Student Transitions and Employability works closely with the ECU Student Guild with Guild Conference Week and volunteering. The Communications Plan includes messages for the Guild to include in their communications.
Griffith University has an institutional Employability Award Program Griffith Graduates of Influence that recognises student participation in employability learning and activities outside the formal curriculum as well as within it. The Employability Award offers three levels of achievement “ Silver, Gold and Platinum, depending on the level of student engagement with employability activities. The Program supports students to reflect upon their learning and articulate their understanding of the Griffith Graduate Attributes, using PebblePad e-portfolio and based in a university-wide employability achievement record framework.
Griffith Graduates of Influence was piloted at Griffith in 2018, and will be rolled out institutionally in 2019. Students who achieve the requisite level of achievement will be awarded a digital badge as well as a certificate of completion, and advanced professional learning / leadership opportunities.
Students and the student union were consulted in the development of the employability framework, Kahurei, and there is student union representation on the Learning and Teaching Committee that drafted the Learning and Teaching Strategy, Paerangi. The University has student representatives on all University-level committees and the student voice is encouraged and welcomed in these meetings.
There is also a current project on student driven initiatives within the university's Student Success Stream, which aims to harness the enthusiasm of students and build on their social and entrepreneurial skills. This project has involved students and student unions in the co-creation of a process for student driven initiatives and the defining of a process is still underway.
The Student Union's extra-curricular activities are recognised under the UNSW Advantage Program or AHEGS. For a list of accredited programs see: https://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/volunteering/ahegs
A formal Funding and Service Agreement with the University of Queensland Union (UQU) was signed by the UQ Student Union in late September this year. The agreement will commence on 1 January 2019.
Career Development Advisers have an explicit requirement to work with discipline specific clubs and societies to make connections to ground level. There is currently some variation in the strength and purpose of these connections across the institution.
Throughout 2019, the Student Employability Centre will work closely with the UQU to collaborate on initiatives to support and enhance student employability. This will include collaboration with discipline specific clubs and societies in Faculties to delivery industry engagement activities such as employers on campus events, as well as development of part time work opportunities on campus.
There are no student unions at USQ, however, there are a number of extracurricular opportunities for students engaged in USQ leadership or student club activities:
The University has an MOU in place with the Tasmania University Union.
Yes. Guild Volunteering (as part of the UWA Student Guild) provides the opportunity for students to have volunteer activities recognised on supplementary academic transcripts, which displays the number of hours volunteered. These volunteering activities must adhere to a criteria. This criteria includes:
1. volunteering (unpaid, of the volunteer's free will, community based, for a not-for-profit organisation, or outreach type activity)
2. objectively verifiable (number of hours recognised by a member of the organisation)
There is scope for students to develop employability skills through these volunteering opportunities.
UWA and the UWA Student Guild also have a partnership agreement that states they will work together to improve the student experience at the University. The Guild provides a great amount of co-curricular activities that students can participate in. This includes Guild Volunteering (with over 40,000 hours of student volunteering logged in 2017) and the ability for students to be involved in clubs and societies (1000 students involved on committees of over 180 clubs and societies). Furthermore, with the pilot introduction of the class representative system this semester, approximately 100 students have been trained in representation, giving them improved analytical and communication skills. We provide these students with opportunities to develop their transferable skills. In turn, our affiliates engage thousands of students and many run events as far ranging as career-mentoring, to resume writing, to competitions (for example mock trails/mooting).
VU offers students numerous opportunities and programs throughout the year to develop their leadership skills and experience with a view to .
enhancing their employability and personal development.
1. Student Leadership Council: Staff and students on the Student Leadership Council meet regularly to discuss matters within the VU community. The Council act as a key stakeholder in the development, implementation and review of strategies, policies and developments that affect the overall VU student leadership experience. It also seeks to support student leaders in fulfilling their duties and responsibilities as members of university and student organisations governance boards.
2. The Student Leadership Program offers unique and free professional development opportunities to develop their leadership skills and aims to:
- boost student employability by learning useful workplace skills
- gain technical leadership skills and increase capacity to learn
- learn from a range of diverse and inspirational leaders
- receive recognition of extra-curricular participation on academic transcript
3. The Student Leadership Conference is an opportunity for students to develop leadership skills and to grow their professional network. It is hosted by the Student Leadership Team and is funded by the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF).
4. The Lead2Change (L2C) program is an interactive and engaging leadership training program for current students. The two or three day program help students to become more effective leaders and build important workplace skills. Students are also awarded a VU Extra Transcript on completion.
5. VU Academy for Social Change & Leadership enables students to learn leadership skills and achieve success, while making a positive impact on society and the environment. By participating in VU Academy students work on real-world social and environmental projects thereby enabling students to develop leadership, entrepreneurship and 21st Century skills that will help them in their future careers and their day-to-day lives.
Other programs that develop student employability skills:
1. Student Library Assistants - paid employment opportunities for students to provide basic support on a range of library and IT matters during extended hours of opening, such as late evenings and weekends.
2. Student Mentors - paid employment opportunities for students to lead group sessions to support other students with the transition into university life and academic support.
3. The VU Vollies are VU students who volunteer their time and energy to help deliver student experiences, events and activities both on campus and in the community throughout the year.
