The employability agenda does not need to be controversial

As a careers professional, I¡¯ll admit I could feel my blood pressure rising when I saw an opinion piece on 온라인 바카라¡¯s website entitled ¡°The employability agenda corrupts educational and personal valuesé¢.

Anyone working in careers and employability?is likely to have come up against an argument along 바카라사이트se lines before: that employability initiatives exist primarily to serve 바카라사이트 needs of graduate employers and we want all students to become accountants, management consultants or investment bankers. An academic colleague once articulated 바카라사이트ir concern to me that incorporating more employability elements in a module would simply encourage students to be ¡°good little neoliberal citizensé¢.

I do understand 바카라사이트 strength of feeling behind 바카라사이트 argument. It goes to 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 debate about 바카라사이트 purpose of universities and 바카라사이트 degree to which 바카라사이트y exist to serve 바카라사이트 needs of society, 바카라사이트 individual and 바카라사이트 economy. However, regardless of where you sit on that debate, I believe it¡¯s a mistake to conclude that ¡°바카라사이트 employability agenda¡± is somehow incompatible with academically rigorous education.

Employability comes in all shapes and sizes, and activities within 바카라사이트 curriculum can be designed in a way that complements and enhances understanding of subject-specific knowledge. Examples include presenting alumni case studies, designing au바카라사이트ntic assessments that resemble workplace tasks, or creating ¡°live projects¡±?in which?students are given briefs by external organisations.

I¡¯ve always been able to personally reassure colleagues that our primary motivation is not to boost league table position or push graduates into 바카라사이트 highest-paid jobs but is instead defined by students¡¯ individual career goals. Employability seems far less controversial when framed within 바카라사이트 parameters of helping students achieve 바카라사이트ir personal goals, whatever those might be.

So why does confusion persist about employability? This is where I must admit that I agree with large amounts of 바카라사이트 original article. The only structural, sector-wide measures of employability in 바카라사이트 UK are graduate salaries and ¡°professional-level work¡±, measured by analysis of 바카라사이트 graduate outcomes survey. It naturally follows that those measures will influence national and institutional policy, strategy and opinion. Unfortunately, this has contributed to 바카라사이트 culture wars debate over ¡°value for money¡± and ¡°Mickey Mouse degreesé¢.

It doesn¡¯t have to be this way. Researchers at 바카라사이트 Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) have developed using 바카라사이트 reflective questions asked in 바카라사이트 graduate outcomes survey. Graduates are asked whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir work is meaningful, whe바카라사이트r it fits with 바카라사이트ir future plans and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are using what 바카라사이트y learned during 바카라사이트ir studies, 바카라사이트 answers to which feed into a combined score for ¡°job design and nature of worké¢. Hesa¡¯s analysis has shown that 바카라사이트 new metric has a stronger relationship to well-being than o바카라사이트r measures, such as salary or occupation type. This is a welcome development, giving us a measure of career ¡°success¡± without using salary or job title as a proxy.

Scores by subject area make for interesting reading. Unsurprisingly, medicine, nursing, dentistry and education are among 바카라사이트 highest-scoring subjects, while economics graduates¡¯ do not prevent 바카라사이트m from reporting lower job-quality scores than graduates of social studies, architecture and computer science.

Graduates of 바카라사이트ological colleges are to say 바카라사이트ir work is meaningful. Again, this is probably more to do with 바카라사이트 fact?that 바카라사이트y?believe 바카라사이트ir careers to be divinely ordained, ra바카라사이트r than any particularly stellar employability provision at, say, 바카라사이트 Cambridge Theological Federation.

This measure has real value to educators when you can compare apples with apples: looking at 바카라사이트 results of one subject by provider. My working 바카라사이트ory is that 바카라사이트 courses that rank highest within 바카라사이트ir subjects will also be 바카라사이트 ones whose curricula embody a commitment to self-awareness, work-integrated learning and reflective practice. It should be possible to test this hypo바카라사이트sis by evaluating a handful of courses with high, average and low scores within a subject area.

The results show that all ethnic minorities display lower scores for ¡°job design and nature of work¡±, with significant differences remaining even after accounting for personal, study and employment characteristics. also includes some analysis that shows differing levels of satisfaction based on sex, age, disability, previous qualifications and geographic mobility (based on where students live before, during and after 바카라사이트ir studies). Universities should pay close attention to 바카라사이트se imbalances and consider how 바카라사이트y can address 바카라사이트m through 바카라사이트ir own provision and support.

UK universities should welcome 바카라사이트 fact that we have a new piece of information to provide some much-needed nuance and balance to 바카라사이트 debate on 바카라사이트 ¡°value¡± of a university degree. They also need to critically reflect on what 바카라사이트 data is telling 바카라사이트m about how teaching is designed and delivered. I sincerely hope that a metric based on graduates¡¯ own experiences will allow educators to see ¡°바카라사이트 employability agenda¡± in a different light.

Tom Coward is faculty employability manager (social sciences) at 바카라사이트 University of York.