Yes, sessions for alumni are offered throughout the year (approximately once every two months).
The Student Transitions and Employability team engages with Alumni to provide graduate workshops on various topics, such as LinkedIn, as well as leading the Alumni Mentoring Program and Skilled Volunteering Experience. There is engagement with the Graduate Research School (GRS) through the development of ResearchHub and workshops on employability topics relative to the GRS audience. The Student Transitions and Employability (ST&E) team engage with Alumni to provide graduate workshops on various topics, such as LinkedIn. The Alumni newsletter promotes STE events and the workshops delivered specifically to Alumni.
Alumni funded the creation of the following videos with the ST&E team providing the content:
• What advice do you wish someone gave you at the beginning of your career? https://youtu.be/hSQHRevohG4
• Where did your big break come from? https://youtu.be/endpm8y0jNI
• How do you keep yourself marketable? https://youtu.be/ZDNct8paNLE
• What type of unpaid work experience or volunteer work would you recommend for your field? https://youtu.be/3EpwiYhni5M
• What does it take to be successful in your field? https://youtu.be/SG6rfYMmNgg
• How do you take your career to the next level? https://youtu.be/_1Nnj0f3Gdg
Capstone Courses. Capstone courses are mandated in the undergraduate curriculum by the Academic Plan, with all undergraduate programs containing at least one capstone course. Capstones are focused on the application of the knowledge, skills and learning experiences that students have accumulated during their degrees. Griffith capstone models listed in the Academic Plan include: industry placement, professional practice, a research project, an international study experience, or an innovation project.
There are a total of 153 courses flagged as ‘capstone’ in undergraduate programs across the University, in which there were 9,778 enrolments in 2018, suggesting strong integration of capstone learning into programs and the student experience. Global Mobility. Griffith has seen significant growth in short-term global mobility experiences such as the New Colombo Plan (vs traditional trimester-long ‘exchange’, also offered to Griffith students), which can be an opportunity for students to apply and make sense of capabilities they have learned during their programs, along with further development of global and cultural capabilities (Graduate Attribute 5) https://www.griffith.edu.au/international/global-mobility
The New Colombo Plan supports Australian undergraduate students to participate in semester-based or short-term study, internships, mentorships, practicums and research in 40 host locations across the Indo-Pacific region. Industry, community and alumni engagement. At Griffith, the responsibility for industry engagement for learning and teaching is shared across multiple portfolios.
The DVC-Engagement has employed an Academic Director of Industry Partnerships, who works with high value ‘super clients’ across research, teaching and engagement portfolios. One high profile example of the success of this approach was the Commonwealth Games internship program, where 250 students from programs across the University completed short internships with GOLDOC.
The Griffith Industry Mentoring Program connects Griffith students with industry professionals who provide mentoring in-person and/or online. With more than 1000 industry mentors are signed on, the program aims to create mentoring relationships that enable students to overcome barriers to industry engagement. Griffith’s alumni are important sub-group of industry representatives who play multiple roles towards the achievement of Griffith’s graduate employability ambitions. There is often a ‘desire to give back’ among alumni who have had a positive experience of the university, beyond donations and cash contributions.
Some of the ways alumni contribute to employability include: consultation and collaboration on curriculum development; direct teaching of CDL or other employability learning in curriculum or co-curriculum, for example, by sharing their stories of career transition out trajectories; mentoring and coaching students; employing other Griffith graduates; and championing industry engagement with Griffith e.g., by promoting WIL in their workplaces. Co-curricular activities and Employability Awards. Griffith offers a very wide variety of co- and extra-curricular activities to students, ranging from Unitemps, a recruitment service which offers paid work opportunities to students with Griffith and other employers, to participation in clubs and societies, competitions, participation in leadership opportunities such as Griffith Mates, and volunteering schemes.
Unitemps has proven particularly successful at Griffith, with nearly 1,200 students placed from January to September 2018. Griffith has two well-developed Group-based employability award schemes (Business Plus and Sciences Plus). These schemes aim to recognise co- and extra-curricular employability learning and they also recognise employability learning inside the curriculum. Both Group-based Plus programs started outside the curriculum, offering learning activities and resources to support student employability development. Sciences Plus offerings are now starting to be used inside the curricula of some programs.
