Graduate skills

Wales Higher Education STEM Celebration event

Wales Millennium Centre, CardiffJune 13th 2012

Some students ….

Graduate skillsSelf managementTeam workingBusiness and customer awarenessProblem solvingCommunication and literacyApplication of numeracyApplication of information technolgyPositive attitudeEntrepreneurship/enterprise

(CBI/UUK Futurefit, 2009)

Little and Harvey, 2006• Little research on the impact of work

experience on learning, except skills acquisition and gaining entry to work

• Found that work experience did have positive impact on learning in HE – especially communication skills, networking, problem-solving, personal organisation, meeting deadlines, and

• Learning from work placement provided a vehicle for the application of theories …

Real Prospects, 2011

• Real Prospects, survey of graduates views of their employer, found:

• 22 per cent had worked for their employer before they applied to their current job, of these,

• 45 per cent had been on work experience (or internship) and

• 27 per cent had been on placement as part of their degree

• 28 per cent had been employed in a casual role

Different subject trajectories

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Physics 25.3% 6.2% 1.6% 6.8% 40.4% 11.7%

Business studies 50.9% 11.7% 1.4% 7.9% 8.8% 10.0%

French 40.6% 8.7% 2.5% 7.6% 23.7% 7.0%

Full-time paid work only (including self-

employed)

Part-time paid work only

Voluntary/unpaid work only

Work and further study Further study onlyAssumed to be

unemployed

Three quarters would like to - but 38% cannot Financial reasons act as barrier but not socio-economic

background Women more likely to say that they could not afford to Students who had not done work placements in course

were more likely to say they planned to do unpaid/internship after graduation

Subject and institution also affect this.

Graduate internship/unpaid work experience

What are we doing with Futuretrack data?

• Seeking to improve practice in career information, advice and guidance for students and graduates

• Combining quantitative with qualitative assessments

• Identifying trends and patterns of inequality of opportunity

• Influencing policy-making • Hoping to continue it!

Key information sets 2012

The destinations of graduates six months after completing their course – comprising working, studying, working and studying, unemployed and not available for work.

Of those in employment, the proportion in managerial/professional jobs six months after graduation.

What are we doing with the KIS data?

Cons Creating ‘league

tables’ and intra- institutional competitiveness

Spurious expectations of subject disciplines

Fuelling media ‘hype’ about negative findings

Making HE learning overly instrumental

Frightening prospective students

ProsInforming prospective student choice Capturing trends and changesDemonstrating HE as positive investmentImproving coursesMaking institutions responsive to their market

Continuing challengeCan we …• Provide better support to students to

articulate their learning from placement experience

• Acknowledge of tensions between goals of placement and curriculum

• Support entrepreneurship/self employment• Do more to motivate/engage students• Plan for unintended consequences…

Thank you

Further information: DLHE data summarised inhttp://www.hecsu.ac.uk/current_projects_what_do_graduates_do.htmFuturetrack reports athttp://www.hecsu.ac.uk/current_projects_futuretrack.htm

Contact Jane Artess on:j.artess@prospects.ac.ukwww.hecsu.ac.uk