Abstract:

In the increasingly competitive job market, a ‘good’ degree no longer guarantees graduate employment, with employers prioritising transferrable skills over academic knowledge. Student Skills and Professional Development has been identified as a key area for development at the University of Glasgow. Within the college of Medical Veterinary and Life sciences (MVLS) we have developed and introduced an Undergraduate Skills Award (UGSA). This award enhances learning and the undergraduate experience through supporting students to build a diverse skill set, improve their employability and personal growth. It also equips them with the ability to effectively articulate this development to future employers.

Many of our undergraduate students are actively involved in extracurricular activities that enhance transferable skills, such as communication and time management. The award develops our students as life-long learners by providing the opportunity to identify, evidence and reflect these activities and the resulting skills development. Some students struggle to find or prioritise extracurricular activities during their degree. This award addresses this issue by supporting students to navigate what is available and approach what they do in a more focussed and reflective way.

Students in the college of MVLS are invited to complete the Undergraduate Skills Award over 1-2 academic years. Guided by a bespoke online platform the students must select and complete 4 activities under 3 key award pillars: Professional, Passionate and Progressive. Following completion of the activities, students must evidence their participation and complete a reflective writing piece to articulate skill development. Recognition of their achievement is provided through the inclusion of the award on their academic transcript.

The college of MVLS has a large student body and offers many undergraduate degree options, including Life Science and professional degrees. Since the award launched in September 2023, 714 students have engaged with the platform. We will present our findings on cohort statistics, what may influence student choice of activities and what motivates our students to select some activities over others. We also used a mixed method approach to evaluate outcomes and student perceptions of the UGSA.

This research included semi-structured focus groups with participating students and thematic analysis of student written reflections submitted as part of the award. In our presentation, we will focus on student perceptions of their learning, their development of specific skills and their motivations for completing the award. The impact of the award on students’ readiness for employment will also be discussed. Interestingly, students also considered their personal growth to have been enhanced by the award through discovery of unexpected interests, managing anxiety, broadening perspectives and tackling daunting tasks. An unexpected outcome of the award was the clear evidencing of social responsibility with a sense of ‘giving back’ to society and supporting peers. We will conclude by summarising how we will use our findings to enhance the award further and potentially influence practice elsewhere in Higher Education.

Keywords:

Skills, Reflection, Employability, Life-long learning, Student experience.