Placements: embedded as the norm?

Hughes, Claire and Head, Micheal (2019) Placements: embedded as the norm? ASET UK National Conference, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom. 04 Sep 2019.

Abstract

Students are facing an ever-increasing competitive graduate job market with Brooks and Youngson (2016)reminding us that in addition to academic qualifications, students increasingly need to differentiatethemselves in a crowded job market through personal added value such as relevant experience, skills andabilities. Bennett et al (2008) goes further by suggesting that employers prefer graduates with workexperience relevant to the field they are applying for, with some viewing it as more important than thedegree classification and institution attended. Wilton (2012) concluded that undertaking a work placementas an integral element of undergraduate study is associated with both the enhanced development oftransferable skills and labour market advantage.There has been several studies that explore work placements (Brooks and Youngson, 2016; Wilton, 2012;and Jones, Green and Higson, 2017) and the positive impact they have on students employability, careerprogression as well as academic performance so why then, as Jones et al. (2017) suggests, is there a declinein students taking up the opportunity of a work placement?Walker and Bowerman (2010, as cited in Brooks and Youngson 2016) believe that the changingcomposition of the student body along with general economic situations are possible contributory factorsto this decline, while Bullock et al.’s (2009) findings show students not wishing to break their study patternby working a year in industry.So, what can Higher Education institutions do (additionally) to help our students stand out from the crowdand encourage students to undertake a work placement?This research will explore our experiences and work done with Business Management students at SolentUniversity from embedding placements into the curriculum to the additional support and activitiesoffered to students to help them not only find a placement but be confident in the employment process.The workshop will initially talk through our experiences, including testimonies from students who havebenefitted from this placement, some data collected on barriers to going out on placement, how weembedded placement into the curriculum and the results that this had. The Workshop will then consistof structured group discussions around key challenges within this topic area, e.g engaging students withplacements, what makes a good placement and other key questions. This will then be followed by widergroup discussions around challenges with identification of best practice that could be emulated acrossthe HE sector. The outcomes of these activities would be used as part of a wider research project on thechallenges of embedding placements as the norm.

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Contributors

Author: Claire Hughes

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