There is also a pilot underway for a University-level employability award scheme (Griffith Graduates of Influence - GGoI), with a University-wide roll out scheduled for 2019. The Academic Plan states that Griffith will “allow students to maintain a personal record of achievement of graduate attributes, including through extracurricular activities such as part-time employment, volunteering and sport participation. Griffith will develop a credentialing framework to formally recognise students’ acquisition of its Graduate Attributes through the ePortfolio” (p.10). GGoI is intended to provide a consistent underlying framework and process for this, with enough flexibility for each Group to reward relevant, discipline-specific activities in which students are engaged. Students can be awarded silver, gold or platinum status, depending on their levels of engagement. Innovation and entrepreneurship.
Innovation and entrepreneurship learning is promoted strongly at Griffith, with a corresponding graduate attribute (GA3: innovative, creative and entrepreneurial), and top-level support in strategy. The Academic Plan indicates that Griffith will, “increase opportunities for students to participate in courses and activities to develop the enterprise skills to be innovators and entrepreneurs”, with a target that, “by 2020, 70% of students will participate in an entrepreneurship course or extra-curricular activity”. Course profile analysis shows that at present, 26 of 2912 Griffith courses contain entrepreneurship keywords in their long descriptions, and 2883 students enrolled in these courses in 2018. The Griffith innovation and entrepreneurship page https://www.griffith.edu.au/innovation-and-entrepreneurship describes an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that comprises interconnected innovation, knowledge exchange and entrepreneurship activities undertaken by students, staff, alumni, industry and community partners, and the government. University flagship innovation and entrepreneurship courses include 2043MKT Entrepreneurship and New Business Ventures, and 3031IBA Lean Launchpad, both of which are available as electives to students across the university. Platforms such as “Lean Launchpad” will also be adopted to structure a capstone-type experience that focuses on developing students’ entrepreneurial skills in cross-disciplinary teams. There is also a social entrepreneurship stream in the 3002LFC community internship course; and a major in entrepreneurship is offered by the Business School. Outside the curriculum, major initiatives include the 3-Day Startup program, ODS Hackathon, GovHack, Global Business Challenge, Impact Social Enterprise Conference, and Enactus
It should be noted that the interpretation of this question was challenging in terms of formulating a response. However, if we accept that process is interpreted as forming part of or supporting delivery of an activity, then we feel the following examples may be relevant.
Global Leadership Entry Program (GLEP) The GLEP program is one Macquarie’s most successful entry programs. Students who meet academic and leadership/service eligibility criteria can apply for early entry to Macquarie courses via GLEP. Students through this pathway get to participate in Global Leadership Program activities, including specialised workshops and speaker events – run by experts in their field – on topics such as leadership and global challenges, among other benefits. Part of a suite of deliberate Macquarie pathway offerings, the GLEP program is embedded in admissions processes.
Student representation Student representation is embedded throughout University governance policy and procedure (and related processes) inclusive of: The Student Representative Committee, Student representation on the University’s Council, Academic Senate (and its subcommittees), Student Groups, PAL and PASS leaders. In 2018, Macquarie’s AHEGS policy was updated to recognise students who participate in these activities in recognition of their role in enhancing employability.
Grants Several learning and teaching grants have been awarded to support curriculum and program development to better educate and prepare students in terms of employability. For example, acknowledging a need for digital and transportable learning to enable transition into the workforce, learning and teaching pilots exploring options for the presentation of learning through e-portfolios have been supported by internal grants. Internal grant funding awarded from 2016 brought Faculties together to investigate and develop various digital learning spaces where students were able to make connections between what is being taught and their current / future employability.
The Faculty of Human Sciences introduced this concept in first year units, whilst the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences introduced the digital tools in the Bachelor of Clinical Science program. Evaluation upon completion of the internal grant funding was positive. The Faculty of Human Sciences has expanded the learnings from this grant and have now commenced to remodel two other first year units. The Bachelor of Clinical Science continues to embed an e-portfolio across second- and third-year units, with the aim to have all students mapping their capabilities.
Ad hoc engagement with alumni occurs across the institution, including in discipline by academic staff, by the Careers Service for a range of activities and events, and more recently by the Murdoch Guild who are implementing an industry mentoring program available to all students with a network of over 220 alumni registered as mentors.
The University recently opened a new space called the Launchpad, which is aimed at fostering innovation and entrepreneurship at the university. The space hosts regular events with industry involvement, provides access to space and equipment such as a 3D printer for students, staff and industry, and hosts an entrepreneur in residence four days a week.
