Student Skills and Professional Development Interns Kaitlin and Alessandro have added a student perspective to the work of the Student Skills Workstream. The student-led nature of this research adds value to the existing Student Engagement Project, creating a bridge between students and the initiatives planned to improve student skills and employability. The Student Engagement Project team consists of members of the Student Skills workstream, the workstream interns and representatives from the SRC

Using our perspectives and experiences of studying, we worked with staff and SRC representatives on the workstream and beyond to discuss the skills and employability framework already in place, as well as plans for the future. These discussions centred on the awareness of existing student skills opportunities as well as areas we feel could be better supported.

Our perspective has been shaped by research into other universities and observing processes at UofG, learning from skills programs, student onboarding processes, and embedding employability skills into the curriculum.

Alongside this, we helped to lead two student panels, aiming to learn more about the main barriers students face to accessing skills development opportunities and the careers service, and their experience with it so far. Key findings were that financial barriers, lack of awareness of opportunities on offer, and lack of time were the biggest barriers, and there seemed to be a consensus that aside from teamwork and practical skills, skills were not highlighted in their course of study.

Finally, we narrowed our research into draft proposals, which include engaging students from pre-entry through to graduation, improving marketing for the diverse and time poor student body, and further embedding employability into the curriculum.

Our next step in the internship is to start implementing our proposals from this research during next semester and help with building an identity for the Student Skills and Professional Development workstream.

 

First published: 11 December 2024

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