evaluating the impact of higher education providers' employability measures · evaluating the...

Evaluating the Impact of Higher Education Providers'

Employability Measures

Findings of research conducted by the Warwick University Institute of Employment Research

(IER) and IFF Research

Contents

Background .............................................................................................................. 1

Executive Summary ................................................................................................. 1 The study .............................................................................................................................. 1 The data................................................................................................................................ 1 The extent of employability provision .................................................................................... 1 The effectiveness of employability provision ......................................................................... 2 The skills employers are looking for in their graduate recruits ............................................... 2 Higher education providers' responses to employer demands............................................... 4 The student view ................................................................................................................... 4 Pointers for policy ................................................................................................................. 4

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 6

1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Graduates, the acquisition of human capital, and jobs ............................................. 7 1.2 The importance of employability in graduate recruitment ......................................... 8 1.3 Aims of the study ..................................................................................................... 9 1.4 Structure of the report ........................................................................................... 10

2 Method ........................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Conceptual framework........................................................................................... 11 2.2 The demand side perspective: employers ............................................................. 13 2.3 The role of labour market intermediaries: higher education providers .................... 14 2.4 The supply side: students and recent graduates ................................................... 18 2.5 Synthesis of the evidence ...................................................................................... 19

3 Connecting students and graduates to the labour market ....................... 20 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 20 3.2 The changing graduate labour market ................................................................... 20 3.3 The skills and qualifications students/graduates need to acquire ........................... 22 3.4 Higher education providers' means of connecting students to the labour market ... 25 3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................... 26

4 Developing the employability agenda: the views of stakeholders ........... 28 4.1 The role of the higher education provider in improving the employability of higher

education students ................................................................................................ 28 4.2 The relative importance of employability in higher education ................................. 28 4.3 Employability and the careers service ................................................................... 29 4.4 Embedding employability in the curriculum ............................................................ 30 4.5 Self-employment and employability ....................................................................... 30 4.6 The student record ................................................................................................ 31 4.7 Gaps in provision and evaluation of employability measures ................................. 31

5 The delivery of employability measures ..................................................... 33 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 33 5.2 Overview of overall employability provision ........................................................... 33 5.3 Providing information ............................................................................................. 36 5.4 Assistance with applications .................................................................................. 39 5.5 Skills Development ................................................................................................ 42 5.6 Gaining experience ............................................................................................... 44 5.7 Recording achievement ......................................................................................... 47 5.8 Reasons for not providing some employability services ......................................... 49 5.9 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 50

6 The effectiveness of employability provision ............................................ 52 6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 52 6.2 An overview of higher education providers' perspectives on effective provision

based on an analysis of their responses to the questionnaire survey .................... 53 6.3 Student engagement ............................................................................................. 58 6.4 Employer engagement with higher education providers......................................... 60 6.5 Providing information ............................................................................................. 60 6.6 Assistance with job applications ............................................................................ 61 6.7 Skills development ................................................................................................ 63 6.8 Gaining work experience ....................................................................................... 65 6.9 Recording achievement ......................................................................................... 67 6.10 Assisting postgraduates ........................................................................................ 68 6.11 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 69

7 Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................ 71

Annex: Organisations Consulted.......................................................................... 74

1

Background

This report contains the findings of research conducted by the Warwick University Institute of Employment Research (IER) and IFF Research to ascertain what is most effective in helping turn diligent students into successful graduate workers. Commissioned by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) in partnership with the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), the study is the first of its kind to collectively consider the views and experience of students themselves, higher education providers, policy makers and employers.

Executive Summary

The study

Many institutions providing higher education courses have, over recent years, expanded their provision of services designed to improve the employability of their students. With this in mind the study addresses the following questions:

What programmes, courses, or awards do higher education providers deliver to their students?

How does the provision of employability activity vary across these providers?

What is the rationale for the provision of particular activities?

How effective are employability activities, or the mix of employability activities, at getting graduates into, what may be loosely termed, a graduate job?

The data

To address the questions listed above, data was obtained from three sources:

a literature review

a questionnaire survey of higher education providers - including universities, further education colleges with higher education provision, and specialist providers - to identify the extent of their employability provision.

semi-structured interviews with: stakeholders with an interest in graduate employability employers who routinely recruit graduates leaving higher education individuals with a responsibility for the delivery of employability services within

higher education providers students.

The extent of employability provision

Table 1 below shows the type and extent of employment provision delivered by higher education providers. It shows that across higher education providers there is a high level of provision.

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Table 1: Employability services delivered by higher education providers

Type of service % of providers delivering service

Information services, such as being a source of job vacancies 100

Assistance with CVs, application form completion, and so on

97

Skill development, such as helping to develop communication/presentation skills

99

Work experience, such as helping with graduate internships/student placements

95

Recording achievement, such as providing employability awards, HEAR and so on

66

Services aimed specifically at postgraduates 24

Although there is a high level of provision, careers services point to the difficulty of engaging students with the array of employability services they offer. The survey of higher education providers suggests that around half of the student body makes use of the various employability services that the providers make available. In order to improve student engagement, employability is increasingly embedded within departments and the curriculum.

The effectiveness of employability provision

Higher education providers were asked to rate the effectiveness of their employability provision on a scale where a score of 1 is very poor and 5 is very good (see Table 2). The responses indicate that all types of employability services' provision are regarded as effective.

Table 2: Higher education providers' rating of employability services

Information

services

Assistance with CVs and so on

Skill development

Work experience and so on

Recording achievement

Average rating for services provided

3.9 4.1 4.0 3.9 3.4

Asked what was the most important employability service they delivered, higher education providers responded by saying that it was providing assistance with the job application process and providing information about graduate jobs.

The skills employers are looking for in their graduate recruits

For employers, the ideal applicant for a graduate job is someone with a good academic record who can demonstrate that they possess a variety of generic skill sets that could be evidenced by the activities they had engaged in while in higher education.

The types of generic skills that employers particularly seek are those relating to communication, working in a team, leadership, and being able to work on one's own initiative. Evidence of work experience is particularly important in demonstrating that student/graduate applicants have these skills. It also shows the employer that the student has realistic expectations about what the world of work has to offer.

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For the most part, employers are able to satisfy their recruitment demands but say that they are not spoilt for choice. There are usually sufficient candidates of the quality required to fill their graduate jobs, but no surplus people whom they could have appointed. In some areas, certain technical competences are required alongside the generic skills wanted, but filling graduate vacancies was more difficult.

Employers report that too often they receive applications that do not demonstrate what they are looking for, such as an application tailored to the company's requirements, free of spelling mistakes and grammatical inaccuracies, and so on. Such applications were rejected at the first stage of the recruitment process. And at the interview stage, employers commented that some applicants had not sufficiently researched the organisation and the job they were applying for within it.

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Higher education providers' responses to employer demands

Table 1 shows the extent of employability provision was substantial across higher education providers. For the most part there is no shortage of provision. For higher education providers, the main obstacles to overcome are: engaging more students in the services provided; and to engage the students in the first year of their studies so that they have time to develop the skills which employers so keenly seek.

Higher education providers have been innovative in their provision of employability services. There is recognition that provision within departments is often most effective in conveying important messages about the graduate jobs' market to students. Tuition in the various generic skills employers want could also be embedded within courses, so long as it fits seamlessly into the structure of the courses students study.

Initiatives are also in place in some higher education providers to ensure that the level of student engagement with various employability services is monitored so that there is an early warning system in place that would allow identification of groups of students making little or no use of the services.

The student view

Most students have an understanding of the skills and experiences that employers look for from graduates. Some students engage with their careers service early on in their time in higher education, especially where they have a clear idea of what they want to do on when they leave higher education. Others leave it until fairly late in their studies to find out about the jobs' market. This is partly explained by the priority which they give to their studies and perhaps by not having a clear idea of what they want to do on leaving higher education.

While students ideally would want to make more use of the employability provision their higher education providers delivers, they point to the various pressures on their time in higher education and the priority they give to meeting the requirements of their courses. Hence, thinking about one's future career trajectory is pushed back until the final year in many instances.

Students particularly welcome the advice they receive in their courses from people working in industry, who were sometimes alumni of the institution, because they are able to deliver first-hand, practical advice about how to obtain employment in a particular job or industry.

Where employability advice and guidance is delivered at the course/departmental level, the student is more likely to receive important messages about how they need to develop their skills in order to meet the demands of the graduate labour market.

Pointers for policy

Employers are clear about the skills and experiences they expect from applicants. Higher education providers are well aware of these too, as were students for the most part. The key is how to better link all three parties to ensure that students/graduates are better matched to the demand for skills signalled by the labour market.

There is scope to consider how to engage students more effectively at the start of their studies in higher education; and to ensure that messages about the importance of obtaining certain skills are delivered by those parties that carry most weight with students, for example, those working in the jobs that students are interested in obtaining. Reinforcing or embedding this at the course/departmental level is important in promoting student engagement with employability.

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Given the importance that employers attach to various generic skills, there is scope to consider how the acquisition of these skills can be incorporated into all courses no matter how academic, or vocationally oriented, they are.

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Acknowledgements

The advisory group at QAA was supportive throughout the study. Thanks are due to:

Catherine Boyd Laura Bellingham Karl Hobley Steve Isherwood (AGR) Dominic Passfield (Advisory group lead) Chris Taylor At IER, thanks are due to Stefanie Poole for her assistance with organising the fieldwork. At the University of Warwick, Siobhan Bennett and Anne Wilson provided advice and guidance at various points.

Finally, the research team would like to thank all of the organisations and students who kindly gave up their time to assist with the study by answering the research team's questions.

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1 Introduction

1.1 Graduates, the acquisition of human capital, and jobs

An individual's decision to enter higher education may be regarded as an investment. The assumption - at least implicitly - is that the cumulative cost of tuition fees and forgone income while studying will be offset, following graduation, by relatively high lifetime earnings. To date, all the evidence would point to the investment in higher education being a good one. Recent research suggests that, over a lifetime, the net present value of obtaining a degree, relative to not having a degree, after taxes and student loan repayments, is £168,000 for men and £252,000 thousand for women.1 These findings are consistent with a wider body of evidence that suggests substantial employment and wage gains from obtaining a degree-level qualification relative to achieving two A Levels.2

The lifetime wage gains, reported above, refer to average returns. There is, of course, a substantial amount of variation around the estimates of the returns to obtaining a degree. Clearly, obtaining the employment and wage premiums attached to completing higher education is dependent upon being able to make a successful transition into the labour market. In other words, being able to access employment in relatively highly paid jobs and subsequently being able to remain in that position. This study is concerned for the most part with the initial entry into the labour market following completion of one's studies in higher education.

Ensuring a relatively successful transition from higher education into employment may be regarded as a matching issue. There has been an ongoing interest in the extent of skill mismatches in the economy defined principally by the volume of skill shortages and skill surpluses.3 The policy interest is principally in ensuring a better match between the skills employers want and those produced by the education system. This is important to higher education. Higher education providers want to ensure that the graduates they produce are well prepared to enter the labour market: that their graduates will obtain the employment and wage returns that may have led them into higher education in the first instance.

How higher education providers prepare their students for employment is an important issue. Especially so, given that the investment by the individual student in their higher education is substantial. Additionally, the costs to the State, should graduates not be in a position to repay their student loans, is similarly substantial. In practice, there is a relatively small number of jobs that require, for entry, a qualification in a specific subject. It is, therefore, often generic skills that employers are looking for. Even where a qualification in a particular discipline is required, employers want specific technical skills to be complemented by a range of generic ones too.

So what is the evidence of skill mismatch among recent graduates? The Employers Skills Survey 2013 indicated that around 10 per cent of employers considered that their recent

1 Walker, I and Zhu, Y (2013) The Impact of University Degrees on the Lifecycle of Earnings: Some Further Analysis, London: Department for Business Innovation and Skills Research Report 112 2 London Economics (2011) The Returns to Higher Education Qualifications, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Research Paper 45. Gambin, L, Beaven, R, Hogarth, T, May-Gillings, M and Long, K (2014) BIS Research Paper 166: Methodological Issues in Estimating the Value Added of Further Education, Higher Education and Skills: A review of relevant literature, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 3 Cedefop (2010) The Skill Matching Challenge: Analysing skill mismatch and policy implications, Luxembourg:

Publication Office of the Commission of the European Communities. World Economic Forum (2014) Matching Skills and Labour Market Needs Building Social Partnerships for Better Skills and Better Jobs, Davos: World Economic Forum Global Agenda Forum on Employment

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305635/bis-14-668-methodological-issues-in-estimating-the-value-added-provided-by-higher-education-further-education-and-skills-intervention.pdf



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graduate recruits were not well prepared for employment.4 Similarly, the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) estimated that around 5 per cent of all graduate vacancies remained unfilled presumably because employers could not find graduates with the skills they sought.5 At the margin, the evidence suggests that there is a degree of mismatch between the skills produced by institutions providing higher education courses and those sought by employers. This can prove costly to employers where they have vacancies unfilled and it is costly to individuals too, if they cannot find employment that will deliver a sufficient return on their investment in higher education. In aggregate, there are costs to the State too. So how can this situation be remedied? This is where the concept of employability is important.

1.2 The importance of employability in graduate recruitment

Employability is not synonymous with possessing or obtaining generic skills. It encompasses the acquisition of those skills, but it contains much else too. Employability, in essence, refers to a

'…set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes that make an individual more likely to secure and be successful in their chosen occupation(s) to the benefit of themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.'6

For the individual, this has been framed with reference to:

their assets in terms of the knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess

the way they use and deploy those assets

the way they present them to employers

being able to reflect upon their experience of searching for graduate employment.7 Employability is seen as an essential element of the process that matches graduates to graduate jobs. It represents the process whereby students acquire the skills and experiences that are in demand and valued in the labour market and, importantly, acquire these in a way that will convince would-be employers that they will readily be able to use those skills in the workplace. It also places an emphasis on the individual student being able to target types of employer which will allow them to realise their career ambitions and hone their skills in a way that will prove enticing to those employers. It further requires students and recent graduates to adapt their job searches depending on responses to their applications. That is, the capacity to reflect upon why a job application may not have succeeded.

Because the graduate labour market has become more varied, following the rapid increase in higher education participation in the early 1990s, the concept of graduate employability has become more differentiated too. Each successive wave of expansion in higher education, from that following the Robbins Report in 1963, onwards has brought a wider range of jobs within the ambit of graduate employment. Without doubt, there is now a much wider range of jobs today, which may be considered graduate ones, compared with, say, thirty years ago.8 It is likely that the types of skills and attributes that the 'new' graduate

4 Winterbotham, M, Vivian, D, Davies, B, Spreadbury, K and Shury, J (2014) Employers Skills Survey: UK Findings, UK Commission for Employment and Skills, Evidence Report 5 Association of Graduate Recruiters (2015) AGR Graduate Recruiter Survey, London: AGR 6 Yorke, M (2004) Employability in Higher Education: what it is - what it is not, The Higher Education Academy/ESECT 7 Hillage, J, Pollard E (1998) Employability: developing a framework for policy analysis, Department for Education and Employment, Research Report RR85 8 Elias, P and Purcell, K (2004) SOC (HE): A classification of occupations for studying the graduate labour market, Warwick Institute for Employment Research. HECSU (2014) What Do graduates Do? Manchester: HECSU

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employer wants may be different from that of the traditional graduate recruiter of the past. Accordingly, the concept of graduate employability may well have a different meaning for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) than for large enterprises that recurrently recruit a large number of graduates. The emphasis is therefore upon the student to adapt their job-hunting according the particularities of the population of employers to which they are well matched.9

The King's College/QAA study on student expectations and perceptions of higher education was unequivocal in stating why people entered higher education.10

'Across all subjects of study, the primary purpose for students entering higher education was to improve their career prospects and as a pathway to career enhancement. Students expected institutions to offer advice and guidance to support them in developing their employability for future careers within and beyond their formal course. Students spoke of needing to go beyond their degree to gain the skills and experience they would need for employment, highlighting the importance of extra-curricular activities, internships and work placement opportunities.' (pp.7-8)

In other words, students want higher education to improve their employability and to obtain the type of graduate job, however defined, that led them in to higher education in the first instance. Employers, too, want students to develop their skills and experiences so that, increasingly, they are work-ready after graduation. So how can students be best prepared to enter the labour market upon completion of their studies? This is addressed by the current study.