Some other initiatives that may fit in this category are listed in the ‘Areas of Good Practice’ section at the end of the self-review.
SAE is currently in the process of implementing a new business function which deals specifically with employability and careers services. This initiative supplements those already described in this report by adding; Specific learning outcomes that deal with Creative Media Start-up and Entrepreneurship Enabling SAE Alumni to continue to access SAE services, particularly those relating to employability, employment and creative media start-up post graduation.
Alumni can access C&E support up to 2 years after graduation (free).
• Annual Alumni of the Year Awards event is used to source guests for panel presentations (e.g. Inspirational Women 2018), short videos and media interviews to share information on career paths with current and prospective students. • Equity and Diversity coordinate UniBound outreach programs to regional primary schools and high school students (up to years 9/10) to foster university and career aspirations for low SES and targeted equity groups.
• AIME - provided with office space and support for staff at Gold Coast, Coffs Harbour and Lismore campuses to also support career and education aspirations for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander high school students.
• Alumni strategy addresses this issue through mentoring and placements
• Careers and Employability coordinate the Bright Futures Alumni Mentoring Program 2-3 times each year (Graduates are matched with current students for 1 session, 2-3 times per year).
• SBaT, Education, OT, SLJ, ESE and other Schools run Industry panels in classes
• SLJ assist to link SCU staff with suitable alumni for Bright Futures program
• Grads contact Schools or Live Ideas to offer internship and employment opportunities
• OT and other Schools Engage with alumni through Facebook webpage and Post job ads.
• Student Leadership and Volunteering programs are currently under review by DVC (Students) to streamline processes, training and recognition.
• SCU College have students provide Testimonials of their experience in the College, which is used on the College website and in marketing resources. Students who have graduated from SCU College programs also speak at Orientation and other university-wide marketing events (e.g. Information days; Open Day).
• The Southern Cross Enterprise Lab, designed to activate future entrepreneurs – based in Lismore and partners with Sydney School of Entrepreneurship - supports students to develop entrepreneurial employability skills.
• The Digital Enterprise Lab, Gold Coast, is a hub for research, experimentation and educational focus on digital technology-driven innovations and supports students to develop entrepreneurial employability skills.
Swinburne’s Advancement Office continues to develop a program of alumni activities which increase engagement with graduates in ways that are relevant to them and to the university. The Alumni Mentoring Program has connected graduates with students with the intention of supporting students through their programs and consider career options. This program will be reinvigorated in 2019 to address key areas of student need. The Young Alumni program specifically focuses on career development for graduates under age 35, with workshops, webinars and events with industry/alumni presenters.
In each of the University Faculties each course discipline has an established Course Advisory Committee. The Course Advisory Committee is a sub-committee whose membership is made up of external industry members along with a small number of academic staff and advises the Academic Senate on issues in relation to the accreditation of courses . The Committee is embedded as part of our accreditation process with a report included in the final documentation submitted for approval. The academic teams maintain and expand the industry link ensuring employability outcomes are at the forefront of new courses, units and major/minor development along with market trends and the ability to utilise the industry members for mentoring or guest speaker roles as part of the delivery.
UNSW has a number of mentoring programs which match current students with alumni:
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences • Career Ready Mentoring Program
Faculty of Built Environment: • Career Ready Mentoring Program
Business School: • Career Mentoring Program • Mentor Connect • Alumni Leaders Mentoring
In addition to embedded employability learning in the curriculum UQ provides a range of extra-curricular initiatives which contribute to student employability development.
UQ has a dynamic and growing entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem including: - UQ Ideahub - providing students with the skills and knowledge to create a startup. - UQ Start-up Academy - helping entrepreneurs to find the right business model, and validate the fit between market needs and their ideas. - UQ Ilab - supporting entrepreneurs through the early stage of business development and offering seed funding to scale their business. - UniQuest - helping UQ researchers protect and commercialise their research.
There has been substantial commitment by the university to encourage global mobility and UQ offers students the opportunity to study abroad for 1 or 2 semesters on exchange or to participate in shorter term mobility experiences during the summer or winter vacation breaks. Returning students have access to employability workshops to identify their development through this life-changing experience. Student Strategy funding has enabled the appointment of a Global Internship Coordinator within the Student Employability Centre, as well as grants to support students embarking on global experiences.
