Are placement Are placement students better students better

prepared for life and prepared for life and work?work?

An international comparison studyAn international comparison study

Fiona Purdie Fiona Purdie

Research AssistantResearch Assistant

The Team

Professor Nigel King Lisa Ward Dr Tina McAdie Human & Health Sciences TALI Manager Human & Health

Sciences

International Partners:

University of Waterloo, Canada (Lead)

University of Central Florida, USA

University West, Sweden

Liverpool John Moores University

The BackgroundGraduate employment challenges The cultivation of higher order employment skills in students is a matter of

growing concern Record numbers of graduates in the UK Increasing difficulty in securing employment post-secondary education Higher expectations as a result of imminent tuition fee reforms.

Result: A challenge to design programs and courses better equipped to enable students acquire the skills, knowledge, competence, and experience that increase employability and lead to more satisfying careers.

A possible solution? Work integrated learning, i.e. placements, sandwich education, professional

training and internships Provides a plausible mechanism to develop crucial skills > advantage in the

labour market.

The Background

The impact of work integrated learning Better careers, salaries and degree outcomes Skills in collaboration Improved decision making Interpersonal and self management skills The application of theoretical knowledge in workplace

environments, Professional networking skills Leadership skills

BUT The psychological and vocational outcomes of work integrated

learning are not yet fully established or understood

The ProjectOur aims: To examine the relationship between WIL and the psychological variables

believed to play an important role for graduate employment.

To determine if there are differences between students WIL and more traditional degree programme in the following psychological factors:

Self-concept Self-efficacy Hope Procrastination, Study skills/work ethic

This research will also be shared with international partners in Europe, Canada and the USA as part of an international comparison study

The Survey We need as many students as possible to fill in an online

questionnaire at www.survey.bris.ac.uk/hud/WIL_2011

Target response: 1000 students

It takes approximately 15-20 minutes to fill in.

This gives them the opportunity to win £50 in love to shop vouchers.

Launched by email today, deadline: 19th June

The Survey Tool

The Recruitment Process

Where you come in…

Our ideas Posters Flyers Plasma Screens (please!) Screensavers Article in the Student Newspaper Article in the careers service E-newsletter

Your ideas….

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

Questions and comments???