Creating futureproof graduates
Employability is a key focus in higher education today. We all want to help our students to future-proof themselves, enabling them to be competitive and successful in their future careers.
Birmingham City University has created a unique toolkit of resources proven to help with this process. They help you to develop a number of key skills which aren't always addressed in the curriculum, but which employers tell us are needed and give students the ‘edge' in the marketplace.
The resources are very flexibly designed to be embedded within your curriculum, adapted and refined to suit your disciplines or to provide inspiration for your own teaching materials.
How we know the resources work
We developed these resources through the project ‘Creating Future Proof Graduates: Transformative Learning Through Critical Incidents' which began in July 2007. The project was completed in December 2009, funded via the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme of the Higher Education Academy.
Working in partnership with employers, students and other colleagues, we designed, created and tested resources which help students identify and prepare for critical incidents which, according to employers, epitomise the major problems that newly qualified graduates encounter when they start work in the ‘real world'.
We engaged in a continuous process of research, evaluation and reflection throughout the project and we continue to welcome feedback and news of your own adaptations or innovative uses of the resources. Findings from all of our research can be found in the Evidence section.
Mary Carswell, Pro Vice Chancellor (Learning & Teaching) at Birmingham City University says:
'this excellent project is making a real difference to our ability to help our students develop those skills and attributes which are often overlooked but are absolutely essential in employment. The availability of these resources to the wider higher education community means that their impact is far reaching.'