Professor Malcolm Todd, deputy vice-chancellor at Leeds Trinity University, argues that in order to do best by their students, higher education institutions need to adopt a 'quality over quantity' approach to graduate outcomes
For many university students, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of anxiety and uncertainty. This is especially true for those who have had to contend with the prospect of graduating from university and entering the job market during a time of national crisis.
One of my priorities as Deputy Vice-Chancellor is to work with our academic departments to make sure that we are providing students with as much information and support around careers and employability as possible. Leeds Trinity University has always prioritised graduate outcomes, with all its courses designed to offer a blend of employability skills, professional work placements, extra-curricular activities, and one-to-one support. The pandemic has only further emphasised the need to make sure all our graduates are able to face their future with confidence.
The University's ethos that students should always be treated as a name not a number meant that Leeds Trinity had already seen enormous success with regards to graduate employment and opportunity. According to the 2020 Graduate Outcomes Survey, conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), 97% of our graduates were in employment or further study 15 months after graduating.
While we are really proud of these statistics - which are testament to the hard work not only of our students, but of the staff, academics and advisers who work so hard to support them - we know that there is still a way to go, and a need to focus on long-term career goals and choices.
To give students the best chance of success, the opportunity to work within their chosen field prior to graduating is crucial, along with understanding how to demonstrate the transferrable skills that they've gained.
Over the last 18 months, we have taken a number of steps to help prepare and equip our students for this. For example, we created the myFuture: Next Steps package, aimed at providing students and recent graduates with a range of careers-related services. The package includes practical career support, information on postgraduate study and discounts, online training and development opportunities, exclusive FastTrack employment workshops, alumni membership and access to LinkedIn Learning.
Recognising that one of the barriers to securing graduate employment is financial resource, the University launched the myFuture: Next Steps Fund, providing support of up to £750 to help individual students to find opportunities, access specific sector training and remove potential roadblocks at the start of their careers.
To give students the best chance of success, the opportunity to work within their chosen field prior to graduating is crucial, along with understanding how to demonstrate the transferrable skills that they've gained to potential employers.
To help address this, we launched our Graduate Outcomes Scheme, which provides our undergraduate students with part-time, high-skilled paid work opportunities within various university departments, allowing them to gain practical experience and skills during their studies. Following their placements, students can get in touch with our dedicated careers advisors to gain a better understanding of the transferrable skills that they have developed and learn more about how these skills can be applied to a range of sectors, helping to boost their employment prospects.
We want as many of our graduates as possible to have the freedom to choose their own path, and to feel confident that their studies have helped them to get where they are. As higher education professionals, we need to change the emphasis to focus on not just the quantity of opportunities secured by recent graduates, but the quality of those opportunities as well.
To help with this, we have made sure that our graduate support offer can be accessed by students for up to three years after they graduate, in acknowledgement that they might face further unprecedented challenges after graduation, such as a global pandemic. We hope to help graduates to feel confident in entering the job market by offering one-to-one appointments on CVs, cover letters, personal statements, and interview preparation, as well as continued access to careers events delivered online and on campus.
We recognise that some graduating students may be at a disadvantage due to their socio-economic background, which historically might not have provided them with as many opportunities to network.
In addition, we have developed the myFuture: Connections mentoring scheme, as we recognise that some graduating students may be at a disadvantage due to their socio-economic background, which historically might not have provided them with as many opportunities to network, in contrast to those from more economically advantageous backgrounds.
The scheme is available to students from all years and subjects. It connects students with Leeds Trinity's alumni and business partners, to help make the transition from university to graduate employment as seamless as possible.
One of our main priorities - and indeed, responsibilities as a higher education institution - is to develop experienced and well-rounded graduates who are confident in taking the first step in their post-university life. Through encouraging other higher education institutions to adopt measures and introduce similar support services aimed at shifting the focus from the quantity of graduates securing work or further study, to the quality of the opportunities secured, we can ensure that our graduates leave us with all the tools they need to succeed, no matter how challenging or uncertain the world that they enter into may be.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of HECSU/Prospects
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