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Designing & Delivering Employability Interventions Across the Science Faculties

Designing & Delivering Employability Interventions Across the Science Faculties. Roger Downie, Director of the Undergraduate School, IBLS John McColl, Vice Dean, FIMS Anne Tierney, University Teacher, IBLS. Structure of Talk. History and context What we’ve done Where do we go from here…?.

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Designing & Delivering Employability Interventions Across the Science Faculties

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  1. Designing & Delivering Employability Interventions Across the Science Faculties Roger Downie, Director of the Undergraduate School, IBLS John McColl, Vice Dean, FIMS Anne Tierney, University Teacher, IBLS

  2. Structure of Talk • History and context • What we’ve done • Where do we go from here…?

  3. Origins • University of Glasgow Employability Strategy • Institute of Biomedical & Life Sciences application to GU Learning & Teaching Development Fund (LTDF) • Anne Tierney (IBLS) and Ann Duff (Careers) as project officers, bought out by grant • Identified need for a developmental programme from Level 1 upwards • How to implement in a three Faculty system with multiple year 1 and 2 courses and student considerable flexibility of course choice? • Solution: co-operative cross Faculty approach – employability interventions as optional, non-compulsory set of classes open to all science students at Levels 1 & 2 • Two further successful LTDF applications with Anne Tierney as seconded project officer.

  4. Science Faculties’ Employability Project • The employability agenda and strategy • Science Faculties’ Employability Strategy Group – I Allison, R Downie, A Duff, R Hill, J McColl, D MacFarlane, D Martin, G Moores, A Tierney • A pragmatic response from Science • Phase I – Levels 1, 2 – general advice – organised at Faculty level • Phase II – Levels 3, 4, 5 – subject-specific advice – organised at Departmental level

  5. The Four-Year Plan • 2004/5 – develop and pilot Level 1 material • 2005/6 – roll out Level 1 material, develop and pilot Level 2 material, liaise with Levels 3+ class co-ordinators • 2006/7 – roll out Level 2 (Faculties) • 2007/8 – roll out Levels 3+ (Departments)

  6. The Level 1 Pilot (2004/05) • 3@2 hour workshops • Run in small groups – about 20 Level-1 students with a staff and student mentor • Website to support further self-study • ~250 students expressed interest, 105 took part in the first workshop, 52 in the second workshop • Student feedback – 2 hour workshops too long

  7. The Level 1 Rollout (2005/06) • Redesign sessions  5@ 1 hour, with larger groups 1. Taking Control 2. Opportunities (a)looking at work opportunities (b)skills matching (c)CVs and application forms 5. Choice of Second Year courses • Online Moodle support & pdp exercises

  8. Level 1 Student Feedback (1) • 85% students completed the course (68)

  9. Level 1 Student Feedback (2) • “it’s been great to work in groups and to get to talk during the sessions” • “informal tone helped a lot” • “all the sections were generally helpful & well structured” • “times sessions were run were not ideal for me” • “too basic – similar to what we did at school”

  10. The Level 2 Pilot (2005/06) • Follow L1 Plan 5 @ 1 hour sessions 1. The Internship Fair 2. More on Internships 3. Green Business Networking 4. GBN Feedback Session 5. Choosing L3 courses • Online Moodle Support and pdp exercises

  11. Level 2 Student Feedback (1) • 50% volunteers completed the course (17)

  12. Level 2 Student Feedback (2) • “it wasn’t advertised enough” • “a lot of people in second year might not have time” • “people might put off doing a course like this till the year they tend to graduate”

  13. The Level 2 Pilot outcomes • Green Business Networking reorganised as face-to-face session • The Employability Programme publicised in Information for New Entrants and in Faculty Induction Programmes. • Need to publicise course more widely • Impact on staff and student mentor numbers.

  14. The Future of the Project • Participation at Levels 1 & 2 is voluntary but strongly advised. • There is no formal assessment; participants would be expected to attend and carry out ‘course work’ tasks (e.g. write and submit a short CV). • The L1 & 2 participation appears on records and transcripts as non-credit bearing courses. • The outcome would be ‘coursework completed, not assessed for credit’. • Arrangements for Levels 3 & 4 would remain the responsibility of departments.

  15. Conclusions & sustainability Key Factors in success to date: • Learning & Teaching Development Fund. • Teaching-only staff available for secondment and sustainability of interventions. • Inter-departmental co-operation. Problems for the future: • Winning students over. • Staffing, when numbers increase. • Continuation into Levels 3 & 4 • Broadening to embrace personal development planning more fully

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