Westminster Employment Forum and Westminster Higher Education Forum Keynote Seminar. The way forward for improving gradu
Westminster Employment Forum and Westminster Higher Education Forum Keynote Seminar The way forward for improving graduate employability Timing: Morning, Thursday, 18th October 2012 Venue: Sixty One Whitehall, London SW1A 2ET
Agenda subject to change
8.30 ‐ 9.00
Registration and coffee
9.00 ‐ 9.05
Chairman’s opening remarks Baroness Prosser, Chair, Youth Employment Taskforce, Recruitment & Employment Confederation
9.05 ‐ 9.30
The current state of graduate employment Nannette Ripmeester, Director, Expertise in Labour Mobility (ELM) Questions and comments from the floor
9.30 ‐ 10.20
Improving graduate employment skills and readiness for the labour market Do the current data on graduate employment outcomes give an accurate picture of levels of employment, and if not, what alternative ways are there to collect and publish statistics? Does the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) meet its aim of providing employers with more detailed information on a graduate’s skills, progress and attainment, and how could more universities be encouraged to introduce this? Should universities embed the teaching of general employability skills into curricula? How can universities ensure students are better prepared for particular recruitment processes and requirements of different industries, for example the creative industries? Is there a case for graduate recruitment processes to be aligned with the widening participation agenda, for example by ensuring graduates from outside the top universities are not automatically downgraded in the application process?
Professor Helen Higson, Professor of Higher Education Learning and Management and Senior Pro‐Vice‐Chancellor, Aston University James Darley, Director, Graduate Recruitment, Teach First Kate O’Connor, Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Creative Skillset Martin Birchall, Founder and Managing Director, High Fliers Research Questions and comments from the floor
10.20 ‐ 11.10
Shifting the focus to graduate employability: developments in careers advice, the role of Employability Statements and the impact of Key Information Sets What measures could be implemented to ensure quality and consistency across the university careers advice sector and how could universities work together to share best practice? Should questions on the quality of employability and careers support be included in the National Student Survey and how could such information be used by universities to target their careers services more effectively? How could universities and Students’ Unions work together to increase awareness of careers services and encourage their use? Have employability statements ‐ as suggested by HEFCE to outline what universities and colleges offer to their students to support their employability and their transition into employment ‐ met their aim of providing greater clarity to students about the advice and support available to them? Has the introduction of Key Information Sets (KIS) led to a greater input of resources into careers advice services? Should data on employability outcomes for postgraduate courses also be made more widely available?
Dr Paul Redmond, President, AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) and Director of Employability and Education Opportunities, University of Liverpool Lewis Coakley, Higher Education Union Development Officer, NUS Bob Gilworth, Director, University of Leeds Careers Centre Mike Barnard, Product Manager, Milkround Questions and comments from the floor
11.10 ‐ 11.15
Chairman’s closing remarks Baroness Prosser, Chair, Youth Employment Taskforce, Recruitment & Employment Confederation
11.15 ‐ 11.35
Coffee
11.35 ‐ 11.40
Chairman’s opening remarks Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP
11.40 ‐ 12.30
Assessing the recommendations in the Wilson Review ‐ internships, work placements and further collaboration between universities and businesses What role should employers have in writing university curricula to ensure programmes meet the needs of industry? How can Government, employers and universities work together to enable work experience, sandwich placements and internships to be offered as part of a greater number of courses? Should the Student Loans Company suspend interest charges on existing loans during placement years and should universities charge reduced fees of £1,000 for these placement years, as suggested by the Wilson Review? What obstacles are there to increasing the number of sponsorship and scholarship arrangements, whereby an organisation funds a student place at university with a guaranteed job offer at the end of their period of study? Do employers attach extra value to graduates who have completed placements abroad, and if so, what is the possibility of extending the ERASMUS programme and other international partnerships? Should voluntary work and extra‐ curricular activities be accredited as part of degrees? What role could business mentors play in improving graduate employability?What further steps could universities take to ensure that graduates have the skills necessary to compete for employment in the knowledge‐based economy?
Professor Zahir Irani, Head, Brunel Business School, Brunel University Robert Ashton, Author and Social Entrepreneur Vanessa Gough, Professional Development Manager, IBM UK Foundation Matthias Feist, Head of Careers & Business Relations, Regent’s College, London and Chair, Placement in Industry Network (PlaceNet) Questions and comments from the floor
12.30 ‐ 12.55
The way forward for improving graduate employability Paul Hazell, Higher Education Policy Adviser, HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) Questions and comments from the floor
12.55 ‐ 13.00
Chairman’s and Westminster Employment Forum and Westminster Higher Education Forum closing remarks Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP Jonny Roberts, Senior Producer, Westminster Employment Forum and Westminster Higher Education Forum
