Martin Edmondson joined AGCAS as its chief executive officer in August 2024. Now, after six months in the job, he discusses his priorities for the organisation, key trends in the graduate labour market, and why 'community' is more important than ever in higher education…
As CEO of AGCAS, what are your main goals for the organisation, and how do you see it evolving?
Firstly, it is a real privilege to get to lead this organisation and community. It feels like a role where you are a steward of something special for a period of time, and so a key aspect is building something strong that will make an impact and leave a lasting legacy.
During my first few months in the role I have mainly been listening to our members, and the clear sense I get is that people want AGCAS to shift onto the front foot and provide strong leadership during a time of uncertainty and challenge within higher education - the kind of leadership that rolls up its sleeves and provides practical help where it is needed most. One thing we must do as a community is to speak up with greater confidence to influence and impact the sector and wider society. In order to do all that we need to modernise and evolve quite significantly, so we have carried out a 'Big Conversation' with the membership to draw out priorities and ideas.
My early sense of direction emerging from the Big Conversation is that we need to be an organisation and community that welcomes, equips and enables anyone who contributes to careers and employability in higher education. In essence that means drawing on our heritage of the last 60 years while not being afraid to build something new that will make AGCAS vital for decades to come.
Having founded and led Gradcore for 18 years, what were some of the most significant achievements or initiatives you are proud of, and how do you see these experiences shaping your work at AGCAS?
When I look back at my time at Gradcore I think about an organisation that wasn't static, but one that went through various phases and evolutions. Perhaps the aspect I reflect on most positively was the fact that we were able to take what started out as a funded project called Graduates Yorkshire, and turn it into a sustainable business working around the world on all aspects of employability and early talent. That 18-year evolution mirrors the timeline where careers and employability came to the forefront of strategy and delivery - especially in UK and Irish HE. At the heart of that was fostering a culture of constant and iterative change to make sure that we always stayed ahead of the game, and I think that is a characteristic that will shape my approach to AGCAS as well.
When times are challenging, which they really are currently in HE, it is more important than ever to come together and to build community.
In your opinion, what emerging job market trends should graduates be aware of, and how can universities prepare students for these changes?
Clearly AI is one of the pressing trends to be aware of, and one we covered prominently at the AGCAS leadership conference and our recent AI Unpacked event. One of our keynotes at the conference was Johnny Campbell from Social Talent and he made some very interesting points on this topic. One was that 'sitting down jobs' (often those done by graduates) are under considerable threat from AI, so the conscious development of flexibility and adaptability are going to be key. Many universities are already very deliberately building conscious and measured skill and attribute development into curriculum, and those particular attributes will be essential.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the Academic Employability Awards and how you hope they will impact the higher education sector?
One of the most significant growth trends in the development of careers and employability in universities is the embedding of employability in curriculum, by which we mean the active development, articulation and surfacing of skills and graduate attributes within a course. We wanted to recognise the growing part this plays in HE careers and employability, and the evolving (and increasingly hand in glove) partnership between academics and careers teams. The hunch to launch these awards has been justified by the fact that we received nearly 250 entries from more than 60 institutions across the UK and Ireland. This type of work is clearly the new normal, and we hope that the awards will further oil the wheels between careers teams and faculties, as well as building parity of esteem for academics who prioritise employability within their work.
The recent AGCAS Heads of Service Conference focused on the theme 'What Matters Most?'. Can you share some of the key takeaways and highlights from the event?
The event is a really important one in our calendar, and was also my first in this role, so I was keen to see it refreshed and reinvigorated. It also represented the kick off of our Big Conversation, which fostered a very lively and engaged response from everyone who attended.
One of the first takeaways from the event was that when times are challenging, which they really are currently in HE, it is more important than ever to come together and to build community. The CEO of Universities UK Vivienne Stern was one of our keynotes and she did a great job of balancing a tough realism about the current HE climate with a presentation of the opportunities for collaboration that exist as we make the case in society for the value and contribution of HE.
We also welcomed Tom Riordan CBE as a speaker, who previously was CEO of Leeds City Council and is now one of the leadership team at the Department of Health and Social Care. He talked a lot about the importance of servant leadership - and that theme of equipping and developing leaders is one that I am keen to take forward and build on under a refreshed version of AGCAS.
Perhaps the most positive aspect that emerged from the event feedback was the sense that people felt like there was a different and better atmosphere. This sounds intangible, but intangibles matter, and creating a positive buzz and culture in and around AGCAS is vital to fostering a sense of purpose and value in the community and organisation.
When you're not busy as the CEO of AGCAS, what hobbies or activities do you enjoy in your free time? Any interesting or surprising talents you'd like to share?
When I am not knee deep in careers and employability I am, somewhat tragically, a Bradford City fan - which has seen me spend much of my life watching them lose (although having a better season this year). I studied music and English at Keele University so still like to listen and play music, and read whenever I can. Mainly that means bashing the piano at home, but occasionally turning out with my covers band Coaster (available for all good birthday parties, weddings, etc). Not sure I have any surprising talents but I have spent more time than I should have trying to make a perfect carbonara and am nearly there…
Written by
Was this page useful?
Thank you for your feedback