How to ensure students are employment-ready
Bath College has made a strategic decision to include local employers in as many aspects of curriculum design and delivery as possible. As a consequence of this, ‘becoming employable’ and ‘employer engagement’ are key components of all their Higher Education programmes.
The benefits of education-employer collaboration is well documented. However, Simon Bracken, Higher Education Manager of Bath College, has witnessed the following advantages to embedding employers in curriculum design and delivery:
- Employers becoming familiar with potential talent and giving employment opportunities to individual students.
- Ensuring courses are delivering up to date vocational skills.
- The strategy has provided a good 'hook’ for potential applicants and course marketing.
- Courses provide CV building opportunities as part of the curriculum.
- Students who did not continue their Higher Education at University have been more likely to find high-quality employment.
How has this been achieved?
- Live Briefs
Live briefs, given by employers, was key to setting students work-related, challenging and valuable tasks. For example, Applied Computing students collaborated with Virtual Reality software and equipment as part of their Foundation Degree and BSc. Radstock Museum briefed them to create a Virtual Reality Ride into the mines of the Somerset Coalfields.
Employer feedback was given at every stage, requiring students to modify ideas to fit with employer requirements. The results were impressive, and the Museum now uses it as a central attraction.
- TeachToo
Bath College struggled to fill vacancies for level 4 & 5 lecturers, particularly in subjects relating to construction, with candidates who had up to date knowledge of Industry practice and were willing to work on FE rates of pay.
The TeachToo programme, developed by the Education Training Foundation (ETF), sees professionals come and deliver specialist elements of a programme on short term flexible contracts. This work fitted around other commitments they had, and usually amounted to one morning or afternoon per week. This also provided a good CPD opportunity to the teaching teams to draw upon up-to-date subject knowledge and industry practice.
- Business Mentors
All Higher National Diploma students have to do a business start-up as a component of their studies. Local employers acted as Business Mentors to support and develop business start-up ideas. In one case two Coffee Houses in Bath supported one of the students to start up a Coffee House of their own.
- Voluteering
As an alternative to the Business Mentor project, students volunteered at a voluntary organisation based in Bristol, giving advice and guidance to small charities. An example of the mutual benefit from volunteering was when the students identified a charity's need to increase their knowledge and use of social media. With a strong knowledge of modern technology, the students helped to train the charity in digital marketing.
Overcoming barriers
It's very easy to give a great example of a great scheme. However, colleges know it is easier said than done. Lessons Bath College has learnt and shared include:
- Always be flexible with days and times to make engagement for the employer.
- Offer support and training to any employer so that any activity fits into the curriculum properly, and employers feel confident engaging with students.
- Treat every employer as your most important employer.
- Try to minimise the number of staff at the College that the employer needs to have communication with.
- Don’t over-communicate, but keep communication clear and concise.
- Keep education ‘jargon’ and ‘acronyms’ to an absolute minimum.
What next?
The Somerset EBP understands employer engagement is now part and parcel of all our Higher education provision at Colleges across Somerset. We know you know that employer engagement is valuable.
We’d love to help you to work with more employers, and also share good practice across the sector with other providers of Higher Education, so do please get in touch with us. We can promote events, give a shout out to our business contacts and offer advice and guidance.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Released On 15th Oct 2018