Enhancing employability through building graduate
capital: a multi-faceted approach

Namvar, S; Pinnington, A; Courchene, PH; Greensmith, DJ; Nirmalan, NJ

Abstract

The University of Salford is home to a diverse community of learners, a high proportion of whom are
from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds and/or underrepresented communities and many
are commuters. A significant proportion of the cohort gain university entry through level three
qualifications other than A-levels. It is widely documented that students from such backgrounds often
achieve lower graduate outcomes and struggle to secure graduate jobs.1
We present here a series of
interventions aimed at enhancing graduate capital through building confidence and competence.
Availing this timely acquisition of information and opportunities has promoted a value-added student
experience against the backdrop of a strong sense of belonging and ownership. Many of the projects
described here have been co-designed with students as partners and involve collaboration with wider
teams within the university. Using the graduate capital model as a framework, we designed
interventions to build social, cultural, identity and psychological capital (Tomlinson, 2017). Collectively,
these forms of capital facilitate information awareness, development of a personal, reflective, proactive
employability narrative and the development of confidence and professionalism. Furthermore, we
encouraged students to take ownership of their own career management, an important step towards
enhancing students’ employability (Bridgstock, 2009). Given our student demographics, offering such
support is fundamentally important to student success, as capitalising on the university experience,
social situations and networks can often be a challenge (Tholen et al, 2013).

Citation

capital: a multi-faceted approach

• Report Type: Project Report
• Publication Date: Jan 27, 2023
• Deposit Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Publisher URL: https://advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/case-study-compendium-contemporary-practices-and-initiatives-employability