1.3 Aims of the study

Many institutions providing higher education courses have over recent years expanded their provision of services designed to improve the employability of their students. The role of the careers service in organisations providing higher education has expanded well beyond the provision of information about graduate recruiters and preparing for the annual milk round. It now encompasses assisting students with their job applications and CV preparation, providing assistance in gaining work placements/internships, and offering mock interviews and assistance with how to succeed in assessment centres. Employability provision extends beyond the careers service, and, in some instances, is integrated into faculties, departments and courses, although it depends on the course and higher education provider. This invites consideration of what works best in connecting students and recent graduates with the labour market. With this in mind the study addresses the following questions.

What programmes, courses, or awards do higher education providers deliver to their students?

How does the provision of employability activity vary across higher education providers?

What is the rationale for the provision of particular activities?

How effective are employability activities, or the mix of employability activities, at getting graduates into what may be loosely termed, a graduate job?

9 Tibby, M (2012) Employer and student perspectives of employability, The Higher Education Academy 10 Kandiko, CB and Mawer, M (2013) Student Expectations and Perceptions of Higher Education: Executive Summary., London: King's Learning Institute

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1.4 Structure of the report

The next chapter outlines the method used to address the aims of the study. The labour market context in which employability measures are being provided by higher education providers is considered in Chapter 3. In chapter 4, a summary of stakeholders' views about the need for higher education providers to deliver employability is provided. Chapter 5 then provides a description of employability provision across a range of institutions delivering higher education, and is followed in Chapter 6 by an assessment based on the views of careers advisers, employers, and students about what constitutes effective employability delivery. In Chapter 7 a synthesis of the evidence is provided alongside recommendations this gives rise to. Throughout the report a distinction is made, where relevant, between services provided to undergraduate and to postgraduate students.

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2 Method

2.1 Conceptual framework

In order to explore the effectiveness of employability provision by institutions providing higher education, a methodological approach was adopted based on looking at the interplay between the demand and supply sides. The demand side refers to employer demand for the variety of skills, attributes and experiences they are looking for in their graduate recruits; and the supply side refers to the supply of skills, attributes, and experiences provided by students and recent graduates. The provision of employability skills by higher education providers can be regarded as an intermediary role that seeks to match the demand for skills from employers to their supply from students and recent graduates.

The mismatch between the demand for skills and their supply is frequently diagnosed as a consequence of market failure. In other words, there are obstacles preventing the supply side responding to the demand side. In relation to employment and education, there are often many causes of market failure but, typically, information shortfalls are considered to be important.11 This manifests itself in those looking for employment not having the skills that the labour market demands, or not being aware of the types of employer that are looking for the skills they do have.

Higher education providers can have an important role to play in ensuring that their students are sufficiently informed and prepared to make a successful transition into the labour market.

This includes:

clearly signalling the high-level skills for which there is demand in the labour market

indicating how those skills can be acquired while studying

making provision for those skills to be acquired. In order to explore effectiveness of employability provision, data was sought from:

students

institutions providing higher education

employers. To provide context for the analysis of employability, interviews with various stakeholder groups were also undertaken to understand how policy was being developed and implemented in order to improve the employability of those studying in higher education.

Table 2.1 provides a summary of data collection.

11 Bosworth, DL (2009) Employer Training: A Conceptual Review from a Public Policy Perspective, UK

Commission for Employment and Skills, Wath-upon-Dearne

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Table 2.1: Summary of data collection

Data source Data collected Data method collection Number of observations

A. Demand side

Employers The skills employers are looking for and the extent to which applicants for graduate-entry jobs are equipped with the skills they are looking for

Semi-structured interviews with employers and employer representative groups

31

B. Intermediaries

Higher education providers A list of the types of employability services provided, an estimate of the percentage of students who make use of these services, and the career services' assessment of what works best in helping students find jobs

Survey of higher education providers

152 responses (83 universities, 52 FE colleges providing HE and 17 alternative providers)

Semi-structured interviews with representatives of higher education providers

16

Semi-structured interviews with organisations with involvement in higher education policy

10

C. Supply side

Students Experience of engaging with employability services in their education providers

Semi-structured interviews with students, plus group interviews with students

31 individual interviews

2 group interviews (with approximately 15 students/graduates)

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2.2 The demand side perspective: employers

As well as reviewing the literature on what is known about the qualities employers are looking for from graduate recruits, interviews were undertaken with organisations that recruit graduates, or assist graduates move into permanent employment by providing internships and placements, or who represent employers.

The aim of the interviews with employers was to obtain information relating to:

the types of graduate job they were recruiting for and the nature of the recruitment process

the qualities they look for in successful applicants

how students might improve their prospects of getting interviewed and potentially being appointed.

The characteristics of employers that participated in the study are presented in Table 2.2a and 2.2b.

Table 2.2a: Characteristics of employers participating in study

Employer No.

Main Business Activity/Sector Number of employees

1 Accounting/financial services 120


3 Travel Services 400

4 Manufacturing 900


6 Manufacturing/engineering 1,800

7 Manufacturing/engineering 26,000

8 Engineering 65

9 Construction/civil engineering 2,500

10 Legal services 75

11 Engineering 150

12 Education services 75

13 Marketing/PR 25

14 Electrical maintenance/installation 155

15 Legal services (real estate) 25

16 Legal services (real estate) 70

17 Legal services 80

18 Clinical research 97

19 Recruitment agency 250+

20 Manufacturing/engineering 250+

21 Publishing 185

22 Fisheries 85

23 Electric, gas and water supply 235

24 Healthcare 1,300 (UK- wide)

25 Manufacturing/distribution 500

26 Manufacturing/engineering 1,000 (200 at interview site)

27 Manufacturing/engineering 225 (across 2 sites)

28 Marketing/PR 100

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Table 2.2b: Summary of employers interviewed

Sector

Size of employer

Total Fewer than 250 employees

More than 250 employees

Primary/industry 7 7 14

Services 11 3 14

Total 18 10 28

In addition to the interviews with employers, interviews were undertaken with three organisations that represent employers on issues relating to employment and skills.

2.3 The role of labour market intermediaries: higher education providers

Data was collected from higher education providers through:

a survey of institutions providing higher education courses conducting semi-structured interviews with selected higher education providers. (Those which participated in the survey and were willing to be interviewed as part of the study. The aim was to obtain examples of universities, further education colleges providing higher education, and specialist providers.)

To obtain an understanding of the policy context, interviews were also conducted with organisations with an interest in developing higher education policy in relation to employability.

Survey of providers delivering higher education courses

An online survey was undertaken that catalogued the types of employability activity undertaken by higher education providers and its scale with regard to levels of participation by students, and its effectiveness in helping graduates find employment. The survey included universities, FE colleges providing higher education, and alternative providers.

The principal respondent to the survey was the person in the higher education provider with responsibility for the provision of employability programmes. In some institutions, this was an employability manager and, often in smaller organisations or those with limited higher education provision, it was the person responsible for the careers service.

At the start of the study, 861 email invitations were sent out to:

161 universities

263 FE colleges

437 alternative providers. From this initial invitation several institutions were removed from the sample:

four sent opt-out messages

three indicated that they had no higher education provision

22 started the online survey but did not complete it.

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In total, and following a number of reminder emails to non-responders, there were 152 achieved interviews. These were distributed as follows:

83 universities (51 per cent of those sent the initial email)

52 FE colleges (19 per cent of those sent the initial email)

17 specialist providers (4 per cent of those sent the initial email). It is difficult to derive an overall response rate, given that there is a large number of further education colleges and specialist providers where there is a degree of uncertainty about their higher education provision and the number of students they had working towards a higher education qualification.

In the analysis, where relevant, the data has been weighted to reflect the number of students in each higher education provider. This ensures that the responses to the survey, where appropriate, reflect the population of students who are eligible to use the various services available to them at their educational institution.

Table 2.3 provides information about the types of higher education provider included in the survey and their student populations. It shows that, while the number of educational institutions is broadly split between universities (55 per cent of all respondents) and others (45 per cent), the population of students at which the employability measures were aimed, were predominantly located in universities (97 per cent). Overall, the institutions covered in the survey had an estimated population of 1.3 million higher education students.12

Table 2.3: Number of providers and students by provider type

Universities FE

Colleges Specialist Providers

All HE Providers

Number of higher education providers 83 52 17 152

% of all higher education providers 55 34 11 100

Number of students 1,284,311 25,844 8,757 1,318,912

% of all students 97 2 1 100

Average number of students per higher education provider 15,474 497 515 8,677

Source: QAA Employability Survey

The providers included in the survey contain a broad range of course provision. Tables 2.4a and 2.4b show the variety of courses offered by providers. First degrees and postgraduate courses were offered by nearly all universities. Within further education colleges, the courses on offer were more likely to be at the HND/HNC and Foundation Degree level.

12 HESA reports that the student population in 2012-13 was 2.34 million. Based on this, the survey encompasses around half the higher education student population.

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Table 2.4a: Courses offered by providers, by type of higher education provider

% of higher education providers

Type of courses offered Universities FE


All HE Providers

HNDs/HNCs 17 85 35 42 Foundation degree to degree- bridging courses 33 31 24 31

Foundation degrees 63 88 29 68

First degrees 96 54 53 77 Postgraduate courses, for example Master/PhDs 100 23 41 67

Other Higher Education courses 27 48 24 34

Any Further Education courses offered 11 56 12 26

Base (number of institutions) 83 52 17 152

Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

Table 2.4b: Courses offered by providers

% of students where courses offered

Type of courses offered Universities FE Colleges

Specialist Providers

All HE Providers

HNDs/HNCs 16 84 17 17 Foundation degree to degree bridging courses 29 43 78 29

Foundation degrees 73 96 74 73

First degrees 99 74 94 99 Postgraduate courses, for example Master/PhDs 100 36 88 99

Other Higher Education courses 24 58 14 25

Any Further Education courses offered 8 67 3 9

Base (number of students) 1,284,311 25,844 8,757 1,318,912


Based on the data contained in the Tables 2.4a and 2.4b, it is safe to assume that the survey encompasses a wide range of higher education provision including provision outside the university sector and includes higher education providers that account for a substantial proportion of the student population.

Semi-structured interviews with higher education providers

Interviews with 16 higher education providers were conducted, who were asked why they delivered various employability services, how this has changed over the recent past and why, and what they regarded as being effective employability provision. Table 2.5 provides a list of the higher education providers included in the study.13

13 The selection of higher education providers from the online survey for follow up in-depth discussions was based on: (a) identifying organisations that had relatively high and low levels of employability provision; (b) ensuring that different types of higher education provider were included (universities, FE colleges, and specialist providers).

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In total, there were: 11 universities

seven post-1992 four pre-1992

four further education colleges offering higher education

one specialist provider. A list of some of the higher education providers participating in the study is provided in Annex A.

Table 2.5 Higher education providers included for follow-up discussions

HE provider Number of

students (rounded) Location

1 Post-1992 university 20,000 South East

2 Pre-1992 university 15,000 South East





7 Further education college with higher education provision

1,000 Midlands

8 Pre-1992 university 25,000 Midlands


1,000 Midlands


1,000 Midlands

11 Pre-1992 university 15,000 Midlands

12 Specialist provider 50 North West

13 Pre-1992 university 25,000 Yorkshire/North East


1,000 Yorkshire/North East

15 Post-1992 university 10,000 Midlands

16 Post-1992 university 20,000 Midlands

Interviews with stakeholders

Interviews were undertaken with 10 key stakeholders in organisations that have an interest in the development of higher education policy. The purpose of the interviews was to ascertain from the stakeholders their view about the best way to connect higher education students to the labour market. This provides the context for considering the evidence provided by other participants in the study. A list of some of the stakeholders interviewed is provided in Annex A.

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2.4 The supply side: students and recent graduates

The interviews with students were conducted to find out what particular higher education initiatives they thought useful in increasing their chances of obtaining a) a job and b) a graduate job. Views were also obtained about the employability services they had used, when they had accessed them, and identifying any additional assistance they would like in searching for a job.

Table 2.6 provides details of the students that were interviewed.

Table 2.6a: Summary of interviews with students

Interview Undergraduate (U)/ Postgraduate (PG)

Subject area Social sciences (SS)

Arts (A) Science, Technology,

Engineering, Maths (STEM) Medicine/Dentistry (MD)

Type of HE provider Pre-1992 (redbricks,

ancients, etc) Post-1992 (former polytechnics, etc )

Other

1 PG SS Redbrick

2 PG SS Redbrick

3 PG SS Redbrick

4 U Professional/Cookery/ Foundation Degree

Post-1992

5 U Hospitality and Management Post-1992

6 U Business Studies Post-1992

7 U SS Post-1992

8 U Education Post-1992

9 U STEM (Bioscience) Post-1992

10 U STEM (Engineering) Post-1992

11 U STEM (Engineering) Post-1992

12 U Maths Redbrick

13 U French/History Redbrick

14 U History/Politics Redbrick

15 U English/French Redbrick

16 U English/French Redbrick

17 U History Redbrick

18 U History Redbrick

19 U Comparative American Studies

Redbrick

20 U English Redbrick

21 U Biochemistry Redbrick

22 U Psychology Post-1992

23 U Psychology Post-1992

24 U Religion, Philosophy and Ethics

Post-1992

25 U Religion, Philosophy and Ethics

Post-1992

26 U Drama Post-1992

27 U Fashion & Textiles Post-1992

28 U Graphic Design Post-1992

19

29 U Music Technology Post-1992

30 PG Psychology Post-1992

31 PG Psychology Post-1992

Table 2.6b: Summary of interviews with students

Course

Arts Social Science Science Other

Undergraduate 11 3 7 5

Postgraduate 3 2

In addition, two group interviews were conducted with students/recent graduates to discuss the same issues as the one-to-one interviews. These group interviews contained a mix of mainly recent graduates drawn mostly from the social sciences, but including business and science graduates too. A total of 13 recent graduates provided their views.

2.5 Synthesis of the evidence

By synthesising the evidence collected from employers, higher education providers, and students, it is possible to gain an insight into: (a) what each party considers most effective in connecting students to the labour market; and (b) where there may a degree of mismatch between what employers want and employability provision that is available to students. In this way it is possible to gain insights into how employability provision can be made more effective.

20

3 Connecting students and graduates to the labour market

3.1 Introduction

The graduate labour market appears to be improving. In England, for example, 14 per cent of employers recruited people direct from university in 2013, compared with 12 per cent in

2011.14 This corresponds with the AGR's recruitment survey which indicates substantial

growth in the number of graduate vacancies: up 8.8 per cent between 2011-12 and

2012-13.15 This suggests that it is becoming more of a seller's market than was the case in

the immediate aftermath of the 2007/8 financial crisis. Moreover, the graduate employment and wage premium has held up suggesting relatively strong demand for the skills which graduates possess.16 A degree of caution may be needed here.

