Careers education case study (6): Developing career management skills and enterprise awareness with computing and engineering students at a midlands university
This module (a core module at Level 2) requires students to look at how undergraduates are selected and recruited into placements from an employer’s perspective, using a context case study. I produced the case study (involving a fledgling company manufacturing robotic equipment) after attending a training session run by Pauline Kneale from Leeds University and after seeking help from our local council’s Inward Investment Team. This learning then has to be demonstrated via a group presentation and applied in an individual context via a personal placement hunting project.
Programme structure
The students attend lectures that introduce them to the case study and different aspects of the selection and recruitment process from an employer’s perspective. They then have to work in groups to create a series of recommendations for the company, which are then given to tutors, for marking, in the form of a group report and presentation. All the lectures and case study materials are available in Blackboard, which also contains a host of links to useful sites and sources of help and information.
In seminars, the students have to discuss what they have learnt from the case study and then reflect on the implications of this for their own career plans. They then have to produce an individual folder of work containing a suitable placement vacancy, a rationale for why the vacancy would be suitable for them, a covering letter and CV targeted at a placement vacancy, and a list of sources of possible placements.
Outcomes
In spite of initial questions from students along the lines of ‘What has this got to do with computing and engineering?’, evaluations at the end of the module are very positive every year. Student traffic into the careers centre during the teaching time is high and we continue to see a significant number of these students when they return from placements. I also run a linked support group via Facebook and this attracts around 40 members every year and is used a lot during the teaching slot.
For further information on this case study please contact Jackie Hartley, Careers Adviser, Staffordshire University.
What are careers education case studies?
These case studies have been compiled by members of the AGCAS Careers Education Task Group, building on the good practice developed in the Careers Education Benchmark Statement. They aim to show the diversity of practice and how careers education is developing as a discipline within HE. We hope they will inspire other practitioners to share their experience by drafting case studies that we can publish during 2009. If you have any comments about this section, or would like to submit a short case study summarising your own experience, please contact Iwan Griffiths.
Read all case studies in the series