Abstract:

A pilot study presented at the 5th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation in Madrid (ICERI2012) entitled 'Student voice: Personalize my learning’ (Dawson, 2012) explored students' understandings of the notion of 'employability' and encouraged them to build the relationship between Higher Education (HE) and graduate employability in a way that makes sense to them. The findings revealed that transition from undergraduate status to graduate 'work-ready' status requires high-intensity support by academic and student-centred staff teams.

Since then, the pilot study evolved. Adaptations of the teaching and learning approaches initially employed to assist student build their Personal Employability Skills Portfolios (PESP) were exploited to suit, even more, the individual’s needs and career aspirations. Personal reflections upon my ‘employability journey and valuable lessons taught were passed on to my students. Specifically, looking to the past for inspiration, aspects from my background knowledge on Business Analysis techniques such as the GROW Model, STAR model and MOST, emerged and played vital role in developing the students’ decision making process. Applying, creatively, personal work experience such as the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) also contributed in shaping a realistic view of the students’ skills profiles. Enhancing academic standing via research also meant that students on this study were offered a better experience and added value learning.

The findings of the study, which is currently focused on a broad category of undergraduate students who finish their degree this academic year, evidences their journey from “unaware” phase to “informed” progression to graduate employment. Even though, the study still acts as a baseline to the initial pilot study and therefore not intended as a definitive, it offers significant insight to what really means to be a critical, reflective and empowered higher education graduate from a student’s point of view. It also reveals that research-active and research-informed teaching is imperative in enhancing the learning experience of our students and delivers impact.

Keywords:

Graduate employability, Research-active Curriculum, Student-centered learning.