The unemployment rate for graduates has been relatively high lately. The DHLE shows that the unemployment rate for those graduating in 2012-13 was 6.2 per cent. ONS statistics reveal that the unemployment rate for recent graduates was 9 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 compared with 5 per cent in the second quarter of 2000.17

Evidence suggests that competition to obtain entry to many graduate training programmes remains strong.

Employers tend to be cautious in their recruitment practices: they want to be convinced that a prospective recruit will fit in with the organisation.

In a changing graduate labour market, where there is a much more diverse range of employers potentially in the market to recruit graduates, being in possession of a degree may not be enough. These employers may be looking for something more than the cachet offered by a degree, especially if they are new or non-recurrent graduate recruiters.

The above suggests that, for the individual graduate from a higher education course, the need to mark oneself out from the competition in the graduate jobs market, however defined, may be tougher than ever.

In order to provide context for the analysis in the following chapters, this chapter provides information about the current level of demand for graduates, the skills employers are looking for from graduates, and how higher education providers have sought to ensure that their students are prepared for the world of work.

3.2 The changing graduate labour market

Increasingly, the labour market comprises people who have entered the labour market after completing their studies in higher education. Figure 3.1 shows how the percentage of people qualified at higher education level has changed over the recent past, and how it is projected to change over the medium-term: from 25 per cent in 1990 to a projected 43 per cent by 2020.18 This marks a fairly rapid change in the qualifications' structure of the labour market over a relatively short space of time.

14 Winterbotham, M, Vivian, D, Shury, J Davies, B and Kik, G (2014) UK Commission's Employers Skills Survey 2013: UK Results, UK Commission for Employment and Skills Evidence Report No 81 15 Association of Graduate Recruiters (2013) The AGR Recruitment Survey 2013: Winter Review, AGR: London 16 London Economics (2011) The Returns to Higher Education Qualifications, BIS Research Paper number 45, London: Department for Business Innovation and Skills 17 ONS (2013) Graduates in the Labour Market 2013, London: Office of National Statistics 18 This includes degree level qualifications and sub-degree level qualifications such as HNDs

21

Figure 3.1: Percentage of people in work whose highest level of attainment is a higher education qualification

Source: IER Working Futures Database Unless the occupational structure changes to accommodate the increasing number of higher education graduates, then this may well suggest that new graduates will struggle to gain a job that is commensurate with the skills and qualifications. For the time being, the evidence suggests that there is a continuing growth in what may be loosely termed 'higher level occupations'; that is, a growth in the number of people working in managerial, professional, and associate professional occupations.19 The evidence points to graduates now filling a wide variety of jobs.20 This in part has been ascribed to the process of task-based technological change.21

Technological change is seen to have most impact on routine jobs, which do not require their incumbents to respond to outside stimuli. Accordingly their jobs can be replaced by technology, which automates the tasks they once carried out. Routine jobs, susceptible to being replaced by automation, are typically found in the middle of the occupational structure: i.e. administrative jobs and skilled production jobs.22 Higher-level skilled jobs which require the post-holders to use cognitive skills cannot be readily substituted by automation; lower-skilled jobs, such as those found in hospitality, require employees to interact with customers such that they too are not readily substituted by automation. Even among the higher level jobs, there is evidence that some automation may be creeping in too. For instance, do-it-yourself wills or house conveyancing that may affect the demand for lawyers.

For the time being, the evidence suggests that the premium of being a graduate appears to be holding up. Human capital theory suggests that additional units of education (typically years) are rewarded through increased earnings as well as other benefits to the individual

19 As defined in the Standard Occupational Classification 20 What do graduates do? (2014) 21 Autor, D, Levy, F and Murnane, R (2003) The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: an Empirical

Exploration, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), pp 1279-1333 McIntosh, S (2013) Hollowing out and the future of the labour market, BIS Research Paper No 134, London:

Department for Business Innovation and Skills 22 Goos, M and Manning, A (2007) Lousy and lovely jobs. The rising polarization of work in Britain, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 89(1), pp 118-133

25 25

34

39

43

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1990 2000 2010 2015 2020

% o

f p

eo

ple

in

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22

and society. There are, however, diminishing returns to investments in education such that large increases in higher education participation should result in lower returns to the person making the investment.23

Although there is some evidence of this being the case, in looking at average returns to qualifications, it is often difficult to separate structural and cyclical effects. A number of studies indicate that graduate premiums have largely been maintained even in the face of massive growth in the numbers of graduates.24 A recent study that attempted to show the impact on graduate wages of the expansion in higher education in the 1990s, revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between pre and post-expansion cohorts.25 The authors of the study noted that the results may be confounded with the effects of the recession which may have affected non-graduate earnings and so masked a possible reduction in the graduate premium. Nevertheless, the evidence continues to show that graduates are more likely to be in employment and more likely to earn higher wages than those with lower level qualifications.

3.3 The skills and qualifications students/graduates need to acquire

It is perhaps worth stating at the outset that most employers are satisfied with the preparedness of the people they recruit direct from universities. The 2013 Employer Skills Survey asked employers who had recruited direct from universities over the past 12 months about the work-readiness of their graduate recruits. As Figure 3.2 demonstrates, most employers thought that their recruits were either well prepared or very well prepared for work. There are some differences by size of workplace, with smaller employers being slightly less positive, but the overall message is that employers regard their recruits from higher education as ready for work. On the other hand, 11 per cent of employers in England that recruited graduates found the recruits were not well prepared, which suggests that there is room for improvement in the employability of graduates leaving higher education.

23 Becker, GS (1964) Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education, New York: Columbia University Press (for National Bureau for Economic Research) 24 Gambin L, Beaven R, Hogarth T, May-Gillings M and Long K (2014) BIS Research Paper Number 166: Methodological Issues in Estimating the Value Added of Further Education, Higher Education and Skills: A review of relevant literature, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 25 Walker, I and Y, Zhu (2013) BIS Research Paper Number 112: The impact of university degrees on the lifecycle of earnings: some further analysis, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

23

Figure 3.2: Work-readiness of those recruited straight from higher education

Source: Figure 5.3, Winterbotham et al, 2014. Note: There are slight differences in the way the question was asked in Scotland compared with Wales, Northern Ireland and England In some respects, one might expect successful recruiters to report satisfaction with their recruits' work-readiness, otherwise their selection processes would have discounted applicants who were not ready for work. Other evidence, often drawn from non-representative samples of employers, indicates that there are often specific skills that employers find difficult to recruit from graduate applicants. For example, studies focusing on the science, engineering and technology sectors have highlighted that graduates' quantitative skills are not as sufficiently developed as they would like, or that they are too

theoretically oriented and lack practical experience.26 Similarly, in the construction sector

there are concerns that potential graduate recruits sometimes lack experience of working on-site. The CBI has suggested that students leaving exiting higher education often lack the broad range of skills necessary to make an immediate impact in the workplace.27

Various studies have highlighted the types of skill on which employers place a high value upon. These relate to leadership skills, being able to work in a team, IT skills, well developed numeracy and literacy, and so on. Employers in the UK are not unique in this. A recent

Eurobarometer indicated that these are skills that employers across the EU value.28

The King's College/QAA study highlighted the importance of students being able to go beyond their degree and capture a variety of skills that will make them increasingly attractive

to employers.29 It may be taken as read that graduates will have succeeded in meeting the

academic requirements of their course, but what employers want is to see a well rounded

26 McCaig C, Hogarth T, Gambin L and Clague L (2014) BIS Research Paper Number 171: Research into the need for and capacity to deliver STEM related Apprenticeship Provision in England, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills 27 CBI (2009) Future fit: Preparing graduates for the world of work, London 28 Eurobarometer (2010) Employers' perception of graduate employability, Flash Barometer/Directorate -General for Education and Culture 29 Kandiko, CB and Mawer, M (2013) Student Expectations and Perceptions of Higher Education, London: King's

Learning Institute

11

10

12

8

60

63

57

62

24

23

25

23

0 20 40 60 80 100

England

Northern Ireland

Wales

Scotland

% of employers recruiting directly from university

Very poorly prepared Poorly prepared Well prepared Very well prepared

24

individual who has developed their skills sets beyond the academic requirements of their courses. As the King's College/QAA study demonstrates, students appear to have an appetite for this.

Throughout the literature there is a single consistent theme relating to how students can develop the skills that will allow them to make the successful transition into the labour market: the value of work experience. This is not a new story. A study from the 1970s demonstrated the way in which work experience obtained on sandwich courses provided students with a set of skills and expectations that employers particularly valued, especially the appreciation of what the world of work involves and the type of work they may be

expected to undertake.30 This resulted in relatively successful labour market outcomes for

the sandwich course students. A number of more recent studies have demonstrated the potential benefits of work placements and internships for students, including the benefits of:

developing links between employers and higher education institutions (HEIs) that have the potential to develop a wider, shared understanding of how to promote

employability in the student body31

providing students with the opportunity not only to acquire skills, but to collate evidence that they have done so through their work experience

establishing early links between students and potential employers.32

The evidence suggests that work experience, being on placement, or completing an

internship appears to be related to being in employment and relatively good wage levels.33

What is not clear from the various studies is what kind of work experience is most beneficial. Work experience may take a variety of forms, including:

part-time work while studying

sandwich courses

structured work placements, for example, over the summer holidays

internships, paid or unpaid. It is also not clear to what extent one particular type of activity is more important than another in bringing about success. This is important because there are likely to be different costs attached to institutions providing higher education, students, and employers depending upon which form of experience is most effective. Moreover, it is not always clear whether it is the very fact that the student has been involved in work experience, and therefore indicating an awareness of the world of work, or whether, as a consequence, particular skills have been obtained that employers particularly value. The research by Daniel and Pugh from the 1970s is instructive here in that it points to the way in which work experience provides an improved alignment between students' expectations of work and what the employer is able to provide. Evidence from students suggests that their employability skills, in their view, were

30 Daniel, W W and Pugh, H (1975) Sandwich courses in higher education: PEP report on CNAA degrees in business studies, London: Political and Economic Planning 31 UKCES (2009) Employer Demand for Skills: A Review of Evidence and Policy, Wath-upon-Dearne: UK Commission for Employment and Skills Lowden, K, Hall, S, Eliot, D, and Lewin, J (2011) Employers' Perceptions of the employability of skills of new graduates, Report to the Edge Foundation 32 Hogarth, T, Winterbotham, M, Hasluck, C, Carter, K, Daniel, WW, Green, AE and Morrison, J (2007) Employer and University Engagement in the Use and Development of Graduate Level Skills, Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills Research Report RR835A 33 McCulloch, A (2013) BIS Research Paper Number 143: Learning from Futuretrack: The Impact of Work Experiences on Higher Education Students Outcomes, London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Purcell K, Elias P, Atfield G, Behle H, Ellison R, Luchinskaya D, Snape J, Conaghan L and Tzanakou C (2012) Futuretrack Stage 4: transitions into Employment, Further Study and Other Outcomes, HECSU, Manchester

25

relatively well developed by the time they reached the third year of their studies.34 Whether this tallies with employers' views is something addressed in this report.

3.4 Higher education providers' means of connecting students to the labour market

It is readily apparent that careers services within institutions providing higher education courses now provide a wide variety of services to their student body. Table 3.1 provides an overview of the types of activity that are now provided. Table 4.1 in the next chapter provides some estimates of the extent to which these are delivered by higher education providers. In some respects, the table captures the evolution of careers services within higher education institutions. Whereas the core service in the past may have constituted providing information about employers with vacancies for graduates, engaging in the milk round, and providing application forms, it has now been transformed into something with many more dimensions. Increasingly, advice and guidance is provided about developing specific skills that employers are known to value (for example IT and numeracy skills), how to gain the work experience that employers want, and being able to record achievement while a student. Recording achievement has become a popular topic identified by the AGR in its survey of graduate recruiters. However, the 2013 survey indicated that only 10 per cent of employers intended to use this as a recruitment tool.35

The King's College study for QAA indicated the importance of employability provision being embedded within departments, either in the curriculum or being supported or encouraged at the department level.36 This is one of the subjects addressed in the next chapter. Another is whether provision differs between undergraduates and postgraduates. The evidence suggests that employers do not necessarily distinguish between undergraduates and postgraduates when recruiting.37 But for careers services, there may be a need to tailor services to undergraduates and postgraduates respectively.

Table 3.1: Employability provision in institutions providing higher education courses

Type of service provided

Details of provision

Information Services

Providing information on identifying the skills employers want

Providing information on sources of job vacancies

Providing information on developing networks

Providing information on researching jobs/sectors

Application assistance

Providing assistance with writing/developing your CV

Providing assistance with completing application forms

Providing assistance through mock interviews

Help with assessment centres

Skills' development Skills' development in communication/making presentations

34 Atfield, G and Purcell, K (2010) Futuretrack Working Paper 4 Graduate labour market supply and demand:

Final year students' perceptions of the skills they have to offer and the skills employers seek, HECSU/University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research 35 Association of Graduate Recruiters (2013) The AGR Recruitment Survey 2013: Winter Review, AGR: London 36 Kandiko, CB and Mawer, M (2013) Student Expectations and Perceptions of Higher Education, London: King's Learning Institute 37 Artess, J, Ball, C, Forbes, P and Hughes, T (2014) Masters with a purpose Taught postgraduate employability and employer engagement Manchester: HECSU

26

Skills' development in leadership

Skills' development in IT/numeracy

Skills' development in entrepreneurship

Skills' development in building self-awareness and reflection

Skills' development in becoming self-employed

Skills' development in team-working

Gaining experience

Providing opportunity or support for graduate internships

Providing opportunity or support for student internships

Providing opportunity or support for summer programmes

Providing opportunity or support for work experience

Providing opportunity or support to engage in social enterprise/ volunteering


Providing Employability Awards

Providing HEAR

Providing e-portfolios

Postgraduates Special programmes for postgraduate students

The focus of this report is the employability of students and the emphasis is on how students or graduates can convince an employer that they are right person to recruit. It needs to be remembered that some graduates go on to be self-employed and that self-employment is becoming increasingly commonplace in the UK. In 2014, 4.6 million people were self-employed in the UK (15 per cent of those in work) which is the highest level over the last forty years.38 The 'What Do Graduates Do?' 2014 publication revealed that just under 5 per cent of first degree graduates had entered self-employment six months after graduating. Given trends in self-employment it follows that this is an area that may become increasingly important in the future. QAA has indicated the types of entrepreneurship skills with which higher education institutions will need to equip their students, although current evidence suggests that take-up by institutions may be relatively limited.39

3.5 Summary

The evidence shows that the graduate labour market is a dynamic one. The characteristics of what constitutes a graduate job have changed substantially recently. Whether the graduate labour market is tougher for graduates to enter now than it was in the past is debatable. Certainly, following the financial crisis in 2007-08, graduate recruitment decreased but the evidence suggests that the job openings for graduates, as indicated in surveys of graduate employment such as those undertaken by the AGR, are increasing. Evidence shows that the employment and wage premium obtained from having obtained a higher education qualification has held up over recent years.

It is readily apparent that the process by which students enter the labour market has become more complex. On the one hand, some of the major employers use relatively long recruitment processes, including sifting of interviews, first and second interviews and

38 ONS (2014) Self-employed workers in the UK - 2014, London: Office for National Statistics 39 QAA (2012) Enterprise and entrepreneurship education: Guidance for UK higher education providers.

Gloucester: QAA

27

assessment centres. On the other, shorter processes used by, for instance, non-recurrent recruiters of graduates, such as SMEs, require graduates to be able to readily demonstrate their potential value to the business in a single interview. The student/graduate must be able to demonstrate their potential value to a company by being able to provide evidence of undertaking extra-curricular activities while studying. As the King's College/QAA study demonstrated, obtaining a degree is no longer enough. The following chapters catalogue the types of employability services higher education providers deliver, with a view to finding what is most effective in assisting students, where they may be gaps in provision, and what employers are really looking for in graduate job applicants.

