Get STEM working: innovation with employer and student engagement > Update reports

Update reports

Progress was reported throughout the project. For the complete final report of the project see here.

Project Progress - September 2011

The project completed an interim report on 30th September 2011 outlining the progress of the six sub-projects (available on their specific project webpages) and project management and overall theme development.

Project management and overall theme development

The STEM project RA has begun monthly discussions with the sub project leads. Interim reports have been analysed and from these and the first phone discussions, some interesting themes are beginning to emerge. In terms of the benefits of employer engagement, some common themes are around benefits to employers, for example, understanding better the capabilities of engineering students, and access to resources. Potential barriers to successful employer engagement seemed to be themed around getting the right staff (employers and academics) and students engaged, and timings of work when the curriculum demands do not match the employers’ time scales. Examples of good practice are also emerging, for example the use of technology to facilitate meetings allows considerable savings in time and other expenses, and all the sub projects are recognising that “building good working relationships” with employers is critical.

It is intended to carry out a road show event in March 2012, centralising on Bournemouth University, UWE and Plymouth University in order to attract the full range of employers in the region. The dates will be publicized on the website in due course.

SUSTAINABLE THEMES	PROJECT IMPACT
Diversity	One of the sub-projects is investigating alternative technologies which could have a positive impact in some areas of diversity.
Teaching	Knowledge gained from the projects will inform practice and enhance curriculum design.
Learning	Students will benefit from emerging pedagogies and innovative approaches.
Research	The research and evidenced-based approaches will provide confidence in implementing change.
Enterprise	The projects are all about improving employer engagement.
Community Engagement	One of the projects is directly involved with community engagement and all of the projects will aim for greater involvement of local SMEs.
Corporate Social Responsibility	H.E. has a commitment to develop graduates that enrich the world of employment. Students will need to be prepared for the changing demands of the work-place. The projects will provide employers with opportunities to further their corporate social responsibility programmes and provide reputational benefit.

Project Progress - December 2011

Key Themes Emerging

Using industry bodies has been helpful in establishing links with industry notably within the Bath University (Manufacturing Advisory Service), UWE (Royal Society of Chemistry) projects and Plymouth University (Royal Society of Chemistry). Industry bodies were also noted by employers being interviewed by Bournemouth University as being a key way of making contact.

In terms of the specific aims of the Get STEM working projects, the following key themes can be noted:

1) Innovative Approaches to involving employers in the STEM curriculum: UWE / Bristol University

Innovative opportunities can be established for students to gain experience of the real working world and demonstrate value to both industry and the students. For example at UWE employers indicated that the use of the technologies provided a valuable tool for ascertaining the skill-set of the students and an insight into their scientific and communication skills and to a limited extent their interpersonal skills and students also felt they had a positive learning experience. The positive experiences of students on community projects at Bristol University can be seen at www.creativestem.co.uk

2) Transferability of approaches to employer-led experiential learning

Plymouth University is demonstrating that opportunities can be opened to students studying undergraduate chemistry by looking to non-traditional employers to provide placements. Exeter is investigating how their placement good practice toolkit can be used across various departments.

3) Promoting opportunities for employers to get involved in the STEM undergraduate curriculum and the benefits of doing so more effectively.

Making initial contact with employers can be carried out in various ways from cold-calling, through existing contacts and relationships or through networks or industry bodies. Using existing contacts is the most effective way. Having a hook is vital in the form of “what the HEI can do for the employer” and Bath University has found that having a hook of “a free project” has proved a good door-opener for the Bath University project. This can additionally be tested as part of the next step of the Bournemouth University project, when they interview employers currently not having involvement with HEIs. Having a single point of contact at the HEI has been found to be important. Most of the companies interviewed by Bournemouth University felt that it would be worthwhile for the HEI to visit the company to scope for opportunities. One theme emerging is that the person making contact with the employer should be knowledgeable from an academic point of view but also be able to speak the language of the employer (ideally having industry experience). There is a general lack of awareness between the parties (both employers and HEIs) as to the opportunities available to them. They agreed that it is the HEI that needs to be proactive in beginning this communication process, whilst acknowledging that getting the attention of the person who would be able to make decisions is no mean feat. Bournemouth University will collaborate with Exeter University (Marchmont Observatory) project on employer engagement.

Dissemination Activities

Updates are provided on the progress of projects as well as useful documentation on the HE STEM SW website.
Institutional seminars were /are: 29th November 2011 at Bournemouth University, at Plymouth on 30th November, Exeter’s on 25th January 2012, Bath’s on 30th January or 3rd February and work is progressing towards seminars at UWE and Bristol. It is intended that a further seminar at Bournemouth University will be held in the New Year.
Graham Outram (Bath University) will visit all institutions in the South West over the coming months and inform them of his project initiatives and also to understand their needs for employer engagement related to student projects. In addition it is planned to translate this publicity into online media.
The learning outcomes framework for the Bristol University Project has been developed by the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). Both it and the project formed part of a session on engaged learning at the NCCPE’s Engage 2011 conference on the 30th November.
A Creative Learning Journey (http://www.creativestem.co.uk/) has been developed for the Bristol University project to capture some of the experiences and outcomes. There will be further updates to this site as the projects progress.
Exeter University has prepared an abstract for the HEA STEM conference to contribute to the process of dissemination.
The HESTEM SW conference will take place on 18th June 2012.