In higher education, the purpose of embedding employability (and entrepreneurship) is to prepare students for various work destinations, including for the workforce by equipping them with the competencies, namely the skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to succeed in their chosen and evolving careers. Universities must aim to provide students with academic learning along with practical experiences, and opportunities for professional development to enhance employability. This not only benefits students in securing job opportunities but also contributes to the overall economic growth of society by supplying skilled and adaptable professionals to the workforce.

For the purpose of the University of Bedfordshire Curriculum Framework, it is important that students engage with the employability opportunities that are available to them both within the curriculum and extra curricula. To ensure engagement, it is key for students to understand what the activity is, why it is important to make the most it and how to then confidently articulate their learning to others.

The Employability Strand therefore includes consideration of:

Career readiness and advancement - To support career planning there are structured opportunities in a course for students to review their preparedness for employment.

Graduate competencies - Are clearly articulated and integrated into teaching, learning and assessments.

Work-related and work-based learning - Students will participate in employment opportunities aligned to their subject.

Real world challenges and global perspectives - On a subject and its application so that students are aware of historical, social, environmental and political contexts.

Support from the Careers and Employability Service

To integrate employability, collaborate with the Careers and Employability Service to foster relationships with employers for industry insight workshops, sector specific presentations, live projects, extracurricular internships, volunteering and placements.

Career Consultants within the Service will support you to embed meaningful employability into your curriculum to ensure it meets the career development needs of your students. Careers can support ways to introduce and roll out work based/work related earning/ career readiness and career competencies into your curriculum. They will introduce paid work to your students through the Handshake platform, and ensure your students are able to understand the ‘why’ and ‘what’ and ‘how’ of their career development journey so that they are able to articulate their learning to future employers within ever changing work environments.

It is important to ensure that the employability curriculum is regularly updated to meet the changing needs of industry and technological advancements, in a fast-moving graduate labour market.

The Careers and Employability Service are also able to provide you with the most up to date labour market intelligence for your sector area, to support you as you need it – please contact the Graduate Outcomes and Systems Manager to discuss this further.