28

4 Developing the employability agenda: the views of stakeholders

4.1 The role of the higher education provider in improving the employability of higher education students

An insight into the role that higher education can play in improving the employability of graduates can be obtained from various stakeholders with a policy interest in higher education. A variety of stakeholders engaged in the development of higher education policy in the UK was interviewed. These stakeholders covered a wide variety of organisations that represent different groups with an interest in ensuring that the higher education sector is able to deliver the skills that the country needs. There was a consensus that employability skills, broadly defined as providing students with the set of generic skills employers typically look for in addition to a degree when recruiting someone to an entry level graduate job, had an important role to play in higher education. While young people may not necessarily act in an economically rational manner when deciding what to study in higher education, or whether to enter higher education at all, they do so in general expectation that there will be an economic return from doing so. Higher education providers are therefore obliged to ensure that their students are given every opportunity to acquire the skills that will allow them to move successfully into the labour market.

There was near agreement that providers need to create a link for students between higher education and entering the labour market, and that this need is growing. This was very much seen as a 'vital part of delivering on the promise to students' (that is, helping them to enter a job) that is, at least implicit, when the student decides to make an investment in higher education. It is recognised that many former polytechnics and further education colleges delivering higher education, have a strong tradition of providing employability measures to their students from which other higher education institutions might learn. It is necessary to find an appropriate balance between delivering the academic content of courses and persuading students to engage in a variety of activities that are designed simply to find a job.

The general view is that all students can benefit from employability measures. Some students clearly began their studies with more social skills than some of their contemporaries which meant they were better prepared to enter the labour market. However, there is now a general belief that all students, and their parents, expect higher education providers to help their students find jobs. Impetus was given to this expectation following the increase in tuition fees. Students and their parents are perhaps more keenly aware of the return that needed to be obtained on their investment in higher education.

4.2 The relative importance of employability in higher education

While there is recognition that employability is important, there is a need to find a balance. Most stakeholders recognise that there was potentially a tension here. Although higher education providers need to develop their student' employability by various means, this should not be at the expense of maintaining the academic standards of courses. Employability should not overtake study, as one respondent put it. It is recognised that promoting employability and maintaining academic standards are not inimical to one another. In fact they could possibly be mutually reinforcing.

Promoting employability is effectively about ensuring that resources are employed effectively. It is clear that many higher education providers have substantially increased their investment in employability over recent years. This is confirmed by the interviews with higher education providers in which they describe the increase in the number of people employed in careers services alongside broadening provision. In some cases, if students have parents

29

who work in jobs outside those typically associated with graduate employment, these students may well need more instruction in how to enter jobs typically filled by graduates. The general view, however, was that provision does not need to be targeted at certain groups, such as those students from more working-class backgrounds. Instead, it should be suited to the needs of different students, regardless of their backgrounds. All students need employability provision but some, depending upon their particular circumstances, may need a different kind of support from others. It is about tailoring rather than targeting.

There is also a view that while higher education providers need to equip their students with the various types of employability skills outlined elsewhere in this report, they also need to work on the demand side too. In some regional labour markets, the demand for graduates is relatively subdued. If higher education providers were to increase the skills' base of their students (a supply-side activity) then they would need to work with local employers to encourage them to recruit graduates and use their skills effectively.

4.3 Employability and the careers service

Stakeholders' views are consistent with the view that employability is not synonymous with the services provided by the careers service in higher education. That was only part of the overall employability offer. Careers services can provide advice and guidance of various kinds, but the student needs to be motivated to obtain that advice and some idea of where their future career might lie. One keen user of careers services noted that the traditional careers service model, the central service on campus, worked well only where students were self-motivated. It is perhaps noteworthy that one higher education provider mentioned that when it moved its careers service to a prominent place on campus, it received more student visitors then when it occupied a less obvious site on campus. It is important that careers advice starts early, preferably before the student enters higher education, and is embedded in some way within courses and departments.

Employability provision is very dependent on access to good labour market information (LMI). Providing information is seen as an important role for the careers service, and departments, within higher education providers, but this needs to be carefully managed as there is a danger of information overload. The role of the careers service is to guide the student through the information available. LMI is seen as vitally important but there are concerns about how useful it can be in practice. It can demonstrate to students the variety of jobs to which their degree will grant them access, which can be important where the student has a narrow view of what jobs their degree will enable them to do. It has the potential to open their eyes, but that data needs to be put into context for them. If applicants to higher education make their decisions derived from estimates of the returns obtained from achieving a degree in the past, then this may result in higher education provision becoming narrower. The danger is that all students will want to pursue the degrees that analysis of past trends suggests are associated with relatively high returns.

There is also a general view that careers services within higher education needs to be seen as the starting point for finding a graduate job. Most feel that careers advice could be stronger within schools so that students know, before commencing their higher education courses, what they need to do to obtain the type of job they want. This is not simply a question of understanding where the highest returns from study may be obtained,40 but is more about increasing the emphasis on understanding the skills and attributes that employers are looking for. Some respondents commented that, ideally, when making their decision about what to study, students would act with a little more economic rationality about how they might obtain a return on the investment they are about to make in higher

40 Labour market information is seen as important. The problem is that the DHLE is the best data available but it collects destination data too early in the process. After six months graduates may still be finding their way in the labour market.

30

education. This is where pre-higher education careers advice could be improved and this might well ensure that when students enter higher education they are more finely attuned to understanding how the labour market operates.

4.4 Embedding employability in the curriculum

Stakeholders regard it as important to embed employability (general skills development) within the curriculum, but it is important not to see it as a 'bolt-on' to existing courses. There is the danger that students will not really receive the messages that needed to be conveyed. Employability needs to be integrated into a course so that obtaining a broad range of employability skills is seen as an integral part of completing that course and, is delivered in such a way that it is obvious to the student why they are being equipped with those skills. This is seen as a potentially tricky issue. Some respondents commented that it was easier for some courses, such as engineering, to accommodate this goal than other more theoretically oriented courses. There is a concern that if increasing the more vocational element in courses is dependent on more employer engagement, then some employers might 'hijack' courses to meet their current needs. Others commented that general skills, such as numeracy and IT, are so intrinsic to everyday life that they could readily be introduced into most courses. Such skills' provision needs to be mandatory because otherwise it is likely that the students who would benefit most would be the very ones not to take it up.

Some respondents considered that involving employers in integrating employability within courses is a perfect opportunity to increase employer engagement in higher education. The responsibility for making employability provision work more effectively is neither just the responsibility of higher education providers to make it more central to the student experience, nor just the responsibility of students to make use of the existing provision. It is also necessary for employers to engage with the system. They needed to engage with higher education providers by, for example:

providing guest lectures

giving advice on how to enter their sector

supplying the work placements, internships, and workplace-based training opportunities that higher education providers and their students need.

The last point is an important one. The general view is that work experience was of critical importance. It was noted that, in some sectors, without prior work experience there was little chance of obtaining a job.

4.5 Self-employment and employability

It was noted that the student could become the eventual employer. Given trends in the labour market and the fact that more students are leaving higher education to start up their own businesses, it is important that students be made more aware of the potential to become self-employed. It is generally regarded that higher education providers are relatively weak at supplying employability in this area. One respondent noted that best qualities of entrepreneurs are also the best qualities of employees, and so it is important for their students that providers of higher education address the role of entrepreneurship. Other respondents said self-employment might most effectively be addressed by concentrating on those courses on completion of which students are most likely to enter self-employment. Stakeholders commented that it is critically important, when giving advice about self-employment, to advise on how to protect intellectual property.

31

4.6 The student record

Views about how students should record the skills they have acquired in higher education raised questions about the value of the student record. Views on the student record varied. There were positive comments relating to how it:

develops students' abilities to recognise what they have achieved in higher education

is a resource, not necessarily one would share with an employer, that enables students to reflect on their achievements when applying for a job.

It should be noted that several students interviewed as part of this study mentioned that they did not record their extra-curricular activities while in higher education.

There were negative views too that it was a 'massive distraction and a waste of money' and that, as part of their studies, students should learn how to articulate their achievements rather than being forced to compile a document.

Generally, stakeholders are not sure how employers regard the HEAR, and there is some concern that its completion by students may become homogenised, so that employers would not be able to distinguish between students.

4.7 Gaps in provision and evaluation of employability measures

While higher education providers have moved quickly in developing employability provision, there are still considered to be gaps that need to be filled. These are:

more advice on becoming self-employed, as mentioned above41

more engagement with SMEs which is especially important to engaging local employers and finding placements for students

persuading more employers to become involved in curriculum design

persuading more employers to provide placement opportunities

developing effective means within higher education institutions so that those most in need of employability skills are made aware of this and become motivated to acquire them.

In meeting these gaps higher education providers need to:

facilitate mentoring between students and alumni (although some sectors require this than others)

provide more of a 'reality check' to their students and explain how difficult it can be to obtain a job that fulfils their aspirations

integrate employability into courses

understand more about why some students obtain relatively successful outcomes, and, accordingly, develop responses.

Employers have an important role in filling the gaps too. They need to:

talk to higher education providers and be prepared to offer placements or workplace-based learning opportunities

stop making judgements about an applicant based on what they did before higher education and which higher education institution they attended because they are potentially missing out on much talent as a consequence

41 What Graduates Do? (2014) Points to self-employment being a significant destination for graduates

32

consider more closely whether certain types of applicant are being filtered out too early

work with higher education to demonstrate the diverse ways to recruit

contribute to teaching students about employability and stop expecting graduates who are fully ready for work.

contribute more to the development of employability within higher education

be prepared to engage with higher education in various different ways, such as giving guest lectures.

Whether the above will work is to be seen. Much of the discussion focuses on supplying more effective employability. If employability measures are to be assessed in some way, how should they be measured and assessed? Much of the debate surrounding what is a successful outcome has been driven by whether a person has a job, and preferably a graduate job. For some stakeholders these measures are rather a crude measure of success. In many respects, higher education is more about giving people the opportunity to find fulfilling jobs. There is a view that the DLHE survey, the only reliable source of outcome data, provides a narrow measure based on employment status and occupation three years after graduation. This is regarded as a relatively short time over which to measure a relatively narrow definition of a successful outcome from higher education.

If there is much that both pre-higher education and higher education institutions could do to help prepare students for transition into the labour market, there is much that employers can do too. In particular, there needs to be more engagement between employers and higher education providers. As various reports demonstrate,42 this can be difficult, but employers must be prepared to work with a wide range of educational institutions.

42 Lambert, R (2003) Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration, London: HM Treasury Wilson, T (2012) Business-university collaboration: the Wilson review, London: Department for Business

Innovation and Skills

33

5 The delivery of employability measures

5.1 Introduction

Principal aims of the study were to catalogue the types of employability delivered by higher education providers and identify the type of provision that is relatively effective in connecting students and recent graduates to the labour market. This chapter describes employability provision in higher education institutions and draws mainly on the survey of higher education providers. The next chapter goes on to look at the effectiveness of provision from the perspective of higher education providers, employers, and students.

Employability provision within higher education has been defined as encompassing the following types of activity:

providing information about graduate employment opportunities

giving graduate employers assistance with applications

assisting the development of generic skills, including those of numeracy, IT, communication, and so on

offering help in gaining work experience such as internships

recording achievement through employability awards. An overview of provision is given before considering each of the above in turn.

5.2 Overview of overall employability provision

Table 5.1 provides an overview of provision by broad type of higher education provider. It shows that most higher education providers deliver each type of service, although universities are slightly more likely to provide each type of service than further education colleges or specialist providers of higher education. It is apparent that recording achievement and providing services aimed specifically at postgraduates are less likely to be on offer compared with other types of provision.

Table 5.1: Percentage of higher education providers supplying each type of employability measure

Service offered Universities FE


All HE Providers

Providing information 100 100 100 100

Assistance with applications 100 98 82 97

Skills' development 99 100 100 99

Gaining experience 100 96 71 95

Recording achievement 78 58 35 66

Particular services for postgraduates 41 2 6 24


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.2 shows the percentage of students accounted for by the higher education providers delivering each type of employability service. It weights the data in Table 5.1 by the number of students enrolled in each higher education provider. It reveals a similar pattern to Table 5.1, but shows that, although a lower percentage of higher education providers recorded achievement or provided services for postgraduates, those with a larger student population

34

were more likely to do so. This is revealed in a higher share of students than providers being able to use these services.

Table 5.2: Percentage of students in higher education providers offering each type of service

Service offered Universities FE


All HE Providers

Providing information 100 100 100 100

Assistance with applications 100 99 98 100

Skills development 98 100 100 98

Gaining Experience 100 99 83 100

Recording achievement 74 64 17 73

Particular services for postgraduates 54 6 57 53


Base: All students Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) From discussions with staff in the careers services of higher education providers, it was apparent that over time providers had gradually broadened their range of provision. Initially, they had concentrated on providing information to students and giving them assistance with applications, but had gradually encompassed the other types of employability provision. It was noted that information about graduate recruiters can sometimes be readily obtained online and, accordingly, this frees up resources to provide other types of assistance to student job seekers.

Tables 5.3 and 5.4 show the average number of services provided by each type of institution, based on numbers of institutions and numbers of students respectively. Although there is not a great deal of difference between the types of provider, this may give a rather misleading picture. In the university sector, a wide range of services is delivered university-wide and at a departmental level. Among the further education colleges and specialist providers, provision is often course specific, because the resources available are much more constrained. In these two latter types, careers staff work with a particular course so that resources are targeted at the specific needs of students on that course. These providers report that, ideally, they would have liked to supply a wider range of services but this was simply not possible with the resources available to them.

35

Table 5.3: Average number of services provided by higher education providers


Maximum Univer-sities

FE Colleges


All HE Providers

Information provision 4 4.0 3.5 3.4 3.8

Assistance with CVs, etc 4 3.9 3.2 2.6 3.5

Skills' development 8 6.6 6.5 6.6 6.6

Gaining work experience 5 4.7 3.0 2.4 3.8

Recording achievement 3 1.4 0.8 0.5 1.1

All services 24 20.5 17.0 15.4 18.8

Base (Number of HEIs) 83 52 17 152

Base: All institutions Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.4: Average number of services provided by higher education providers

(% of students)


Maximum Univer-sities

FE Colleges


All HE Providers

Information provision 4 4.0 3.7 3.8 4.0

Assistance with CVs, etc 4 3.8 3.3 3.5 3.8 Skills' development 8 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.9

Gaining work experience 5 4.5 3.4 3.9 4.5

Recording achievement 3 1.4 1.0 0.2 1.4

All services 24 20.6 18.0 18.3 20.6

Base (Number of students) 1,284,311 25,844 8,757 1,318,912

Base: All students Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) In general, where an institution did not provide a particular type of service, this related to cost and the relevance of a particular type of provision to a higher education provider's student population.

It is apparent that many employability measures are delivered at the departmental/course level. This is regarded by many careers advisers as an effective means of influencing students. Figure 5.1 shows the extent to which higher education providers report that various employability measures are embedded within courses. It reveals the way in which many activities, especially being able to identify the skills that employers need and the delivery of those skills, has become embedded at the course/departmental level.

Figure 5.1 shows that identifying the skills employers want and providing assistance with the development of communication skills are the services that HEIs are most likely to report as being embedded within courses. In the former case, 86 per cent of higher education providers said this was embedded in courses, and in the latter 81 per cent.

36

Figure 5.1: The extent to which employability is embedded within courses

Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

5.3 Providing information

Providing information about employers recruiting graduates has been one of the traditional roles of the careers services within educational institutions. It was notable in the interviews with employers that they expected applicants, especially at interview, to be familiar with details about the company and its products. As noted above, all of the institutions provided information provision resource. It is notable that higher education providers supplied this information in a variety of ways such as having a physical resource that students could access, though it was noted that much of the information was now available online through various websites.

