include:

  • Progression of students into employment or further study, taking into account the type of employment concerned, its relevance to the student's future career plans and the current economic climate.
  • Evaluating feedback from students on the support they are given and its value to them in identifying and obtaining appropriate employment, this information is gained from students' utlising the Careers Service and attending career events.
  • Feedback from employers, including members of the Careers Service Employer Board on the suitability of our students for employment.
  • Views and comments from academic contacts in Schools & Colleges regarding the Careers Service provision.
  • Comments and feedback from students undertaking credit-bearing careers education courses at both undergraduate and taught postgraduate level.
  • Graduate attribute evaluation feedback derived from students regarding the effectiveness and helpfulness of the process and the available online resources.
  • Evaluating experiences of employers and students involved in Careers Service-sourced paid placements and the total number of work placements secured by Aberdeen students.

Mechanisms for self-review and evaluation in 2010/11 include the preparation of reports for the University Teaching & Learning Committee, the College Teaching & Learning Committees and through regular progress meetings with the Vice-Principal for Learning & Teaching.