Students are encouraged to Volunteer with not-for-profit and charity organisations and also internally within the University. This includes peer mentoring opportunities and student leader positions. Participation in this kind of activity counts towards the 100 hours of volunteering for the UQ Employability Award.
The Summer and Winter Research Programs provide students with opportunities to engage in research during the university holiday periods. There has been substantial uptake in these programs with around 500 students engaging in both 2016, and 2017 and more than 600 so far in 2018. Once again, all research scholars have access to employability workshops at the conclusion of the program.
In 2017 UQ piloted several Students as Partners projects with great success and in 2018 the Student Staff Partnership initiative was fully operationalised through Student Strategy funding. This year over 330 student partners worked with staff on projects across the university, and these numbers will continue to grow over the next few years with projected targets of 600 in 2019 and 800 in 2020. As with global experiences, all student partners have access to employability development workshops as part of this initiative.
Several Career Mentoring Programs have been established within Schools and Faculties to facilitate connections between students and industry professionals. The most successful of which is the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law Career Mentoring Program which currently facilitates over 250 mentor/mentee partnerships per year.
USQ offer free career development and employability support to Alumni 12 months post-graduation via the Careers & Employability team
USQ C&E team offers professional resume review and employment seeking skill support for Alumni 12 months post-graduation and current USQ students
USQ offers a career outreach project for pre-access to higher education support through the Making Career Choices project: Making Career Choices (career outreach): https://www.ncsehe.edu.au/the-university-of-southern-queensland-making-career-choices/
The USQ Ignition Project “ developing the entrepreneurial mindset as a key employability capability through Careers & Employability team: USQ Ignition Project: https://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/career-development/student-professional-development/entrepreneurship
The USQ Phoenix Award through Student Life (Phoenix Central): Phoenix Award: https://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/life/leadership/usq-phoenix-award
USQ Leadership Program through Student Life (Phoenix Central): Student leadership: https://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/life/leadership
USQ provides access to professional development and networking opportunities for alumnus: Alumni website: https://www.usq.edu.au/alumni/career-services
USQ provides HDR students pitching support to develop research pitching training: Undertake pitch training to sell yourself and your research - https://www.usq.edu.au/research/events/research-week/pitch-club
The College of Arts, Law and Education, for example, has a dedicated website for Placements and Internships, and the College of Business and Economics for its Corporate Internships Program. Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities provide students with additional opportunities for participation in WIL. The Vice-Chancellor’s Leadership Program, for example, provides opportunities for leadership development through volunteering, industry and research experience.
Since mid-2016 it has recognised the WIL and experiential learning activities undertaken by more than 300 students. The program has also been nationally and internationally benchmarked, performing to a very high degree which has led to the University being asked to submit it for a national employability award in 2018. The academic unit, XBR110 - Discover your potential: Leadership, Service and Employability which is part of the program is now a curriculum Breadth Unit and has consistently ranked in the top eVALUate scores as measured by student surveys.
Yes for Alumni and Student Guild.
UWA’s Alumni supports recent graduates with Career Cafe for Recent Graduates as part of the Perth Festival (Feb-Mar 2019). This gives Alumni the opportunity to share their career story and industry knowledge with recent graduates. Alumni also provides postgraduates to join a panel in Orientation Week to support knowledge sharing of best practice and networking with those recently enrolled in Postgraduate studies.
Alumni also provide ongoing mentoring opportunities through Career Mentor Link where mentors can support students in one-on-one mentoring on industry perspective through their studies, and supporting their transition into the workplace.
Alumni also have other mentoring programmes, including Ignite Mentoring - mentoring in developing leadership, teamwork and confidence in low socioeconomic high schools, and Women in Engineering - a joint initiative between UWA Careers Centre and the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. This initiative is designed to support female students in Engineering, to be mentored by women working in engineering.
Alumni also hold the Young Alumni Speaker Series - with young Alumni (35 years or younger), connecting young Alumni with more experienced Alumni about their career journey
1. As part of its suite of employability projects, the Centre for Student Success (CSS) conducts an annual phone survey of all recent graduates (the Graduate Call Campaign) three months post-graduation. The purpose and timing of this survey takes into account the difficulty many graduates face in transitioning into the work place and seeks to remind them of the range of employment support services offered to VU graduates.
2. When GOS data is published each year, the CSS along with VU’s Data Insights team conducts more detailed analysis of graduate outcomes. These findings are then reported up to university Council and disseminated across the colleges to inform management and teaching staff about VU’s labour market outcomes.