Tables 5.5 and 5.6 show the percentage of higher education providers, and the percentage of students they accounted for, providing various types of information services. As can be seen, identifying skills and sources of vacancies was the service most commonly provided

57

64

69

86

34

46

52

72

24

41

57

57

64

71

76

81

10

16

28

31

62

0 25 50 75 100

PROVIDING INFORMATION

Sources of job vacancies

Developing networks

Researching jobs / sectors

Identifying skills employers want

ASSISTANCE WITH

Assessment Centres

Mock Interview

Applications

CVs

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

Protecting intellectual property

Setting up on self-employed basis

Enterprise/commercial awareness

IT / numeracy

Leadership

Developing self-awareness / reflection

Team working skills

Communication/presentations

GAINING EXPERIENCE

Graduate internships

Summer programmes

Student internships

Social enterprise / volunteering

Work experience

% higher education institutions

37

by each type of provider. Information about how to develop networks was the least commonly reported.

Table 5.5: Information services provided by higher education providers

(% of higher education providers)

Universities FE


All HE Providers

Provide information regarding:

Identifying skills employers want 100 98 88 98

Sources of job vacancies 100 90 82 95

Developing networks 98 71 82 87

Researching jobs/sectors 100 94 82 96


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.6: Information services provided by higher education providers

(% of students in higher education providers delivering service)

Universities FE Colleges


All HE Providers

Provide information regarding:

Identifying skills employers want 100 99 97 100

Sources of job vacancies 100 93 84 100

Developing networks 100 79 98 99

Researching jobs/sectors 100 98 99 100


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Figure 5.2 shows how each type of service was offered by higher education provider. It shows the percentage of higher education providers overall that deliver various types of information services through workshops, drop-in sessions, and so on.

38

Figure 5.2: Ways in which higher education providers offered various information services

Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) In relation to finding out about the specific skills that employers want, 73 per cent of higher education providers said that they provided workshops on how to access information about graduate recruiters, 65 per cent ran drop-in sessions, and 79 per cent offered one-to-one support. Interestingly, 86 per cent of institutions said that provision of this type of service was now embedded within courses or departments. It is notable that respondents all said that other forms of information provision were also available at the departmental level: information about job vacancies (57 per cent of institutions), information about how to develop networks (64 per cent), and researching jobs and sectors (69 per cent).

Figure 5.3 shows the extent to which careers services reported students make use of the various information services they provided. In general, respondents' best estimates were that around half of their students were making use of these types of service, slightly less in the case of developing networks. In general, where students were making use of these services they were doing so throughout their studies. However, a sizable proportion of students made use of the services near the end of their course. This was more common among postgraduates who tended to be more focused on completing their course before considering what to do next.

73

65

79

40

86

32

58

65

76

30

57

38

66

51

60

35

64

32

66

65

82

37

69

29

0 20 40 60 80 100

workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses

embedded within subject courses

in other ways

workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


in other ways

workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


in other ways

workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


in other ways

ide

ntify

ing

skill

se

mp

loyers

wa

nt

sou

rce

s o

f jo

bvacan

cie

sd

eve

lop

ing

netw

ork

sre

se

arc

hin

gjo

bs/s

ecto

rs


39

Figure 5.3: Estimated percentage of students at each higher education provider making use of information services

Base: All institutions providing each type of support/service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

5.4 Assistance with applications

If obtaining information about graduate recruiters is the first step in the process of making the transition into the labour market, then making an application is the next step. As can be seen, nearly all universities provide assistance with preparing CVs and applications forms, providing the opportunity to have a mock interview, or practice for an assessment centre. Further education colleges and specialist providers were much less likely to offer mock interviews or assessment centre practice (see Tables 5.7 and 5.8).

Table 5.7: Percentage of higher education providers giving assistance with applications

Universities

FE colleges

Specialist providers

All HE providers

Assistance with applications:

CVs 100 98 82 97

Applications 100 98 65 95

Mock Interview 99 83 65 89

Assessment Centres 90 44 47 70


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

57

56

45

54

44

47

44

45

0 20 40 60 80

Identifying skills employerswant

Sources of job vacancies

Developing networks

Researching jobs / sectors

% of students using service

Undergraduates Postgraduates

40

Table 5.8: Percentage of students at higher education providers where assistance with applications is given

Universities

FE colleges


All HE providers

Assistance with:

CVs 100 99 98 100

Applications 100 99 94 100

Mock Interview 87 87 82 87

Assessment Centres 98 43 73 97


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Careers advisers note that many students concentrated on CV preparation when, instead, they might have been better off practising preparation of application forms which many employers used. Employers were also of the view, that after the initial sifting process, a well prepared application and covering letter, which demonstrated knowledge of the employer and betrayed no obvious sign of cutting and pasting from other applications, was an important part of the assessment process that would lead to the student being interviewed.

Figure 5.4 shows the way in which higher education providers give assistance with preparing applications. It shows that a relatively high percentage of higher education providers offer intensive one-to-one assistance to their students in preparing CVs and applications forms: 86 per cent in the former; 84 per cent in the latter instance. Even with mock interviews and help with assessment centres, a majority of higher education providers gave their students individual assistance.

41

Figure 5.4: Ways in which higher education providers offered assistance with application preparation

Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Figure 5.5 shows the estimated percentage of students who make use of the application support services where they are available. Approximately half of all students reported taking up support in CV writing. In general, respondents to the survey reported that students sought advice when making applications, especially CV preparation, over the course of their studies.

80

74

86

36

72

69

68

84

29

52

55

37

72

26

46

54

41

53

21

34

0 20 40 60 80 100

workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


workshops

drop-in sessions

one-to-one support

specific courses


CV

writin

gJob

applic

atio

ns

Mo

ck in

terv

iew

sA

ssessm

ent

cen

tres


42

Figure 5.5: Estimated percentage of students making use of assistance with applications

Base: All higher education providers providing each type of support/service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

5.5 Skills Development

In the previous chapter attention was drawn to the types of skill that employers look for from would-be recruits in addition to any specific technical skills that they might be expected to obtain in completing a higher education qualification. As noted in Table 5.1 on page 36, nearly all higher education providers deliver a range of skills' development activities. While provision was relatively commonplace at a central level via the careers service, it was also apparent that many skill development activities were being delivered at the departmental/course level. On non-vocational and/or non-quantitative courses, for instance, there was often, at the departmental/course level, a desire to equip students with these skills in order to increase the range of jobs they might undertake upon completion of their studies. It is notable in that where institutions provided IT/numeracy skills' development, a majority of them said that this had been embedded at the course level.

Tables 5.9 and 5.10 provide a summary of the types of skills' development services provided by higher education providers. As can be seen, a relatively high share of institutions provide development across a number of different skills. Provision is less well developed in relation to IT, leadership, and protecting intellectual property.

52

44

36

28

42

39

34

30

0 20 40 60 80

CVs

Applications

Mock Interview

AssessmentCentres



43

Table 5.9: Skills development services provided by higher education providers


Universities

FE Colleges


All HE Providers

Skills development:

Communication/presentations 90 100 100 95

Leadership 78 88 94 84

IT/numeracy 69 96 94 81

Enterprise/commercial awareness 94 79 71 86

Developing self-awareness/ reflection

96 92 100 95

Setting up on self-employed basis 92 63 71 80

Team working skills 89 100 100 94

Protecting intellectual property 53 29 35 43



Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.10: Skills development services provided by HEIs

(% of students in higher education providers delivering service)


Alternative Providers

All HE providers

Skills development:

Communication/presentations 93 100 100 94

Leadership 86 94 92 87

IT/numeracy 78 98 99 79

Enterprise/commercial awareness 96 81 97 96

Developing self-awareness/ reflection

97 94 100 97

Setting up on self-employed basis 94 67 95 93

Team working skills 93 100 100 93

Protecting intellectual property 52 26 14 51


Base: All students Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Figure 5.6 shows the extent to which students make use of the various skills' development services where they are available. In general, take-up is highest in relation to generic skills such as IT/numeracy, communication, and presentational skills; and was also relatively high for developing self-awareness/self-reflection. Careers service personnel consider this an important activity in that it helps the student develop the skills to understand, for instance, why an initial application may have failed and thereby strengthen any subsequent application. Relatively lower percentages of students took advantage of services to assist with becoming self-employed or safeguarding intellectual property. It also needs to be remembered that these types of support are available in a relatively small share of institutions.

44

Figure 5.6: Estimated percentage of students making use of skill development activities provided by their educational institutions

Base: All higher education providers delivering each type of support/service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

5.6 Gaining experience

The overwhelming conclusion of the previous chapter was the high value employers place on applicants for graduate jobs being able to demonstrate that they have obtained work experience of one kind or another. Work experience is seen as part of a process in which a student's or graduate's expectations of what the world of work is able to offer becomes increasingly aligned.

Nearly all higher education providers assist with work experience. This is sometimes less common in courses delivered in the further education sector where learners are often already in full or part-time employment. In general, providing access to work experience is relatively commonplace. The principal role of the central careers services is that of providing links to the employers who can offer internships, summer placement, or work experience.

Tables 5.11 and 5.12 show the types of work experience higher education providers offer their students. It shows that universities are active in promoting internships, summer programmes, work experience, and volunteering, but this is much less in evidence in the other types of institution.

60

50

57

42

56

36

59

33

49

46

47

37

48

34

48

33

0 20 40 60 80

Communication/presentations

Leadership

IT / numeracy


Developing self-awareness /reflection


Team working skills




45

Table 5.11: Gaining experience services provided by higher education providers

Universities

FE colleges


All HE providers

Gaining Experience:

Graduate internships 94 40 41 70

Student internships 96 46 47 74

Summer programmes 83 38 35 63

Work experience 98 94 65 93

Social enterprise/volunteering 94 83 47 85


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.12: Gaining experience services delivered by higher education providers

(% of students at higher education institution delivering service)

Universities

FE colleges


All HE providers

Experience and related:

Graduate internships 98 55 77 97

Student internships 86 54 79 86

Summer programmes 71 49 67 71

Work experience 99 98 83 99

Social enterprise/volunteering 98 89 79 97


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Figure 5.7 shows how higher education providers assisted their students to obtain work experience. It shows that links with employers and providing information about opportunities are the best developed services but that there are relatively few institutions where gaining experience is embedded in courses.

46

Figure 5.7: How higher education providers offer work experience to their students


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Figure 5.8 shows the percentage of students who use the services their providers deliver to provide them with work experience of some kind. Students most wanted help obtaining work experience in general, rather than obtaining a specific type of internship or a summer programme. While the role of the central careers services was important in facilitating work experience, it was also reported to be embedded at the departmental/course level as well. Around 67 per cent of institutions providing support to their students to obtain work experience reported that obtaining work experience was embedded at that level.

10

47

32

44

41

56

28

49

38

43

42

56

16

33

21

38

34

46

62

66

41

47

46

62

31

48

37

51

47

63

0 20 40 60 80 100

Embedded in the coursehave links with specific employers

arrange the opportunities for studentsprovide workshops on how to apply

provide drop-in sessions on applyingprovide information on applying













Gra

dua

tein

tern

sh

ips

Stu

de

nt

inte

rnsh

ips

Su

mm

er

pro

gra

mm

es

Wo

rk e

xp

eri

ence

En

ga

gin

g in

socia

le

nte

rprise /

volu

nte

erin

g

% of HE Providers

47

Figure 5.8: Estimated percentage of students making use of services to obtain work experience where provided by their educational institutions

Base: All higher education providers providing each type of support/service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF)

5.7 Recording achievement

As noted in the previous chapter, recording achievement was a relatively new development that provides an opportunity for the student to compile a record of their academic and non-academic achievements throughout their studies. This was best developed in relation to the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR)43 that provides a comprehensive record of the student's achievements as recommended by the Measuring and Recording Student Achievement Steering Group.44

Tables 5.13 and 5.14 show how higher education providers record achievement. It indicates that higher education providers' own awards e-portfolios appear to the most prominent in universities, with e-portfolios being the most commonly cited means of recording achievement among further education colleges and alternative providers.

43 See www.hear.ac.uk/about 44 Universities UK (2007) Beyond the honours degree classification: The Burgess Group final report, London:

Universities UK

25

32

29

54

34

29

29

29

40

32

0 20 40 60 80

Graduate internships

Student internships

Summer programmes

Work experience

Social enterprise /volunteering



http://www.hear.ac.uk/about

48

Table 5.13: Recording achievement provision with higher education providers

(% of HEIs)

Universities FE colleges


All HE providers

Recording achievement:

Employability awards 51 19 6 35

HEAR 40 17 12 29

e-Portfolios 51 40 29 45


Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Table 5.14: Recording achievement provision with higher education providers

(% of students in HEIs providing service)



All HE Providers


Employability awards 49 33 1 48

HEAR 41 23 1 40

e-portfolios 47 44 17 47


Base: All students Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) The evidence suggests that relatively few institutions currently provide a record of achievement when compared with the other employability measures they engaged. A relatively small percentage of students make use of the service where it is available (see Figure 5.9). Interviews with employers also revealed that they did not know much about this development. This is verified by an AGR survey of graduate recruiters that also found low levels of awareness among employers.45

45 Association of Graduate Recruiters (2013) The AGR Recruitment Survey 2013: Winter Review, AGR: London

49

Figure 5.9: Estimated percentage of students making use of records of achievement provided by their educational institutions

Base: All higher education providers providing each type of support/service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Other reasons mentioned for not offering Employability Awards, HEAR or e-portfolios included the fact that the higher institution academy was in the process of developing or introducing these or were considering doing so. For HEAR and e-portfolios, a number of respondents indicated that they were not convinced of the benefits of using these systems or offering them to students. Table 5.15 provides an indication of future intentions regarding recording achievement. Of those not currently offering employability awards or e-portfolio, under 20 per cent indicated that they plan to offer these in the future. Around 30 per cent of those not currently providing HEAR planned to do so in the future.

Table 5.15: higher education providers planning to offer services related to recording achievement

(% higher education providers)

Employability

Awards HEAR e-portfolio

Already providing service 35 29 45

Planning to offer 13 22 9

Do not already offer nor planning to offer 53 49 46


5.8 Reasons for not providing some employability services

Where educational institutions did not offer particular employability services, they were asked their reasons for not doing so (respondents could select more than one reason). Table 5.17 shows the results. Lack of time was commonly reported for a number of services shown. A perceived lack of relevance was also a reason for not providing a number of

21

53

39

17

36

31

0 20 40 60 80

Employabilityawards

HEAR

e-Portfolios



50

services including assistance with assessment centres (37 per cent); and offering opportunities and support for work experience (45 per cent).

Table 5.16: Reason for not providing particular services

(% of higher education providers not offering service)

Service Base*

Reason for not offering particular service ( of HEIs):

Cost Lack of

time

Do not think it would be effective

Lack of suitable

staff Not relevant for

our students

Any other

reason No particular

reason

Providing information about developing networks

20 20 25 10 15 5 5 5

Providing assistance with mock interviews

16 13 31 0 0 19 6 0

Providing assistance with assessment centres

46 9 2 7 11 37 2 2

Providing skills development related to enterprise and commercial awareness

21 10 14 0 5 19 10 5

Offering opportunities and support for work experience

11 9 18 9 18 45 9 27

Recording student achievement through:

Employability awards

99 16 17 9 11 20 18 17

HEAR 108 13 13 9 4 17 36 18

e-portfolios 84 7 11 8 8 21 15 23

Base: All higher education providers not providing a service Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Note: *Base refers to number of respondents indicating that they do not offer the service or do not know.