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Supporting documents:
VU Student Leadership Conference
A whole of University Student as Partners strategy and project began in 2017. The catalyst to 'strengthen existing student governance mechanisms and develop the 'students as partners' strategy at USC is based on international and national research and experiences; Sector trends; Regulatory expectations and quality standards; and USC's participation in the National Partnerships Project Symposia.
A Student Governance Working Group, consisting of twenty USC student volunteers partnered with Student Services and Engagement, to discuss the inception and development of Student Governance mechanisms within a Students as Partners model at USC. The Working Group sought feedback from the wider student body and is seeking Executive endorsement to establish a bottom-up, Students as Partners, Decision-making Framework at USC. See 2.6 Proposed Student Senate Framework graphic. This framework would provide the platform to partner with students in an institutional approach to employability.
Student recognition for representative and other roles is via the USC Student Leadership Award. This is aligned to the employability skills inherent in the USC Graduate Attributes and students receive points for their contribution to co-curricular learning, professional development and community contributions. Recipients are awarded at graduation ceremonies.
At a micro level there are currently some linkages between the Student Guild and Careers Team to provide support promoting employability events, helping staff events, and providing food to support Careers initiatives. The Careers team link with some student associations (eg Law, Student Nurses & Midwifes Association, Criminology) on an ad hoc basis, as requested, to be part of events they are initiating.
Evidence:
See 2.6 Proposed Student Senate Framework graphic.
ACAP does not have a student union. ACAP has student representatives on its Academic Board and also has Student Staff Consultative Committees as vehicles for obtaining student feedback.
No, ICMS is a small institution and a student union is not present in the same way as a large, public institution; but ICMS does have an SRC and other student leadership roles (i.e. Residential Assistants).
Such leadership roles and other extra curricular activities are reflected upon and articulated in placement applications and interviews by students. This process of self-reflection is facilitated in the compulsory preparatory workshops and consultations for students that are delivered by the WIL Office (i.e. ICMS101 and IND200). The planned introduction of a student portfolio which will require students to record and reflect upon their involvement in extra-curricular activities will also leverage the benefits of these activities into the broader employability approach.
At Macquarie, there is no independent student organisation therefore no partnership arrangement. However, the Student Representative Council (SRC) has been established to consult with, advise and make recommendations to the University (through the Vice-Chancellor, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Students and Registrar and the Student Experience Committee of the University Council) about any matter outlined within its Charter. The Career and Employment Service offer training to the SRC and other student representatives on how to make their contributions to University opportunities (advocacy, governance, representation etc.) work for them professionally.
There is no formal agreement in place, but the Murdoch University Guild of Students is actively engaged in providing a range of co-curricular activities that contribute to employability in partnership with the Careers team. Activities run by the Guild include offering a co-curricular leadership development program, mentoring program, short professional skills seminars, job skill courses (RSA, barista and customer service training), volunteer programs, and coordinating and promoting volunteer opportunities.
Additionally, the Careers Service often support student societies with organising on-campus events such as discipline specific careers fairs. However, this is done in ad hoc manner and relies on the student groups approaching the Careers Service.
Careers and Employability work collaboratively with campus-based Student Unions (COASTRS, LEXSA, Coffs SA) and Clubs (OT Student Alliance, Law Clubs, Midwifery Clubs, Golden Key). C&E and School-based staff promote benefits of volunteering during workshops and in our online resources.
The University also formally recognises student volunteering and contributions through the annual Student Awards (started in 2008) and Engagement Awards (commenced in 2011).
To date, a number of scoping studies and proposals for formal Leadership and Volunteering Awards that explicitly leverage, develop and align the employability benefits that students can gain from extracurricular volunteering and leadership activities with student clubs and associations have been conducted. In October 2018, the DVC (Students) commissioned a new report on implementing a volunteering and leadership award (due December 2018). To date, SCU have been unable to fund a central Coordinator to implement and run this project.
At Swinburne there is two student union-type-organisations, both the Swinburne Student Union and Swinburne Student Life are focused on extra-curricular activates. Swinburne Student Life receives operating funds from student contributions. (Student Services and Amenities Fee) After annual student consultation, the SSAF is distributed to student support services, Swinburne Student Life and the Swinburne Student Union. There is no partnership arrangement in place as Swinburne Student Life is a separate organisation from Swinburne, but is governed by a board made up of four elected student representatives, the Vice Chancellor and four Swinburne nominated staff, so activities do tend to align more with strategic aims of the university. The Swinburne Student Union (SSU) is Swinburne’s student-run representation, welfare and events service.
The Student Representative Council is a group of approximately 35 student representatives elected to official boards and committees at Swinburne (such as Swinburne Council, Academic Senate, faculty-specific committees, etc). It is supported directly by Student Engagement and works very collaboratively with the university, with a strong focus of the SRC being on employability programs, such as placements.
We have yet to receive a response from the Student Experience Office on this question.
I am not aware of any specific alignment or partnerships with the Student Union to support the employability agenda. The Student Guild is represented on University committees and provide input to university strategies, policies and directions. The WIL governance group, tasked with monitoring the quality of WIL and employability outcomes, includes a Student Guild representative. The Student Guild drives several extra-curricular clubs and initiatives which are not featured in a wider institutional approach to employability.