3. VU Extra Transcript - The VU Extra Transcript is an official document of Victoria University and shows the extracurricular and voluntary activity of students in approved programs. a. Participating programs must require a significant level of involvement by students (usually a minimum of 20 hours) b. Programs must assist students in developing skills associated with VU’s graduate capabilities, such as: Effective communication, Responsible and ethical citizenship, Intercultural-understanding and; Creative lifelong learning. c. Programs will ideally be those which prepare students for employment or other entrepreneurial endeavours
4. There are a range of online portals that are centrally managed to ensure students are able to receive support and participate in employability enhancing activities Learning Hub - contains a job board; careers workshops and resources; SMART THINKING (which is an online system for student engagement which allows students to access Careers Advice as well as help with CV’s and Job applications 24/7); AbIntegro (an online careers portal containing career tools, assessments, videos etc)
5. Another key initiative designed to address employability across the university is the Talent Connect program. This university-wide program supports all final year students across all academic disciplines to enhance their employability skills prior to graduation. Through a combination of career coaching sessions and recruitment masterclasses, students are better prepared for job search and applications. VU Alumni are also recruited as part of this program to act as industry mentors to participating students and these mentoring relationships enable students to gain valuable insight into their profession of choice whilst also gaining a source of post-graduation advice and support as the mentoring relationship extends to six months post qualification.
6. Final and Penultimate year students are also encouraged to participate in VUs Industry Career Mentoring Program. This Program was created to develop relationships between students and graduates already in the workforce. The primary purpose of this relationship is for students to benefit from the experience, knowledge and expertise of the mentor who acts as a mentor, guide and teacher during the program. More specifically, this may include enhancing students’ knowledge of employer expectations, vocational options, industry and occupational trends. Students gain the opportunity of meeting regularly during a finite time with their mentor to discuss any employment concerns they may have. Student concerns may range from how to commence their transition into the workforce, where does a student start looking for like opportunities within their chosen industry to setting up a goal plan for execution.
The data has shown that students have commented that their benefits far exceeded their expectations, reporting feedback, such as:
- Gaining insight from the mentor's expertise
- Receiving critical feedback in key areas, such as communications, interpersonal relationships, corporate recruitment processes etc
- Developing a sharper focus on what is needed to grow professionally within the job market
- Learning specific skills and knowledge that are relevant to their personal goals
- Networking skills - Gaining knowledge about organisational culture and unspoken guidelines / rules
- Having access to a friendly ear with which to share frustrations as well as successes
The Employability Strategy proposes a more institutional level of focus on student employability and graduate success. Higher levels of Alumni engagement has occurred in student events, as industry partners and with course developed (strategic personal brand, SHCA). A Graduate and Alumni careers program has been developed to assist with career progression and success. The graduate capital model will also allow alumni to engage with the University on a measure of their capital levels and to inform curriculum development, careers education services and the opportunity for re-engagement in University study.
Alumni are invited as guest speakers at WIL workshops to discuss employability with students. Alumni also offer WIL placement opportunities and graduate roles as they progress through industry. The Alumni department offers ongoing career guidance for alumni as part of their ongoing engagement strategies The Industry Engagement Discipline organise opportunities for students to engage in volunteer opportunities and organise guest speakers. A career week for students in their final semester is planned for 2019.
Yes but currently in the planning stage of a number of strategic initiatives including:
- Further leveraging alumni for greater involvement in employability activities. The 2019/2020 business plan to include the launch of a strategic approach to the ICMS alumni network.
- The upcoming ICMS course accreditation process with TEQSA is allowing an employability focus to embed across the learning outcomes of the entire course.
- The introduction of a student portfolio to allow students to record and reflect upon all employability activities.
The employability programme, currently called Kahurei, aims to address this but has not yet been finalised.
There are no formal structures or processes currently whereby engaging with alumni addresses employability. We have liaised with our colleagues in Student Engagement/Careers and Employment about the potential benefits of running a career mentoring program, and that alumni have expressed interest in mentoring students anecdotally and via formal surveys. We will be able to scope this to the next stage when staff resources and funding become available.
Alumni career success stories are featured in our various media channels that students have access to.
Alumni promotes engagement with previous Curtin students through partnerships to provide WIL opportunities for students and enable research.
See https://engage.curtin.edu.au/
The website focuses on partnerships to facilitate collaborative research more so than partnerships to enrich students’ employability skills.