5.9 Conclusion

The chapter has provided an overview of employability currently offered by higher education providers. It demonstrates that there is a high level of provision across institutions of different types with the possible exception of recording achievement. Provision does not necessarily equate with take-up. Career advisers commented that it was difficult to reach certain groups of students/graduates despite clearly indicating throughout their studies the need to engage in certain types of activity if they want to obtain their desired employment. Embedding employability at the departmental level was seen as important in influencing student behaviour. It is perhaps striking the extent to which many employability activities were embedded at a course/departmental level. This was explained by one institution as being mutually reinforcing for department and student. Departments, especially non-vocational ones, can demonstrate to potential students that by studying with them they will obtain many of the skills that employers value alongside the technical ones their course will deliver, and, that the student will obtain the type of job they entered higher education to secure.

51

The extent to which the employability measures described above are seen as effective is addressed in the next chapter.

52

6 The effectiveness of employability provision

6.1 Introduction

The previous chapter demonstrated the extent to which higher education providers deliver various employability measures. This chapter addresses the effectiveness of those measures from the perspective of higher education providers, employers and students respectively. Effectiveness refers to the extent to which employability provision equips students and recent graduates with the skills that will allow them to make a successful transition into the labour market. It is desirable to make an assessment of impact in order to show the extent to which the employability measures delivered by higher education providers have a mainly positive result for their students. Such an assessment is difficult to undertake given the lack of data that links employability provision to student employment outcomes. It is, however, possible to draw together various sources of data to deliver an assessment of the way in which higher education providers are able to effectively equip their students with the skills which employers are looking for from potential graduate recruits. Combining analysis from the survey of higher education providers with that from the semi-structured interviews with the providers, employers, and students, indicates the effectiveness of higher education employability provision.

The chapter begins with an overview of the findings from the survey of higher education providers. This gives a picture of what higher education providers consider to be the most effective measures in connecting their students and recent graduates to the labour market. The remainder of the chapter goes on to provide a comparison of the views expressed by higher education providers, employers, and students in relation to:

how to persuade students and employers to engage in employability provision delivered by higher education providers

finding information about potential graduate employers and the specificities employers are looking for from applicants for graduate-entry level jobs

the process of making a job application that will allow the student to progress to the next round of the job application process

effectively equipping students with the skills and qualities that employers are looking for

helping students obtain work experience

the relative importance of recording achievement. It is notable that higher education providers are developing their employability activities from different starting points. In the sample of higher education providers selected for more in-depth analysis was a mix of:

pre-1992 universities that had, traditionally, offered a mix of academic and vocational courses (for example medicine, dentistry, and so on), but the emphasis was more on academic study

post-1992 universities that had, historically, focused on more vocationally oriented higher education courses though over time they had increasingly offered more academically oriented courses

further education colleges and specialist providers where the focus is on providing a relatively narrow range of higher education courses at sub-degree (for example HND) and degree level that were vocationally oriented.

53

The different types of higher education provider differed in their approaches to the delivery of employability measures. In the latter two types of higher education providers there was a long-standing emphasis on ensuring that the skills students obtained on their courses were oriented towards meeting employer demand. This was often developed at course level. This perhaps reflects the vocational origins of these institutions. Among the examples of pre-1992 universities there was more of a sense that these organisations had been, in the past, successful in getting students into jobs on the strength of the academic excellence of their courses, but this has had now changed and considerable emphasis was being given to ensuring that their students were equipped with the skills employers valued.

6.2 An overview of higher education providers' perspectives on effective provision based on an analysis of their responses to the questionnaire survey

Table 6.1 provides an initial assessment of higher education providers' views on the employability measures that were most effective in assisting their students make the transition into employment. Respondents were asked to indicate, on a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 is 'very poor' and 5 is 'very good'), how they rated the impact of the institution's provision of each employability service in assisting their higher education students enter graduate-level jobs. Most respondents said that nearly all elements of their provision had a positive impact.

Across all types of institution, the lowest average impact rating was provided for the HEAR (2.6 out of 5), and the highest average impact was reported for assistance with CV preparation (4.4 out of 5). But the overall conclusion from Table 6.1 is that higher education providers were of the view that all of their employability measures were effective.

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Table 6.1: Average impact score for employability services delivered by higher education provider type

Service provided

Average impact score (1 'very poor' to 5 'very good')

Institutions

Weighted score to reflect

student populations

Uni-versit

ies FE

colleges Specialist providers

All HE providers

All HE providers

Provide information regarding: Identifying skills employers want

4.1 4.3 4.2 4.1 4.1

Sources of job vacancies 4.1 3.8 4.1 4.0 4.1

Developing networks 3.7 3.7 4.4 3.7 3.7

Researching jobs/sectors 4.0 3.9 4.0 3.9 4.0

Assistance with:

CVs 4.4 3.9 4.4 4.2 4.4

Applications 4.2 3.7 4.6 4.1 4.2

Mock Interview 4.3 3.8 4.3 4.1 4.3

Assessment Centres 3.9 3.6 4.0 3.8 4.0

Skills development:

Communication/presentations 4.0 4.4 4.1 4.2 4.0

Leadership 3.8 3.8 4.1 3.9 3.9

IT/numeracy 3.8 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.7


3.7 3.9 4.2 3.8 3.7

Developing self-awareness/reflection

4.1 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.1


3.6 3.8 4.1 3.7 3.7

Team-working skills 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.2 4.1


3.5 3.7 4.0 3.6 3.5

Experience and related:

Graduate internships 4.0 3.4 3.8 3.9 4.1

Student internships 4.0 3.5 4.3 3.9 4.2

Summer programmes 3.8 3.8 4.2 3.8 4.0

Work experience 4.3 4.1 4.5 4.2 4.2

Social enterprise/ volunteering

4.0 3.5 4.3 3.8 4.1


Employability awards 4.0 3.7 * 3.9 4.1

HEAR 2.7 3.2 * 2.8 2.6

e-portfolios 3.3 3.6 4.0** 3.4 3.1

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Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Notes: * no valid impact score responses were provided to allow for calculation of average

** based on four valid responses. Although the majority of employability services are considered to have had a relatively high impact on graduate employment outcomes, respondents to the survey were asked to consider what they considered the essential aspects of their employability provision. To anchor this question, respondents were asked, if their employability budget were to be reduced by half, what services would they continue to provide (see Figure 6.1). The employability measures most likely to survive budget reductions were:

providing assistance with CV preparation

information about identifying the skills employers want

information about researching jobs and sectors

information about sources of job vacancies and opportunities

support for work experience. Fewer than 20 per cent of institutions providing employability awards, e-portfolios, HEAR and special programmes for post-graduate students indicated that they would continue with these services.

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Figure 6.1: Percentage of higher education providers reporting that they would continue with a particular employability service if their employability budget were reduced by half

Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Note: Where the data was weighted to reflect the respective student populations in each higher education provider, the distribution of responses was largely the same. There is also a question of what higher education providers considered to be the most important element of their employability provision. Here the importance of work experience becomes apparent (see Figure 6.2). In some higher education providers there was a mandate that all students should obtain work experience while they are students. Careers services were working hard to ensure that this was achieved, though several were quick to point out that with so many students having part-time jobs, this goal was readily achieved. Figure 6.2 also gives an indication of the employability measures considered least essential. It was apparent that no respondents mentioned the following as their most important service: help with assessment centres; opportunities or support for engaging in summer programmes; provision of the HEAR; or specialist postgraduate services.

7

7

9

14

15

24

26

28

29

33

33

38

38

41

41

45

47

49

51

55

57

57

64

64

71

0 20 40 60 80 100

Special programmes for postgraduate students

Other

Providing HEAR




Skills development in leadership

Skills development in setting up on a self-employed basis


Skills development in IT / numeracy



Skills development in enterprise and commercial awareness

Skills development in team working skills

Providing opportunity or support to engage in social…



Providing assistance with application form completion

Skills development in communication / making presentations

Skills development in developing self-awareness and…


Providing information on researching jobs / sectors

Providing information on identifying skills employers want


Providing assistance with CV writing / developing your CV

% of HE Providers

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Figure 6.2: Percentage of higher education providers reporting a particular employability service as being their most important one

Base: All higher education providers Source: QAA Employability Survey (IER/IFF) Note: Where the data was weighted to reflect the respective student populations in each higher education provider, the distribution of responses was largely the same. There are some differences between types of institutions in the services that were reported as being most important. Skills' development relating to self-awareness and reflection were more likely to be considered most important by universities and further education colleges than by specialist providers. In contrast, the development of leadership skills and information on developing networks were more likely to be considered most important by specialist providers than by either universities or FE colleges.

Statistically modelling effective provision

In order to investigate further the impact of various types of employability provision, the data from the higher education providers’ survey was linked with institution-level data from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) and the National Student Surveys. Multiple regression analysis was then undertaken to assess the extent to which the provision of employability measures of one kind or another by higher education providers was statistically related to various outcome measures including the employment status of graduates (from DLHE) and student satisfaction with particular aspects of their studies at a particular provider (NSS data). The analysis was undertaken for the university respondents as only these were included in the DLHE data supplied by HESA.

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

3

3

4

5

5

8

10

13

22

0 5 10 15 20 25



Providing HEAR

Special programmes for postgraduate students


Skills development in leadership

Skills development in setting up on a self-employed basis


Providing opportunity or support to engage in social…

Providing information on researching jobs / sectors

Providing assistance with application form completion

Skills development in IT / numeracy

Skills development in enterprise and commercial awareness

Skills development in team working skills




Skills development in communication / making presentations



Providing assistance with CV writing / developing your CV

Providing information on identifying skills employers want

Skills development in developing self-awareness and…


% of HE providers

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The analysis undertaken was unable to fully establish clear patterns in the relationships between the indicators of employability services and various graduate and student outcomes. For the most part, relatively few statistically significant results were found and, in some cases, the direction of association was not as expected. This was most likely because of the low variation in provision of employability measures across universities; most universities delivered the full range of measures. Ideally, individual level data is required so that it is possible to gauge the particular employability services which a student accesses, when they were accessed and to what extent. This will help estimate the impact of employability provision on a range of outcomes such as the probability of securing a graduate level job, or whether one is accessed sooner as a result. This data is not currently available. If higher education providers expend a large amount of money every year on their employability services, then there is merit in evaluating the impact and value-for-money of those services.

6.3 Student engagement

The first major hurdle careers services needs to overcome is that of student engagement. It was almost universally agreed by higher education providers that engaging students in employability measures of one kind or another is a formidably difficult task, as the following examples, indicate.

One post-1992 university careers service said student engagement was the biggest challenge they faced. In part, this is due to its being a multi-site campus where it is difficult for some students to physically access the careers centre. An employability lead in each of the university's faculties through whom information is passed to students. At a pre-1992 university, there was also acknowledgement that it is an uphill battle to engage students in a range of employability measures, especially so given the remote location of the careers service. It was observed that 'It's not that students don't want to use these services, it's that they are not easily tripped over'. This particular department spent much of its time marketing its services and trying to get employability measures embedded in departments and into the curriculum.

It is not simply a question of location. Even where careers services are easily accessible, higher education providers report problems engaging students. One university reported that where students are engaged in employability activities they are pleased to be, but 'the problem is that most of them don't [engage]'. Another said bluntly: 'As always with career services, the issue is the students we never see. I admit, we have not cracked the nut of how we get to them. And I don't know anyone who has'.

A pre-1992 university had had some success in engaging students via the enrolment system. When students enrolled or re-enrolled on their courses they were asked how far advanced they were in thinking about what they wanted to do on leaving university: from 1 (no idea at all), to 9 (they have accepted an offer). This was then used to target individuals and departments where there was evidence that more engagement or assistance might be beneficial.

Some higher education providers mentioned that careers fairs could be an effective means of engaging students. If students attended a careers fair this would not necessarily result in them receiving a job offer, but it would connect them with employers and make them think about what they would need to do to obtain the type of job to which they aspired.

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Research has shown that students seek entry to higher education, at least in part, because it will improve their prospects in the labour market.46 Even though students might be economically instrumental in the decision to enter higher education, it is apparent that they start their studies with differing levels of social capital,47 and varying degrees of certainty regarding their preferred career paths. From discussions with the students it was apparent that:

some students select their course, and sometimes their higher education provider, based on how this would assist them to realise the career plans they had already begun to map out for themselves

other students had selected their course on the basis of being interested in the subject matter; and their higher education provider based on, among other things, its proximity to home and its overall reputation.

The latter group is relatively easy to engage in employability activities because they are more instrumental in their approach to higher education in general. It is fair to say that the general picture to emerge from the discussions with students is that they are all aware of the need to engage with the careers service. Where they do so, they find it mostly beneficial, although they would like more individual assistance. Many students engage with the careers service only in their final year, and sometimes not until fairly late in that final year. This is because they focus on their studies in the earlier years, and then on their finals in the last year, and do not have time to engage with the careers service. It is also true that in the early stages of their time in higher education some students do not necessarily focus on what they might do on leaving higher education and have not given the subject much thought.

Students express a preference for learning about the graduate labour market through their courses with information from those working in the same type of job to which they themselves aspire. In this way, a strong message is conveyed to students about the skills and experiences that they needed to acquire. This is a catalyst to students to engaging more substantively with the range of employability services their higher education providers deliver. The student preference for receiving employability information from employers and through their courses is a recurring theme in the discussions with students.

It is not simply a question of engaging students while they are in higher education. Some careers services are keen to supply a service after the student has graduated. In some cases this could be for six to 12 months, over which time the careers services would provide assistance to those who were struggling to find employment. In at least one case, there was an offer for all alumni to keep using the university's careers service if they so wish. It is thought that by developing the long-term relationship with former students, useful links can be developed with employers and, importantly, alumni could be persuaded to make presentations to current students.

Students welcome the continued which support careers services provide to recent graduates. One recent graduate pointed out the importance of this type of support. Her careers service had found her an internship after she had been unemployed for several months after graduating. She had not gained any work experience before graduating and was surprised at how hard it was to find a job once she had graduated. She feels that undertaking the internship has given her new purpose, and she felt like a 'different person', that her confidence has increased, and she feels that she conducts herself differently now

46 Purcell, K, Elias, P, Atfield, G, Behle, H and Ellison, R with Hughes, C, Livanos, I and Tzanakou, C (2009)

Plans, aspirations and realities: taking stock of higher education and career choices one year on, Futuretrack Working Paper No 2, HECSU/University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research 47 Purcell, K, Elias, P, Davies, R and Wilton, N (2005) The Class of '99. A study of the early labour market experience of recent graduates, Research Report 691, Department for Education and Skills, Sheffield

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that she has experience of working. Consequently, she feels much more positive about obtaining a job in her chosen career once the internship was finished.

It should be noted that, in further education colleges, many higher education students are already in employment, so that engaging with the careers service is perhaps a less pressing issue for the students and the careers service, unless the student is looking for a change of job or career.

6.4 Employer engagement with higher education providers

Students, in particular, value messages about the graduate labour market that were conveyed to them by employers. Engaging employers, especially smaller ones or those that do not recruit graduates every year, present a problem for higher education providers' careers services. Employers taking part in the study have different levels of engagement with the higher education providers. These can be categorised as follows.

Many have no contact with higher education providers at all. They simply advertise their graduate vacancies on various job sites and rely on students and graduates to find the information. The smaller employers lack the resources to engage with higher education providers and often lack information about how they can do so if they had the resources.

Some employers have limited engagement, for example, not attending careers fairs. Again there is a resource constraint about how much time they can devote to engaging the higher education providers.

