Practical examples of building graduate capital and
project co-creation: Towards improved employability

Namvar, S

Abstract

The University of Salford is home to a diverse community of learners, with a large percentage of students from BAME, disabled and low socioeconomic backgrounds. The Biomedical Sciences (BMS) programme holds a particularly high proportion of BAME students, many from low-income back grounds and the first in their family to go to university. There is a link between these aforementioned factors, imposter syndrome, progression and employability. Our approach to supporting social mobility is based upon the graduate capital model, which states that employability does not simply relate to a ‘good degree’ but to the many forms of graduate capital. Over the last three years the academic team have developed a range of career mentoring schemes, a careers blackboard site, redeveloped tutorial modules to embed employability and developed an annual careers festival in collaboration with the library, careers services and external partners. These provisions have been complemented by the co-creation of a range of exciting extracurricular projects with students, such as TED-style competitions, a student magazine, general interest reading book clubs and much more. These innovative changes, primarily implemented during the pandemic have brought about a real positive culture change. Some preliminary evidence indicates a positive impact of these activities on graduate outcomes.

Citation

project co-creation: Towards improved employability. Presented at Employability Symposium 2022

• Presentation Conference Type: Speech
• Conference Name: Employability Symposium 2022
• Acceptance Date: Apr 26, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 8, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 8, 2022
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference