{"id":58,"date":"2017-11-22T12:50:27","date_gmt":"2017-11-22T12:50:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/employabilityplan\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2020-06-09T13:36:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T13:36:59","slug":"employability-plan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/highlyskilledemployment\/employability-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Employability Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delivering our Employability Plan<\/span><\/strong> – Our mission is simple: We Transform Lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This simple statement distils our ambition as a modern university to transform the lives of our students through an applied educational experience. Our students will be confident, creative, resilient and responsible.- prepared for whatever they decide to do.<\/p>\n

The new Employability Plan,\u00a0approved by Shaping Futures, provides an overarching\u00a0framework to build on our employability offer. The Employability Plan is not intended to replace the excellent\u00a0practice\u00a0that already exists; instead, through the Employability Plan, we are committed to a clear and consistent\u00a0Employability Promise for all of our students to improve Graduate Outcomes.<\/p>\n

The Employability Plan has been developed in partnership with both Academic and Professional Service colleagues; the success of the Employability Plan\u00a0is dependent upon continued\u00a0collaboration across the university to deliver the three overlapping areas of the plan.<\/p>\n

Better Prepared Students <\/span><\/strong>Every student will be prepared for highly skilled employment or further study upon graduation.<\/p>\n

Innovative and Applied Curriculum <\/span><\/strong>Every course will have a distinctive employability pathway and link to the 3+3 Graduate Attribute framework.<\/p>\n

More and Better Jobs <\/span><\/strong>Every student will also have access to graduate opportunities, bespoke internships, work placement and work experience opportunities throughout their course.<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0Employability Partnership Agreements<\/a> (EPAs) have been developed at Department and Faculty level to support the implementation of the Employability Plan and prioritise specific course\u00a0and student support. You can see the 2017\/18 EPAs<\/a> under the \u2018Targeted Support and Employability Partnership Agreements\u2019 section.<\/p>\n

The next section details the Employability Plan, outlining the case for change and our ambition to improve Graduate Outcomes\u00a0across all of the TEF measures.\u00a0The specific sections then\u00a0provide a short overview of the Employability Promise,\u00a0links to resources\u00a0and\u00a0the services on offer to our students.\u00a0The resource\u00a0is intended to be a dynamic so\u00a0be sure to check back regularly\u00a0to access resources, events\u00a0and case studies on Employability in Practice.<\/p>\n

At SHU we have a long tradition of employability excellence, however, in an increasingly complex and competitive world, we must continue to develop the best graduates by preparing\u00a0for whatever they decide to do. I look forward to working in partnership to deliver our Employability Promise.<\/p>\n

Conor Moss<\/span> – Group <\/strong>Director for Business Engagement, Skills and Employability (BESE)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Case for Change<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The University Strategy<\/a> outlines a vision ‘to be the world\u2019s leading applied university, achieving outstanding outcomes for our students and our city, and showing the world what a university genuinely focused on transforming lives can achieve’. To achieve step change by 2020 we have identified ten immediate priorities including ‘clear, targeted, comprehensive actions to deliver consistently excellent performance across the whole student lifecycle’.<\/p>\n

Employability is a key feature with a commitment to the transformation of our employability offer and the implementation of our employability promise to achieve sector leading highly skilled employment and postgraduate study outcomes for our students.<\/p>\n

The work undertaken in 2016 by Gradcore on our employability offer coupled with KPMG’s report on our approach to student placements highlighted pockets of excellence, however, it also highlighted significant inconsistencies and staid practices in what and how we deliver our employability offer.<\/p>\n

The Gradcore Employability Healthcheck<\/a> identified three key areas of concern which negatively impact upon student employability and graduate highly skilled employment outcomes:<\/p>\n

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  1. Consistency<\/strong> \u2013 There is a general lack of consistency in terms of understanding, delivery, experience and evaluation when it comes to employability.<\/li>\n
  2. Clarity<\/strong> \u2013 There is insufficient clarity of strategy and delivery, manifested through confusion in roles and a lack of understanding of who is responsible for employability at SHU.<\/li>\n
  3. Culture<\/strong> – As much as any structural changes that might result from the strategy, the critical factor is to shift in culture. The long term success of any employability strategy will rely on cultural buy-in to a collective idea of employability supported by an appropriate, consistent and future proof delivery structure centred on curriculum<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Strategic Alignment<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The SHU Employability Promise<\/a> is aligned with the strategic ambition of the Shaping Futures<\/a> Board:<\/p>\n

    ‘Every student will be prepared for high skilled employment or further study upon graduation’<\/p>\n

    The investment in our employability plan will be aligned with our broader strategic ambitions. Specifically, it supports and enables the delivery of the Shaping Futures vision that “our graduates will be confident, creative, resilient and responsible – prepared for whatever they decide to do”.<\/p>\n

    In order to achieve this ambition, the Strategy Implementation Plan<\/a> to 2020 outlines the top priority to provide “clear, targeted, comprehensive actions to deliver consistently excellent performance across the student lifecycle, including teaching quality, retention and employability.<\/p>\n

    Goal<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

    As outlined in the Strategy Implementation Plan we will transform our employability offer and implement our employability promise to achieve sector leading highly skilled employment and postgraduate study outcomes for our students. Specifically, we aim to achieve the following by 2019\/20:<\/p>\n