This project provides an opportunity for us to gain a clear understanding of how we can make the best use of our relationship with our alumni in order to promote employability.
As a means of raising awareness of employability our alumni are a valuable resource. Alumni can help our students to understand the importance of gaining those additional skills which are so useful in the workplace; they can highlight the value of volunteering and gaining placements while registered for a degree; they can have input into the curriculum; and they can offer students something aspirational: 'if s/he can do that job, then maybe I can too'.
Currently, higher education institutions involve alumni in a variety of activities to promote employability. Examples include:
asking them to complete surveys, commenting on general or specific issues relating to the course they studied or their jobs after graduating
These and other activities all have value, but are we getting the most from them?
To make alumni activities across HE count for more and have a bigger impact, we need to gain a better understanding of how we can maximise the input that our alumni already have; seek to discover whether alumni can offer anything more than they already do; and find out where what they can offer is best placed. With this in mind, there are three research questions which this project will address:
The answers that the project provides to these questions will be accessible across Higher Education in the form of a 'Promoting employability: how to get the most from your alumni' information pack. the pack will provide:
Project progress will be documented in our blog.