Higher ambitions…

New HE Framework

Follow up to earlier post on HE as food-labelling:

Lord Mandelson has launched Higher Ambitions. There’s a lot in here and much of it yet to be fully fleshed out. And the much trailed element on improved consumer information still requires some work:

All universities should publish a standard set of information setting out what students can expect in terms of the nature and quality of their programme.

This should set out how and what students will learn, what that knowledge will qualify them to do, whether they will have access to external expertise or experience, how much direct contact there will be with academic staff, what their own study responsibilities will be, what facilities they will have access to, and any opportunities for international experience. It should also offer information about what students on individual courses have done after graduation. The Unistats website will continue to bring together information in a comparable way so that students can make well-informed informed [sic] choices, based on an understanding of the nature of the teaching programme they can expect, and the long-term employment prospects it offers. We will invite HEFCE, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and UKCES to work with the sector and advise on how these goals should be achieved.

Hmmm. Should be an interesting consultation.

University of Nottingham: Graduate Trainee Programme

The first group of four Graduate Trainees are coming to the end of their year-long programme which has been extremely successful.

As the advert for the 2009-10 scheme describes it:

The University is delighted to announce the Nottingham Graduate Trainee Programme. This innovative programme, aimed exclusively at University of Nottingham graduates from any of the University campuses interested in developing a career in university administration. It offers an invaluable insight into this dynamic management activity whilst developing an understanding of:

* markets
* income streams
* resource allocation processes
* client bases including students, parents, employers, funding bodies and commercial partners.

The programme offers four trainees the opportunity to experience key components of university operation and build an understanding of the institution’s strategy. Trainees will spend 12 months undertaking a planned rotation of placements in different areas of the University, reporting to senior staff. Placements will be across central services and schools, and trainees may have the opportunity to experience activity at one of the University’s overseas campuses in Malaysia or China.

The evidence from the presentations by each of the trainees on their experiences and the results both for them and the University is extraordinarily positive. They have all done outstandingly well and all four have now secured other posts within Nottingham which really is excellent news.

Comments on some of the outcomes of the programme can be seen in a recent podcast:

Unemployed graduate sues College for failing to find her a job

Could it happen in the UK?

The Guardian reports that Trina Thompson, an unemployed graduate of Monroe College in New York, is suing the school for not working hard enough to find her a job:

Thompson claims Monroe College in New York’s Bronx borough should refund her $70,000 (£41,307) in tuition for a bachelor’s degree because she has been unable to find gainful employment since she graduated in April. She said the college promised career advice and job leads but has not followed through. “They have not tried hard enough to help me,” Thompson, who received a degree in information technology, wrote in her lawsuit.

All will no doubt be rich pickings for the lawyers.

The Mission Statement of the Centre for Career Development (CCD) here at the University of Nottingham is explicit about the fact that it is about helping students and graduates to help themselves. It reads as follows:

HELPING YOU DEVELOP YOUR CAREER
The Centre for Career Development exists to help students and graduates of the University of Nottingham to develop their careers by providing :

* careers advice & guidance
* access to part-time employment & work experience opportunities before you graduate
* information about opportunities for graduates
* graduate vacancies & contacts with employers who target the University of Nottingham
* programmes of awareness raising and skills development to enhance your employability

The CCD statement of service provided also makes it crystal clear that the Centre is not a recruitment agency. The same will be true at institutions across the UK.

Others in the HE system in the US have a different perspective to the disgruntled graduate (again from the Guardian report):

But many Americans who work in higher education are sceptical of Thompson’s claim. “I tell my students that the real goal of college is not to train you for a job,” commenter Larry C wrote on a message board of the Chronicle of Higher Education…. “If that is what you desire drop out right now and go down the street to the school of cosmetology.”

Although I would suspect “If you don’t like our service then try hairdressing” is unlikely to be adopted as a slogan by many university careers services on either side of the Atlantic.

(With thanks to John Horton for the prompt)

Graduates preparing for work (where available)

From the BBC:

Students should get work experience to boost their chances of getting jobs in the downturn, the head of the CBI says. Richard Lambert says students must get skills and first-hand experience of work while still at university.

In launching the report with Universities UK on preparing graduates for the world of work, Lambert said competition for jobs in 2009 will be particularly intense. The report, ‘Future Fit’, also includes a survey of graduate recruiters and HE institutions. As the BBC says:

Of the 581 recruiters surveyed for the report, 78% rated employability skills, such as team working, as essential. And of the 80 higher education institutions which responded to the report’s survey, 91% thought it likely or highly likely their graduates would acquire five out of the seven desired employability skills while at university.

Those employability skills in full:

Self-management
Team working
Business and customer awareness
Problem solving
Communication and literacy
Application of numeracy
Application of information technology

But also an entrepreneurial approach and a ‘can do’ attitude are valued by employers. Without wishing at all to be cynical It is possible that we could have guessed the content of the list without the survey though. Moreover, universities are unlikely to suggest that their graduates aren’t, by and large, going to acquire these skills.

It’s an interesting report and highlights the value which students and their future employers can get from developing such skills further – especially when the learning is accredited. It also notes the difficulties for both universities and SMEs of pursuing this agenda with companies which are smaller.

Suspect the survey behind the report was undertaken before the economy fell off a cliff but it is helpful nevertheless and arguably even more relevant.