Employability Review

Resources to support a holistic review of your programme’s employability provision.

Within the programme approval and revalidation documentation for submission, Schools will be required to provide information regarding your approach to embedding employability and the graduate attributes. The section below highlights the employability and graduate attributes-related questions that feature within the paperwork and where collaboration with Student Futures is recommended.

School Submission Evaluation Template

Has the programme been designed by a team of academics, professional services, and discipline specialists either internal or external to the School?

 

 

Does the programme clearly articulate the knowledge, skills, literacies, and graduate attributes it is supporting students to develop?

 

Are the programme learning outcomes written at the appropriate FHEQ level and described in terms of the knowledge, skills, literacies for learning and graduate attributes it is supporting students to develop, achieve and demonstrate?

 

Are the module learning outcomes written at the appropriate FHEQ level and described in terms of the knowledge, skills, literacies for learning and graduate attributes it is supporting students to develop, achieve and demonstrate?

 

Does the programme provide opportunities for students to develop and apply knowledge, understanding and skills in authentic contexts?

 

Have staff from the Student Futures Team been involved in the development of the programme that will include employability/placement provision, and/or international mobility?

 

Are the assessments designed for learning, and to enable students to demonstrate acquired knowledge, skills, and attributes with the provision of helpful, high quality and timely feedback?

 

Does the proposal meet the minimum standards set out in the Placement Learning Policy, particularly in terms of the student experience?

 

Does the proposal meet the minimum standards set out in the Study Abroad Policy, particularly in terms of the student experience?

 

Programme Information Template

Has the programme been designed by a team of academics, professional services, and discipline specialists either internal or external to the School?

 

What knowledge and skills will [students] gain by the end of the Programme?

 

Are there any placement opportunities within the modules or other types of short-term activities?

 

How will this programme prepare [students] for [their] future employment?

 

Module Description Template

Programmes are required to evidence ‘skills that will be practised and developed’, including academic, subject-specific and employability / transferable skills.

 

Review guide

Early in the programme approval and revalidation process, we recommend undertaking a holistic review of your employability provision. This could be by reviewing your existing programmes to understand if or where there are gaps, and/or by identifying what you want your future approach to look like when re-designing existing programmes or creating new ones.

We’ve suggested a 3-step guide to support your review:

Step 1: Review Key Metrics and Data

Graduate Outcomes: Use the Dashboard to understand what graduates from your programme have gone onto do and how your graduate outcomes performance compares to university KPIs.

Employability Dashboard: Speak to your College Business Partner to request key employability, placements and mobility data linked to your programme.

Career Readiness: Understand what support students from your School want in terms of careers support, work experience and entrepreneurship.

What do Graduates Do? guide: Use this Prospects guide to learn more about what graduate destinations across a wide range of sectors. This is particularly useful for those creating new programmes.

QAA Subject Benchmark Statements: These statements describe the nature of study and the academic standards expected of graduates in specific subject areas. They are written by subject specialists and show what graduates might reasonably be expected to know, do and understand at the end of their studies.

Step 2: Programme Review

To support programme teams in undertaking a holistic review of their employability provision, Student Futures has developed four Employability Threads that encapsulate the employability-related learning and activities that every student should be exposed to during their time at Cardiff. Where possible, the Threads should be woven into the curriculum, otherwise students should be signposted and actively encouraged to engage via extra-curricular activities.

The Employability Threads are illustrated below, but you can read more about them via the Student Futures Framework.

We have provided a resource that programme team leads could use to undertake a holistic review of your current approach to employability (if an existing programme) or help structure a new approach (if creating a new programme), which you can access using the button below. We would recommend conducting this review early on in the approval and revalidation process.

Programme Review

Step 3: Module Review

To support the academic sponsor / programme lead with completing the Employability and Graduate Attributes Review template, we have created a template for Module Leads to complete, which you can access using the button below. Once completed, the content can be copied and pasted into the Master template. Within this template for Module Leads, they also have the ability to map the GAs to their Module Learning Outcomes, should they wish to undertake a more in-depth review.

Module Review