Employability and Career Development Learning
Getting Started with Employability
Employability skills, often referred to as soft or transferable skills, are a set of attributes that go beyond technical or academic knowledge and are highly valued by employers. These skills are essential for success in the workplace and are applicable across various industries and professions. Employability skills contribute to an individual’s ability to secure and maintain employment, adapt to a dynamic work environment, and excel in their chosen career.
‘[We view] employability as enabling student to develop “the knowledge, skills, experience, behaviour, attributes, achievements, and attitudes that enable graduates to make successful transitions benefitting them, the economy and their communities’.
Employers seek graduates who not only possess academic knowledge but also have practical skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. By integrating employability skills into the curriculum, universities can equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in their chosen careers. Cardiff University has highlighted six key skill areas as its Graduate Attributes; to be recognised and developed throughout each students’ journey.
Graduate employability outcomes are important to both students and UK higher education providers, with the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) graduate outcomes survey used as a key data set in all UK league tables. The HESA reports, ‘Securing a job shortly after graduation’ was the third most important indicator identified by undergraduates when assessing the value and quality of their programmes (65%), after ‘fair assessment and feedback’ (91%) and ‘quality of teaching’ (94%) (Universities UK 2020, p3).
Embedding Employability at Cardiff University
The Way Forward; Cardiff University’s Education and Students Sub-strategy
Planning for Successful Student Futures
Employability is relevant to all students and at all levels of study. To be addressed effectively, employability should be embedded into all learning and teaching policies, processes and practices and considered throughout the student lifecycle, from the very start of a student programme through to completion of their studies. Graduates should be equipped to make successful transitions not just on graduation but throughout their life, and to manage their careers effectively.
Student Futures and Employability in the curriculum
The Student Futures Framework sets out the approach that the Student Futures Team takes to supporting graduate employability, both in the curriculum and through additional, developmental activities available to students during their time at Cardiff.
The Framework represents a shift from responsive and transactional activity to a strategic approach focused on embedded, accessible, impactful and sustainable opportunities, designed to deliver employability and enterprise support for all. It relies on working collaboratively with academic colleagues, the Education Development Service and employers to support the design and delivery of pedagogically driven programmes, with a coherent student-centred journey, and inclusivity, employability and sustainability fully embedded throughout.
Recognising that students are often balancing a range of competing activities, including studying, work and caring responsibilities, the Student Futures Framework supports two broad approaches to embedding employability:
Curricular activities – the employability activity is delivered as part of a credit-bearing element of the student’s programme of study (e.g. an employability activity utilised as a form of authentic assessment for a module, or a work placement undertaken as part of a professional placement year)
Extracurricular activities – the employability activity is delivered outside of the credit-bearing elements of the student’s programme of study (e.g. participation in a skills workshop, or attendance at an employer presentation)