Student-led Employability Audit Toolkit > Project Outputs > Conducting an Employability Audit

Project Outputs > Conducting an Employability Audit

Following the design of an audit process for the Student-led Employability Audit Toolkit project, an audit was undertaken to assess the extent to which employability support was integrated within the University of Exeter’s Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering degree programmes, as below:

Conducting the audit

Following on from extensive research, an employability skills audit worksheet was developed to capture the levels of employability support within degree programmes:

Employability Skills Audit Worksheet

A focus group of 12 students from across year gropss and modules (8 mathematics degree programme students and 4 engineering degree programme students) was then compiled to undertake the audit. These students met every Monday for 6 weeks across June and July 2011, working in small teams to audit maths, computer science and engineering programmes using the criteria and processes developed across the project.

At the end of each session, the students were encouraged to capture, reflect on and evaluate their work through a short diary. This diary is captured in full in a document that can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.

In addition, at the final audit session, video interviews of some of the students were made to capture their thoughts and experiences. A couple of these videos are below; the full range can be accessed via the 'Employability Skills' section of the CreativeSTEM website.

How we are improving our degree programme

Alexandra Neale, Student, University of Exeter

The opportunity to give informal feedback made students feel they were really valued, says student Alexandra Neale. This activity was undertaken as a part of the National HE STEM Programme, via the South West Spoke. For more information on South West Spoke projects, please see www.hestem-sw.org.uk. For more information on the overall national programme, please see www.hestem.ac.uk

Putting ‘employability’ skills at the heart of a degree

Sam Adams, Student, University of Exeter

Exeter student, Sam Adams, explains just how much he benefited from the careers element in his degree, which saw students interview professionals in the workplace about how they became successful engineers. This activity was undertaken as a part of the National HE STEM Programme, via the South West Spoke. For more information on South West Spoke projects, please see www.hestem-sw.org.uk. For more information on the overall national programme, please see www.hestem.ac.uk

The Audit: Students' Perspectives

The below quotes are taken from students reflecting back on the 6 week audit process:

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed working on the project and have found it to be a beneficial experience.

It's been a very productive 6 weeks and we feel the contributions we have made will be valuable in improving the degree programme.

These weeks have been fun and I hope that some of the changes that we recommended are implemented, either for the coming academic cycle or the next.

We have provided a pioneering look into a student-led model and feel our endeavours and suggestions will be of use to anyone wishing to emulate us. It has also proven to me the benefits of student-led projects looking at degree courses ... [such approaches] could potentially give degrees an almost organic ability to evolve through student input.

Student Perspectives: A Diary of the Audit

The students produced a 36-page internal report capturing the results of the audit and from which, selected case studies and recommendations will be published.

Staff involved

Dr Barrie Cooper
Project lead, University of Exeter

Abel Nyamapfene
University of Exeter

Amanda Arthur
University of Exeter

Amy Boylan
University of Exeter

Chloe Cunningham
University of Exeter

Dawn Evans
University of Exeter

Fiona Dyke
Teach First

Greg Craft
Nationwide

Holly Geipel
University of Exeter

James Baxani
Teach First

Jodie Sherman
JP Morgan

Julie Hawkings
Centrax

Kathryn Edwards
Airbus

Lee Stott
Microsoft

Mohit Malik
RBS

Paul Hartley
Devon Education Business Partnership

Richard Whinnett
University of Exeter

Rowanna Smith
University of Exeter