If you're part of a Careers Service and you still haven't read Sir Tim Wilson's Review of
Business-University Collaboration, you should. Here's a quick list of some of the relevant recommendations.
| Reference | Substantive recommendation |
|---|
| Rec 3, para 4.5.1 | Sandwich degrees should be encouraged through a new compact between students, universities, government and employers, reflecting the benefits to all parties from the enhanced employment outcomes arising from them |
| Rec 4, para 4.5.1 | Ideally, every full‐time undergraduate student should have the opportunity to experience a structured, university‐approved undergraduate internship during their period of study |
| Rec 5, para 4.5.2 | The government‐supported graduate internship programme should be continued |
| Rec 11, para 4.8 | Universities should publish the job destinations of recent full‐time postgraduate taught students, by department as soon as possible |
| Rec 20, para 5.9.2 | To inform prospective doctoral students of potential career opportunities, universities should publish the job destinations of recently completed doctoral students, where possible by department, at the earliest opportunity |
| Rec 21, para 5.9.3 | All full‐time PhD students should have an opportunity to experience at least one 8 to 12 week internship during their period of study and should be encouraged to attend a short intensive enterprise skills programme alongside research students from other departments of the university. |
| Rec 24, para 6.4.1 | Graduate recruiters using filtering mechanisms should undertake a systematic and frequent review of screening algorithms in the light of the qualities of the graduates that the company has recruited and the diversity objectives of the company |
| Rec 26, para 6.4.3 | University careers services and their local enterprise partnership (LEP) should collaborate to establish a skills supply chain between universities and local business, integrating placements, internships and employment services |
| Reference | Reflective recommendation |
|---|
| Rec 3, para 3.5 | Universities that do not regularly review the effectiveness of their enquiry management systems should undertake an audit to ensure efficient first‐level responsiveness; an ineffective relationship management system carries significant reputational risks |
| Rec 4, para 4.3.1 | Universities should decide whether to introduce formal skills diagnostics for their students and, if they do so, whether they are discretionary or mandatory. Such practice should feature in promotional literature available to prospective students, covered at open day/applicant day/interviews and initiated early in the first year of the undergraduate programme of studies. |
| Rec 5, para 4.3.2 | Universities should reflect on the opportunities that are provided for students to develop employability skills through the formal learning methodologies used within the university and ensure that students are able to articulate the skills that they have developed through their learning experiences. It is for universities to ensure that their staff have the appropriate skills to support students in this process |
| Rec 6, para 4.3.3 | Universities should reflect on the strategies they use to ensure that students have the opportunity to develop enterprise skills both through the formal curriculum and through optional study or practice, and reflect on the integration of enterprise education in the professional development programmes for academic staff |
| Rec 12, para 4.9 | In the context of encouraging more UK students to study or to take an internship/placement outside the UK, universities, together with the students’ unions, should reflect on mechanisms that promote international internships and placements amongst the student body |
| Rec 20, para 6.3 | To provide students with information about career prospects, universities may wish to establish a four‐year career projection from a sample of their graduates as supplementary information for use in parallel to the KIS. To provide a common framework, universities may wish to ask UUK to commission preliminary design work in this field |
| Rec 21, para 6.4 | Large companies represent only a fraction of the opportunities available for graduate employment, yet are disproportionately popular in terms of graduate application. Universities should reflect on how students’ perceptions of employment with small and medium‐sized companies could be improved |
| Rec 22, para 6.5 | Given the changing nature of careers services in the sector, universities may wish to review the physical and organisational position of their careers service and the level of interaction it has with the students, employers and the academic community |
| Rec 23, para 6.5 | Careers and employability support will become a recognised part of the ongoing student experience, rather than an aspect that only captures the attention of students in the final year of a degree study |