A small number of large employers target particular universities and courses to obtain their annual graduate intake; focusing on particular universities because they lack the resources to do anything more than this. Some medium-sized employers, often in engineering, target local universities in order to obtain their graduate recruits.

Employer engagement is limited by the resource employers have available and they consequently tend to target their recruitment towards those activities that will bring the best return. This can result in some higher education providers engaging with a relatively narrow range of employers.

From the student side, there is a sense of frustration that, although they come into contact with employers, this is often facilitated through careers fairs. The fairs typically involve large, 'corporate' employers' from a relatively narrow range of sectors but students feel that the variety of employers with whom to engage is insufficiently wide, for example not including SMEs, local businesses, third sector, creative industries, and so on. As noted in section five, students are particularly keen to hear the practical advice employers have to give, especially where they are past students, about how to access a particular profession or sector and succeed in it.

There is, as noted in section four, a strong message from the stakeholder group that, if employers want to improve the work-readiness of student and graduates, then they need to become more engaged with higher education providers.

6.5 Providing information

Supplying information about potential graduate employers and different sectors of employment is an important element of overall employability provision by higher education providers. Often, initial contact with the careers service by students is related to finding out about graduate employment opportunities.

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Several employers mention the importance of students being knowledgeable about the job they have applied for and the business sector in which the employer operates. Employers say that too often student applicants failed to demonstrate this knowledge. This gap in the applicant's knowledge is readily apparent in either the application form or at an interview because the job applicant is not able to match their experiences and career aspirations to those that the employer expects from the typical applicant.

Some higher education providers mentioned that an important skill students need to acquire is that of being able to research the jobs market and obtain information relevant that will help them both to identify potential employers, and collate information that is relevant in any job application to those employers. Hence part of the service they offer is providing students with job search skills.

The role of the academic department within the higher education provider is important in thinking about how students' job search techniques could be improved. Hearing from people working in the same job that the student want to work in, or from teaching staff who have worked in that job before becoming lecturers, can be an important catalyst in this regard. This can encourage the student to research their career options more intensively. There are, however, some barriers to more being delivered at the departmental level as students want. It is certainly true that in some of the universities the central careers service is becoming more of a facilitator of student engagement in employability measures and/or a back-stop for ensuring that provision is available to all students. This is because the emphasis is on placing employability more at the departmental/course level. In some instances it is being incorporated into the curriculum. Embedding employability in the curriculum is not necessarily resisted, though examples were given of some lecturers being disinterested. The limited contact time between lecturer and student can make discussing how to research one's career options difficult to incorporate alongside everything that needs to be covered in the curriculum.

In the further education colleges and some of the specialist providers, there has been a longstanding approach of delivering employability within the curriculum, so this is less of a problem.

6.6 Assistance with job applications

In general, employers have developed rigorous recruitment processes. A graduate recruit is considered to be a substantial investment for the employer in two important respects: first, because of the amount of time the employer spends developing the skills of the successful recruit; and, second, because graduate recruits will work in parts of the business where potential harm could accrue to the employer's business and reputation if there is not a good fit between the employer and recruit.

Most employers have a multi-stage recruitment process, including online tests, verbal reasoning/maths, and so on, which are designed to filter out applicants at various points. New electronic systems are also in place in some organisations to make the recruitment process less time-consuming and costly, especially for those with large numbers of applicants. These include scenario-testing, in which applicants are asked to choose from various options provided. These assess applicants' characteristics and they receive an overall score based on 'fit' with the company. Related to this is the use of competency-based interviews where applicants are given a task to complete. Employers report that this is an effective means of ensuring that candidates often had the skills they claimed in their application form. An example of this is provided by the engineering employer below.

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Graduate recruiter of design engineers

The company employs 165 people. It produces components for the automotive industry and regularly recruits design engineers. The design process stretches from the initial design, to prototyping, to design for manufacture and then to manufacture. Graduate engineers are expected to be competent to work across the entire design process with most finding a niche in the process, eventually, in which they will specialise. At the interview, the student applicant is asked to say how they would design a standard component. There is a standard way of designing the component that any mechanical engineering student should know. The employer, however, is interested in whether someone can come up with a simpler or better way of doing this. The employer reported that this tends to separate out the better candidates. After the interview, applicants are a given a tour of the shop floor where they are expected to ask 'meaningful' of questions about the layout of the production process. This is an important part of the assessment process.

Some employers have assessment centres as the final stage in the process and rely heavily on these to identify the best candidates with a variety of skills. At these assessment centres, candidates are often asked to work in teams, solve problems, and report back, which allows the employer to gauge their potential. By the time an applicant has reached this stage of the process, qualification levels are not important, as those with poorer grades will have been filtered out much earlier in the process. It is worth noting that employers sometimes rely on A-level grades and academic performance throughout time spent in higher education in order to satisfy themselves that applicants demonstrate consistency in their academic achievement.

Given that the employers have long-established rigorous recruitment processes, and the fact that some sectors of employment face relatively high levels of competition to gain entry, employers are sometimes surprised at the poor quality of application from students. These included poor spelling and typographical errors in their application forms or CVs. There is also sometimes evidence of 'cutting and pasting' that results in the name of another employer being mistakenly included in the application. This usually results in the application failing at the first stage of the recruitment process.

It was also reported that there is a tendency for applicants to focus only on academic skills and not demonstrate the wider set of skills they possess. Employers point out that any successful applicant needs to demonstrate good generic skills development relating to, among other things, evidence of leadership, team working, IT proficiency. As noted in the earlier section, applicants need to be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the company and the job they are applying for,

There is also a need to personalise any application. Too often where CVs were required, they were standardised, whereas they really need to be tailored to the needs of the organisation and demonstrate why the individual is particularly suited to the company. Student applicants needed to be able to distinguish themselves from the competition.

From the employer perspective, higher education institutions need to improve students' interview skills so that the students acquire the capability to sell themselves to employers, show confidence and self-belief, and stand out from the mass of applications. This is largely recognised by higher education providers, with careers service professionals reporting that this is one of the most important employability services they provide.

Career service staff are concerned that students sometimes focus too much on their CV writing skills when they have would be better off working on how to complete an

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application form. Many employers, especially the larger graduate recruiters, require an application form to be completed in the first instance and use a variety of criteria to sift applications. Sometimes there is less help available to assist preparing to attend an assessment centre, just because resources are stretched in some institutions.

Students who make use of the careers service particularly valued the one-to-one help they receive with interview technique. They also report that this type of assistance is in great demand and that it is not always easy to book an appointment. Some students comment on being surprised at the rigorous online testing that sift applicants and the use employers make of competency-based interviews. Students reflect that it may have been preferable to have started their preparation for these types of test earlier. A recent graduate in social sciences who was looking to enter the financial services sector mentioned that he was surprised by the complexity of the online test graduate applicants are asked to complete at the pre-interview stage of the recruitment process. This student, and others who find online testing demanding, report that they could, with hindsight, have benefited from earlier engagement with their careers/employability service in order to obtain more assistance in helping them prepare for these tests.

6.7 Skills development

In some sectors, such as IT and engineering, the subject of the degree is important, but often it is generic skills in which the employer is most interested. Even where there is a need for the applicant to possess certain technical skills, these needed to be matched by a range of generic skills. The skills and attributes employers typically require of successful candidates are:

a good academic record

good communication skills, written and spoken, often linked to being 'customer-facing'

evidence of team-work, for example, sports, voluntary work, work experience

evidence of leadership potential

being able to work on one's own initiative. The emphasis on generic skills, was explained by one manufacturer with reference to their experience of finding that those with just good technical skills often turn into 'appalling managers'. It was not enough to hire scientists and engineers who want only to know about the technical aspects of the jobs. This employer wanted good communication skills as well saying that no matter how bright, they need to communicate very well because ultimately they would be filling managerial roles within the organisation. One accountancy firm said that self-management skills are important, and so they wanted to see evidence that candidates had taken responsibility for things. The employer said that applicants also needed a 'level of confidence' to put their own point of view across, but to take an interest in the views of others. This company favours applicants who are not 'wholly academics' as they tend to fare badly at the assessment stage of the recruitment process, but those who have a good balance of academic ability and well developed social skills. In a similar vein, a manufacturing employer said business acumen and decision-making abilities are particularly important and that it needs someone with pragmatic and realistic solutions in the real world.

An engineering company, summed up the ideal applicant as someone who can demonstrate a good academic record: they do not need four A Levels at grade A or a first, but they should have a 2:1 and be able to demonstrate that they have engaged in interesting activities while in higher education. They look for the individual who has that 'little bit extra', who can demonstrate experience of work or of having participated in societies, and who has an interest in engineering.

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In general the evidence is rather mixed regarding the extent to which employers are able to satisfy their skills' needs from their student applicants. For many employers there is no shortage of appointable candidates but, at the same time, there is not a substantial surplus of candidates from which to select. One employer said the most important thing was to start the recruitment process early. One medium sized engineering company commented that: 'I genuinely think if you start your recruitment process early, if you go to the right avenues, if you target your particular universities that focus on the disciplines that you are looking for, then I think there's people there.' A small financial services organisation said that it was able to recruit the person with the skills it sought, but tended to find that there would be only one suitable candidate and were therefore dependent on that person accepting the offer. The employer wondered if this was because some graduates were less attracted to working in SME.

In some technical areas, making an appointment is more difficult. This relates in many instances to the need to find someone who has the technical skills alongside the softer skills the employer requires. It is not sufficient to have one set of skills but not the other because recruits will be working in a complex organisation where they have to work with other technical staff and liaise with clients. The example of an engineering company is illustrative of this case (see panel).

Engineering company with a demand for mechanical engineers

The company takes on graduates every year in engineering. It finds it difficult to satisfy demand because there is a shortage of people with the skills the company wants from its graduate trainees: engineers with good technical and soft skills. There is a lot of competition for these graduates from other companies. The company has a preference for people who have an MEng. This is because they more quickly gain chartered accreditation from their professional body. The company will take BSc students but it takes them longer to complete their training.

There are a lot of applications every year. A lot of people have the technical skills the company wants, but they tend not to have the softer skills related to communication, team working and so on that the company considers essential. These generic skills do not have to be developed to a high level at the point of recruitment, but the applicant needs to demonstrate that they have worked in teams and liaised with clients.

The careers services clearly recognise the importance of students being able to demonstrate good generic skills but students need to understand that these skills take time to develop and cannot necessarily be obtained in the final few months of the final year in higher education. This tended to reinforce the view of employability managers that students need to seek career guidance and advice early, preferably at enrolment, and be continued over the entire course of study. Higher education providers develop substantial resources to equip students with a range of employability skills. This includes a central resource, the careers service, but increasingly provision is at the course/departmental level. The general direction is towards embedding employability skills within the curriculum. In the main the skills that are most commonly mentioned are:

IT/numeracy/literacy

leadership

communication/presentation skills

self-management/self-awareness. However, some further education colleges said that it is sometimes assumed that these skills are being delivered within courses, given the vocational orientation of the courses they

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offer, but perhaps more could be done to define more precisely the generic skills that students need to meet employer demand for skills.

It is also apparent that there is a wide range of innovation taking place, with regard to placing various services online, developing massive open online courses (MOOCs), and so forth, alongside more traditional services detailed in section five. Given the innovations that are taking place, and the need in some institutions to manage year-on-year reductions in their budget, there is a continuing interest to identify what works best. Respondents not only critically assess what they are undertaking in their own institutions but are also keen to learn from other ones as well.

For the students, the problems they face in developing the various skills described above is that of being made sufficiently aware early enough in the life of their courses to develop these skills. So long as access to developing these skills is located outside their department or course, there is less likelihood of them either not being aware of the need to develop these skills or, if aware, finding out too late to develop them. For the students, skills development needed to be embedded, seamlessly, into their courses.

6.8 Gaining work experience

Work experience for many employers improves applicants' chances of being appointed. For many employers it is not a requirement of employment to have work experience but at the very least it is desirable and could tip the balance between two appointable candidates. Work experience shows the employer that the applicant is likely to be knowledgeable about the demands of working in a business and have realistic expectations of what wages, career progression and continuing professional development and training the employer can offer.

Employers consider placements and internships to be particularly valuable. It gives the employer an insight into a student's abilities and, if they are sufficiently impressed with the intern, they may made them a permanent employee. The employers say that the timing of placements is important. It needs to be at a point where the student has enough knowledge of their subject to contribute something substantive in their placement.

It is also apparent that in some sectors, such as public relations and marketing, most applicants will be able to cite work experience gained through an internship or placement in their applications. The types of work/experience that employers offered is illustrated by the example below.

Internship in marketing in PR/marketing

The internship lasted three months and the aim was to expose the intern to as many different aspects of the business as possible. By and large the interns were not particularly productive but they allowed some activities to take place that would otherwise not have taken place. It was anticipated that by the end of the internship some valuable work would have been completed by the intern, and that the intern would be better placed to enter employment in the sector. The company saw the internships as an investment given that they sought to offer jobs to all those that they considered to have potential. All interns were graduates.

It was felt that they only way into marketing/PR nowadays was by completing an internship with a marketing/PR agency or the marketing department of a large company. If good candidates applied for an internship but the company was unable to offer a place, the company would suggest some other companies to contact. In this way the pool of good quality applicants from which future appointments could be made was strengthened.

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Competition to gain access to placements is strong. In many respects, the process of applying for placements can be as rigorous as applying for regular employment. The employers look for many of the same qualities as they do for permanent appointments. There are, however, organisations where the sole purpose is to offer work placements/ experience to graduates who are struggling to find employment. The general aim of these organisations is to take on graduates and place them with an employer for part of the week, for example, working as assistants in schools, and to spend time training and mentoring them over the remaining part of the week. In this way a variety of social/generic skills can be developed in the graduates. One of the organisations providing this type of employment service said it was not a job that they were supplying. The aim is to take people and equip them with the skills that employers seek so that by the end of the placement the graduates will be displaying all the behaviours that an employer reasonably expects of an employee.

In general, employers value all work experience, including unpaid work, for example, volunteering, or working while a student to cover living costs. Most of the employers who were interviewed offer some work experience, through internships, short placements, and so on, but this does not necessarily guarantee a future job as students still have to compete at the application stage, although they will have the advantage of knowing the values the company favours.

Higher education providers are well aware of the benefits work experience confer upon their students and have taken steps to ensure that opportunities are available for their students to gain work experience. At one post-1992 university, students are convinced that work placements have had a major impact on job outcomes. Those who had been on job placements, said that they were much more likely to obtain a graduate level job. As a consequence of a work placement their students were said to: '...walk differently, they present themselves differently, they take their degree much more seriously. I am ready for work. And that's amazing.' Another said: '...if people do a good one year work placement they are changed. They are employable. They grow up.' Again, it was mentioned that after completing a work placement students are thought to be more serious about their studies.

Those higher education providers that have a relatively long history of providing vocational courses say it is relatively straightforward to arrange work placements or internships. One institution situated in a labour market with relatively high levels of labour demand said that so many local employers had vacancies they could not fill they were keen to take on students in work placements. For this institution the problem was being able to fill the placements employers offered. 'Our difficulty in the key areas, business, building, IT in particular, getting all the vacancies filled, we want more students to go out.' Another institution targeted SMEs and again reported that it was relatively straightforward to arrange placements. 'Because we are focusing on the SME market, actually we find it relatively straightforward. Most small business owners are happy to take someone on.' It was noted that in some sectors, art and design for instance, because so many employers were sole traders, it can be difficult to place students.

Other institutions, often pre-1992 universities, take a different approach to work experience. They also recognise its value, but see it as the student's own responsibility in many instances to secure a placement or work experience. The careers service can provide support as needed about where to apply and how to apply, but it is down to the individual student to make contact with the employer and secure the placement.

