‘Internships and placements: bringing learning to life and life to learning’

Vicki Doughty - Placements Manager (Essex Business School)Heather Doyle - Placements Manager (Social Sciences)

Karen Gooch - Placements Manager (Humanities)

Susan Stedman - Employer Services Manager – E&CC

The Graduate Labour Market

• 2013/14 Total graduate vacancies 21,682• 2014/15 Predicted graduate vacancies 24,231• 2013/14 Applications per vacancy 74.5

• Proportion of vacancies filled by interns/placement students 26.5 to 31%

• 2013/14 Unfilled vacancies at least 5.4%

“Applicants lacked the soft skills and experience that employers were seeking”

(Average figures from the Association of Graduate Recruiters)

The missing links…verbal communication

teamwork

commercial awareness

analysing & investigating

initiative/self-motivation

drive

written communication

planning & organising

flexibility

time-management

global skillsnegotiating & persuading

leadership

numeracy

self-awarenessstress tolerance

integrityindependence

emotional intelligencecreativity

decision-making

developing professionalism

50% of AGR recruiters repeated their warning that:

“Graduates who had no previous work experience are unlikely to be successful during selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their

organisations’ graduate programmes”

The missing link?

Work(place) experience

• Opportunity to acquire, develop and demonstrate soft skills• Explore and learn about talents, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes• Chance to gain feedback and reflect upon performance• Able to list real experience and provide tangible examples

What are employers doing to bridge this gap?

• 80% of UK leading graduate employers offer paid student & graduate placement programmes

• Over 2/3 of employers provide paid vacation internships for penultimate year students

• Over 1/2 offer industrial placements for undergraduates (6-12mths)

• Over 1/4 offer paid internships, insight days and other tasters that are for first years

• In 14/15 academic year an unprecedented 13,049 paid work placements were available

Over 50% of students undertaking a work placement will be offered a role with the company

(High Fliers Report on the Graduate Labour Market 2015)

“Students who have undertaken a work placement consistently do better in their degree

than those who haven’t”

What Essex is doing to enable students to gain experience

Extra Curricular

• Frontrunners• Essex Interns• V-team• Big Essex Award – recorded on the HEAR• P/t work, student ambassadors and roles within societies• Insight Days• Alumni speed networking etc.

Major commitment to Curriculum based learning

• All U/G courses now offer the option of a placement year or study abroad year• Final year projects/ Capstone projects/ Q-Step Projects• WBL Professional Skills modules• Course specific placements (e.g. HHS/Maths Education module/Theatre studies/Law Clinic)• PSS offering coaching or placement options• Employer led practical skills delivery within modules (e.g. mock interviews/assessments)• Career Development Learning such as SK700/LT700 understanding employability modules

Star Guest…

Nicoleta Solovastru

Final year studentBSC Banking & Finance

Returning from a placement year with TE Connectivity

Former frontrunner & frontrunner Plus

Why in-curricular placements?

Applying academic learning to real-world practice

Student:

Enhanced CV

Enhanced commercial awareness

Employer:

Build relationship with relevant depts

Recruit trainees for longer term projects

Funding may be available

Department:

Positive Marketing Tool

Improved DHLE outcomes

Case Study: Q-Step Programme

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation until 2018.

Aim is to improve teaching and learning opportunities in quantitative studies in Social Sciences.

Essex is one of 3 Universities to secure Q-Step Affiliate Status.

3 participating departments: EBS, Government and Sociology

The Essex bid focused on new staff posts, module design, student recruitment and funded work placements.

2015 Q-Step Placements

Colchester Borough Council

Sage Publications

World Land Trust

YouGov

Summer 2016: we will be looking to place 8-10 students

“Adriana has been great to work with and has been a pleasure to have around. As an organisation we have been extremely happy with this process and, if Adriana is a benchmark, we look forward to repeating the process in the future.”

Dan Bradbury, World Land Trust

“I felt encouraged and appreciated all the way…I recommend this placement to anyone who is interested in data analysis.”

Adriana Bora, BA International Relations

Q-Step: Embedding into the curriculum

- Two different methods of embedding.

• (Light-touch Sociology model) Students apply placement

learning in their final year dissertation.• Stand-alone short placement module (GV836 in Government)

In both cases the students are assigned academic supervisors to

support them in linking theory and practice.

Stand-alone Short Placement Module (GV836):

Final year module.

A minimum of 150 hours of work experience is undertaken in lieu of lectures and seminars.

Work experience can be undertaken at different points in the academic year.

Q-Step work was completed over the summer vacation between 2nd and 3rd year, with assignments submitted during the 3rd year.

GV836 model could potentially be used for a variety of work-based learning experiences e.g:

• Academic Research Assistant• Placement linked to a KTP• Relevant volunteering

School of Law – Embedded Placements

• Second or third year Law students can undertake a three week placement in a law firm or law related environment

• The placement of 120 hours is taken as a block, or a day a week, or a combination

• The 15 credit module, LW 237, includes a portfolio of work, including reflective learning and writing, and oral presentations linked to the module aims

School of Law – Embedded Placements

• Students are responsible for finding their own placements; some have been in America, Cyprus and France.

• There are formal arrangements with law firm Attwells, (Ipswich and London offices), Essex Legal Services and Ipswich & Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE) who have taken a number of students.

Troubleshooting Exercise (5 mins):Individually or in pairs jot down a response to one of the following questions:

 

For Employers

List 2 difficulties you might encounter when trying to develop partnership working with HE Institutions.

 

For Academics

List 2 difficulties you might encounter when trying

to embed WBL into your degree programmes.

If you are neither then try to put yourselves in

the shoes of one or the other..!

Thank you for bearing with us…

Any Q’s?