{"id":5752,"date":"2024-07-24T10:07:29","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T09:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/?page_id=5752"},"modified":"2024-12-05T13:34:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T13:34:37","slug":"embedding-employability-in-the-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/embedding-employability-in-the-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"Embedding Employability in the Curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Employability is a growing priority in higher education, and increasingly a factor that influences students in choosing their degree subject or university.<\/p>\n

As highlighted in a recent UCAS report<\/a> based on a survey completed by 27,000 individuals, employability and career prospects have become increasingly important over recent years, with over 50% of applicants stating that \u2018high graduate employment rates have become more important to them since the start of the pandemic\u2019. Moreover, 54% of applicants stated that their subject choice was motivated by \u2018good career prospects after graduation\u2019. This was the second most commonly cited factor after \u2018subject enjoyment\u2019 (74%). The report also shows that when asked about what they want to get out of their degree, \u2018developing skills\u2019 (63%) and getting a \u2018meaningful job\u2019 (62%) were most important. As this UCAS blog<\/a> suggests, \u2018the political swing from \u2018education, education, education\u2019 to \u2018skills, skills, skills\u2019 is now reflected in the applicant mindset\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n

This article placed on The Student Room<\/a> highlights the sort of questions students should be asking before choosing a university.<\/p>\n

\u2022 What are the employability outcomes from graduates at the university?
\n\u2022 What careers can I get into with my degree?
\n\u2022 Are there placements available?
\n\u2022 How about enterprise opportunities?
\n\u2022 Will I be supported and use facilities used in my industry?
\n\u2022 How can I get work experience outside my course?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Career Readiness survey<\/a>, managed by Student Futures and completed by all Cardiff University students as a mandatory part of enrolment, reinforces the notion that students are ready and eager to develop their employability at all stages of their university journey. The survey highlights their appetite for discussing their future careers, undertaking work experience and developing enterprise skills. The statistics below highlight some of the headline summaries from the most recent surveys:<\/p>\n

\"CU<\/figure>\n

From an institutional perspective, it is evident that the changing policy environment is placing much greater responsibility on universities to prepare students for the labour market. Graduate Outcomes measures are becoming an increasingly weighted metric in regulatory schemes like the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)<\/a> and league table rankings like the Times \u2018Good University Guide\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cardiff University positioned 13th<\/span> Top universities in the UK for graduate employability 2025, THE Good University Guide<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In England, the Office for Students (OFS) has already introduced measures<\/a> that will ensure universities are more accountable for student outcomes. Programmes considered to have \u2018poor\u2019 outcomes for not leading to graduate jobs are likely to face additional scrutiny. In Wales, we are yet to understand whether the newly established Commission for Tertiary Education and Research<\/a>, now formerly known as Medr, will take a similar approach, but their strategic priorities<\/a> outline their commitment to developing “a tertiary system that prepares learners for a dynamic and changing economy where all can acquire the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life and work”.<\/em><\/p>\n

With the growing influence of graduate outcomes on both reputation and student choice, universities need to consider placing this metric on an equal footing to other more familiar metrics, as this Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) article<\/a> suggests,<\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n \n
\n \"Although the agenda is disputed by many, students are arriving at institutions with the future on their minds. So it is important to be prepared for a more regulated landscape where\u202f\u2013\u202fdespite a relative lack of familiarity compared to satisfaction and retention\u202f\u2013\u202fgraduate measures stand top of the metrics battle\u201d. <\/blockquote>\n
\n \n Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI)<\/cite>\n \n\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Given the increasing importance of graduate outcomes in higher education, it is critical that our programmes provide our students with a diverse range of opportunities to develop their employability skills and graduate attributes. As such, Student Futures has produced a range of information, resources and case studies to support curriculum design and delivery at both programme level<\/a> and module level (this section is under development)<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Employability is a growing priority in higher education, and increasingly a factor that influences students in choosing their degree subject or university. As highlighted in a recent UCAS report based […]","protected":false},"author":10621,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5752","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-employability"],"meta_box":{"cu_accordion":"","cu_alert":"","cu_tabs":"","cu_quote":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10621"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5752"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8158,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5752\/revisions\/8158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.cardiff.ac.uk\/education-development-toolkit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}