At a departmental level the picture was mixed too. Some departments, such as business faculties/schools, are seen to have a degree of advantage because they already have well established links with employers and work experience is often embedded within their course structures. Other departments have few links with employers and are therefore not as well placed to facilitate work placements.

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Students recognise that work experience are important. They appreciate that it provides the type of experience that employers look for in their recruits. Many can point to a range of part-time jobs, sometimes wholly separate from their courses that allow them to demonstrate to an employer the benefits of work experience. Others point to the challenge of obtaining career-relevant work experience or placements. These can be difficult to find because competition between students is high and difficult to take up if they are unpaid.

6.9 Recording achievement

Most of the employers contacted had not heard of HEAR or if they had, do not see it as useful in the current round of recruitment. They felt that in the future it might have some use, but it would need to contain metrics that would allow the employer to differentiate between students and be a national scheme so that all potential applicants were able to present their record of achievement. Otherwise it would be potentially unfair to those candidates without the relevant certificate. Some employers think that a certificate which records non-academic achievements could be useful: it would give an applicant something to talk about at interview, assist with structuring how they present their achievements, and would allow the employer to further differentiate between applicants.

For those higher education providers offering employability awards, they are seen as a relatively straightforward means by which students can record their activities while studying and provide it as evidence to employers that they have undertaken activities aside from studying. There is a variety of activity regarding awards to recognise student achievement. Several organisations have developed their own awards or have developed e-portfolios, while others, if they have not done so already, are looking to introduce HEAR. The achievement record is considered important, especially so in those cases where the student may not have not obtained a work placement. There are some concerns about the cost of introducing schemes such as HEAR.

Some higher education providers were complimentary about the value of awards to the student body. For example, some of the comments received about e-portfolios and employability awards respectively included the following.

'When students make the effort to compile their e-portfolio they invariably say how useful it has been.'

'Student awards are always presented with great consideration given to employability and always feature the input and involvement of employers.'

There is also a wide range of extra-curricular activities that some universities provide, such as volunteering programmes and social entrepreneurship programmes that develop a wide range of skills. Higher education providers are keen to provide an award for these activities as they could be especially valuable in those situations where students cannot demonstrate work experience.

At one further education college it was reported that students are given the option at the beginning of term to design a programme of activities that will develop skill sets that employers demand. Peer pressure, the college reported, was important in persuading students to take this seriously. The college sought to instil in its students that it is not so much the degree that is important but the capacity to demonstrate to employers that they possess the skills the employer requires.

Where institutions do not provide awards, the main reasons are a lack of time, the cost attached to awards, and their perceived lack of relevance to the student population. It is also true that where higher education providers are not involved in recording achievement, they are aware that developments are anticipated that will lead them to invest in this over the next

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few years. In some of these institutions, there is a degree of uncertainty about what will be involved but a recognition that this will happen.

While higher education providers may be keen to certificate the achievements of their students, there is some evidence that employers may be confused by the range of employability awards available.48

It is apparent that students are not, for the most part, recording their achievements as they undertake various activities to persuade employers of their employability. When asked about the HEAR, there was concern that it might become a tick-box exercise by students who would engage in all the same types of activity to make sure their HEAR was completed to a given standard. So in the end, it would be difficult for them to use the HEAR to differentiate themselves at interviews with employers.

6.10 Assisting postgraduates

Employers do not differentiate between undergraduates and postgraduates. In general, they have their recruitment criteria and, so long as an applicant meets them, they are potentially appointable. Higher education providers, on the other hand, sometimes regard postgraduates as a group that can be particularly difficult to engage. This was because they are:

particularly focused on completing their degree and tend to delay finding a job until they have completed their studies. There is also a sense that they need to fully immerse themselves in the rigours of academic study if they are to obtain the most from their additional study

often focused on either continuing their studies, master's to doctorate, and finding an academic appointment.

Among postgraduate students there is an appreciation that academic job openings might not be available and there is, therefore, a need to acquire skills that will persuade employers outside of the academic environment that they are employable.

Some postgraduates recognise that they need to make the most of the contacts that are available to them, such as networking at conferences and developing professional networks. There is also a need to develop skills that will be relevant to a wider range of employers than universities and research institutes. One postgraduate said that if you are particularly set on pursuing an academic career, the careers services seems to regard itself as not particularly able to assist you. Other postgraduate students feel that the careers service is too much orientated towards the undergraduate experience in that it concentrates on developing skill sets that the postgraduate will already have acquired from their time as an undergraduate.

Postgraduate students want something that will help them sell to an employer the additional expertise and experience obtained in completing a master's or doctorate. For them, this was lacking in the current higher education employability offer.

48 Lowden, K, Hall, S, Eliot, D, and Lewin, J (2011) Employers' perceptions of the employability of skills of new graduates. Report to the Edge Foundation

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6.11 Conclusion

Employers say students make common mistakes in their applications that results in the them either not making it through the initial round of sifting, or not being able to convince the employer at interview that they should be appointed. At the initial application stage these related to:

poorly prepared applications, including spelling mistakes and grammatical inaccuracies

evidence of copying and pasting from other application forms, such as including the name of the other company rather than the one to which the student is applying

poorly constructed CVs, where these are required, that contain too much irrelevant information or make unrealistic or excessive claims

a covering letter that gives little evidence why the student is applying for the job. At the later stages of the interview process, the applicants sometimes fail because they:

do not possess the particular skill sets the employer requires as outlined above

cannot demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the company they are applying to

cannot demonstrate why they want to pursue their chosen profession

cannot back up the claims made in their application form or CV

cannot successfully complete a competency based task at the interview. Employers said they appreciated that students, especially in their final year, cannot tailor in detail every application to the needs of a particular employer, but the types of mistakes outlined above could be easily avoided.

Looking to how employability provision could be improved, students are clear in their requirements.

More work experience organised through the departments.

More one-to-one time with tutors/careers staff to discuss careers/employability

Courses to prepare students for the types of competency test they will face when applying for many graduate jobs.

Encouragement to think about careers and employability early on in their studies. There was recognition that it is too late to start thinking and looking in the second half of their third year but this is when many do so.

Department-specific workshops and talks.

More information and careers events focused on relevant careers outside what is seen as the corporate sector (that is, large milk-round employers) with more information on gaining employment with SMEs, local firms, the third sector, and so on.

Employers report that they have been able to recruit the graduates with the qualities they wanted. As reported in Chapter 2, surveys demonstrate that employers generally think the people they recruit direct from higher education institutions are well prepared for work. In this sense, there is no problem. Higher education providers tend to point to the fact that most of their students are in employment six months after graduation and this indicates that they are able to provide their students with the skills that employers look for. Nevertheless, there is recognition that there is always a need to do more. In many respects, the institutions market themselves on their ability to get their students into well paid jobs of a type that demonstrates the investment in higher education is worthwhile and more worthwhile than making that investment somewhere else. It is important therefore that employability measures continue to develop and move with changes in the graduate labour market.

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It is apparent, however, that the main obstacle to the more effective delivery of employability is persuading more students to take up the opportunities offered. If careers services can engage students, preferably at an early stage, then students will have scope to improve various aspects of their approach to finding the type of career they want. The main problem is engaging them in the first instance. This emphasises the importance of embedding employability within courses. In this way the student cannot so readily avoid the issue of employability. The evidence points to departments and courses being successfully engaged in employability, but the willingness of some departments to become engaged varies. One careers adviser said that some departments see it as an 'irritant'. There is also resistance from some academics who see employability as something separate from the courses they teach. Others, however, are said to embrace it and are less precious about the distinction between what counts as employability and academia. On the whole, careers advisers point to the success of embedding work-related activities into courses.

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7 Conclusion and Recommendations

Employers interviewed as part of this study revealed how demanding they are about the qualities that they look for in recruits to their business. The strong message from employers is that technical/academic accomplishments are insufficient in themselves. Even for those jobs where a specific degree is required to gain entry, a high level of technical ability, in itself, would be unlikely to secure a person the job. Employers want a range of generic or soft skills that they consider essential if anyone they appoint is to perform successfully within their organisation. Without the range of generic skills that the employer looks for, it is unlikely that a person would be appointed. The employer is likely to forgo recruiting if they cannot find a close fit with their person specification for any vacancy.

Employers say that for the most part they are able to fill their graduate entry-level vacancies, although this is less true in sectors such as engineering where the demand is for technical skills allied to a range of generic ones. There is other evidence that around 5 per cent of entry-level graduate jobs remain unfilled because employers cannot find the right candidate. It is apparent that many employers are inundated with applications for the graduate jobs they have on offer but that they discard many of these at fairly early stage of the recruitment process because student/graduate applicants fail to meet their selection criteria. Sometimes this is due to easily remediable errors made by students, such as typographical errors and inserting the name of the wrong company in the letter of application. In other cases, it relates more to substantial issues, such as:

not having sufficient knowledge of the job or company they are applying to

not possessing the range of soft skills that the employer requires

not being able to demonstrate a sufficiently interesting record of achievement while in higher education.

In summary, many student/graduate applicants are, from the employer's perspective, unable to make themselves stand out from the crowd in what remains a highly competitive graduate jobs market, and especially so for the traditional graduate jobs.

The question becomes one of how can this be remedied by higher education providers and students, and how can the employer can contribute to the employability of students. It is apparent that higher education providers have a substantial employability offer. The survey of higher education providers demonstrates that there is a wide range of provision across a number of different activities, including providing information about graduate vacancies, help in making applications, assistance with interview and assessment centre technique, and help to find work placements/work experience. The problem careers services face is that of being able to persuade a large enough proportion of the student body to participate in employability activities early enough. The careers services' best estimate of the extent to which their services are used suggests they are communicating with around a half of their student population.

It is not for lack of effort that take-up of employability services remains modest. Careers services report that they have made considerable efforts to persuade more of the student body to make use of the employability services that are easily available. This includes prompting students when they enrol/re-enrol on their courses, and persuading lecturers to encourage students to consider their employability. The evidence from the students is that they have an appetite for acquiring the skills and attributes that will ultimately get them the type of job they want, but there are barriers they face in doing so, including:

not always having a clear idea of what they want to do on leaving higher education, which may dampen their enthusiasm for using the careers service

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tending to concentrate on their courses to the exclusion of thinking about what they may want to do when they leave higher education. Accordingly, they approach employability relatively late.

This risk is that of bringing about a poor outcome for both student and employer: the student is not readily gaining access to those jobs that may make best use of their skills; and the employer is denied the talents that are likely to be of value to their business.

Some students report that there are some features of the employability offer that dissuade them from pursuing it further. There was reported to be sometimes in some higher education providers a focus on large traditional graduate recruiters whereas some students were sometimes interested in working in SMEs or in sectors outside those represented by the traditional graduate recruiters. Additionally, the type of service they prefer, typically one-to-one assistance from advisers, is not always easy to access because of the demand for these services.

It is also apparent that some employers have relatively limited engagement with higher education providers. It was evident in the discussions with students that they were particularly keen to hear from employers about how to get into a profession or sector of employment and how to succeed in it. Messages conveyed by employers appeared to carry much weight with students and so there is a need for employers to become more involved with higher education providers. This is required at a course level since this is the best way to ensure that the students will hear the message.

In general, however, all three parties were in agreement. Employers want applicants with a certain set of skills and attributes; students wanted to acquire these skills, and the careers services work long and hard to ensure that the students acquire them and can demonstrate to would-be employers that they have these skills. The question becomes one of trying to identify how the current system can be modified to bring about more effective provision.

A number of recommendations have potential to improve the provision of employability services within higher education institutions as outlined below.

Delivery

The distinction between what is delivered at a central level and at a departmental level is to some extent an artificial one. There is evidence that what is delivered through a department is more likely to be taken up by students. Take-up can potentially be encouraged by students' tutors where the department is involved in the delivery of employability.

Engagement

There is a pressing issue of how to ensure that students and graduates are suitably engaged in acquiring the skills they need to successfully enter the labour market. A possibly large amount of students are reluctant for one reason or another to engage with the careers service, or who are not willing to do so until it may be too late. Embedding this within the curriculum appears to be an effective means of achieving engagement.

Essential skills

If employability is to be embedded within the curriculum, or within departments, there needs to be clarity about the essential skills required. This may vary by course or department. Rather than every institution acting independently, there is scope for concerted action to identify the constituent essentials of employability provision that would be applicable across institutions. This would then at least form part of a core resource for higher education providers.

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Career guidance

The process of obtaining career guidance and support needs to start early. Among higher education providers, there is an emphasis on beginning the process at the start of year one. Preferably, students will have been suitably advised before they enter higher education so that they know what they need to do, other than passing their course, if they are to succeed in the labour market. There is scope for looking into mechanisms that encourage the student to consider how they might develop their employability skills at key points in their path through higher education.

Identifying insufficient engagement

Given the difficulties that higher education providers have in persuading students to engage with their employability services, there may well be a need to develop some kind of early warning system that identifies students, and the departments in which they study, who may not be sufficiently engaging with a provider's employability services.

Work experience

Obtaining work experience is seen as of critical importance in finding work relatively successfully. It both contributes to assuring the employer that the student's expectations of work are suitably grounded; and indicates that the student is suitably motivated. It would be easy to recommend that students and higher education providers should engage more strongly in work experience, but this is dependent on employers being willing to supply the placements.

Recording activities

The student experience in higher education, especially in universities, has become more diverse with a wide range of activities now open to many students. Higher education providers have responded to some extent by introducing awards and e-portfolios that record these activities and which can be given to employers as evidence of time well spent while studying. Employers are largely unaware of these awards, and students mentioned that they do not record their activities while in higher education. Despite some participants in the study making negative comments about the potential use of, for instance, the HEAR, there could still be some mileage in students recording their achievements and using it to structure their applications to employers.

Commitment by employers

It is clear that who delivers the message about acquiring various skills is important. Students find it particularly rewarding to listen either to those who have studied the same course as they have and subsequently succeeded in the labour market, or to employers working in occupations and sectors in which the students would like to be employed. In this way, students can learn, first-hand, how to succeed. However, this requires a commitment by employers - not just the traditional graduate recruiters - to contribute to this process.

Common skills

Given that many students are unsure of what job they would like to do eventually, there is a need to convince them that their higher education experience will grant them access to a wide range of occupations. At the same time there is a need to persuade students that no matter what career choice they eventually make, there is a common set of generic skills that they will need to acquire if they are to succeed in that choice.

Participation

If employers are concerned about the quality of applicants and their capacity to fulfil their graduate recruitment needs, they need to engage more with higher education providers. The evidence in this report suggests that the standard graduate recruiter engages more than others. There perhaps needs to be more emphasis on persuading non-standard graduate recruiters to participate and this may be achieved via careers' fairs and similar events.

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Annex: Organisations Consulted

A variety of organisations was consulted as part of the study. Those that were willing to be named as having been consulted are listed below.

Representative organisations Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) The Higher Education Academy Universities UK GuildHE ASET, the Work Based and Placement Learning Association King's College London BIS Association of Colleges (AoC) Confederation of British Industry (CBI) National Union of Students (NUS) Selected employers consulted White Light Ltd The Gwyn George Partnership Grieg Seafood Hjaltland UK Ltd Fresenius Medical Care UK Ltd Hanover Communications Ltd Mott MacDonald Pailton Engineering Ltd City Year UK Birmingham Big Cat Group Hill Hoffstetter Ltd HAT Group of Accountants Jaguar Land Rover Selected higher education institutions consulted University of Brighton University of Reading London South Bank University University of Portsmouth The University of West London Derby College Solihull College Birmingham Metropolitan College Merseyside, Cheshire & Greater Manchester Teacher Training Consortium Wakefield College De Montfort University University of Gloucestershire The University of Warwick The University of Sheffield

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