Common use of Employability Clause in Contracts

Employability. The University is committed to supporting its students to succeed on their courses and then move on to a fulfilling career. Whilst Roehampton has a strong record in employability it intends to build on this even further. In 2008-09, 88% of graduates were in employment or further study six months after graduation, compared to a UK average of 90%. We have this year created a new Student Development Office to enhance the support provided to students in developing their employability skills, bringing together the employment and careers service, placements, student entrepreneurship, volunteering and wider activities like extracurricular sports. In addition the University will be offering more opportunities for students to study abroad for a semester and is also looking at increasing opportunities for students to be employed on campus so as to provide both income and work experience. The University has been allocated 74 scholarships for 2012. We wish to keep our scheme simple and transparent: a complex system of selection would only add to the confusion inherent in the new funding system, as well as incur high administration costs, which we do not believe is an appropriate use of student fee income. We therefore welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement that ‘the programme will remain flexible in its initial years’. To keep in line with our financial model we will need to spread our contribution equally over 2 years – the recipients 2nd and 3rd years of study. This also encourages retention and helps students at each stage of their studies. We will distribute the scholarships based on a combination of household income and prior attainment, which supports our strategy to encourage aspiration among under-represented groups. In doing so we will acknowledge attainment through achievement at A level as well as other qualifications. The University will allocate the National Scholarship Programme recipients a £1,000 cash bursary during their studies with the remainder of the award allocated as tuition fee waivers. The cash bursary will be made up of £300 in years 1 and 2 of their studies and £400 in their final year. Tuition fee waivers will be £2,700 in year 1, £1,200 in year 2 and £1,100 in year 3. Awards will be made to the top 74 new entrants in year 1 by their tariff score that are in receipt of a full maintenance grant.

Employability. The University is committed to supporting its students to succeed on their courses and then move on to a fulfilling career. Whilst Roehampton has a strong record in employability it intends to build on this even furtherits already strong record in employability. In 2008-09Out of our 2010- 11 graduates, 8891.4% of graduates were in employment or further study six months after graduation, compared to a UK average of 90%. We have this year created a new Student Development Office to enhance the support provided to students in developing their employability skills, bringing together the employment and careers service, placements, student entrepreneurship, volunteering and wider activities like extracurricular sports. In addition the University will be offering more opportunities for students to study abroad for a semester and is also looking at increasing opportunities for students to be employed on campus so as to provide both income and work experience. The University has been allocated 74 166 scholarships for 20122013-14. We wish to keep our scheme simple and transparent: a complex system of selection would only add to the confusion inherent in the new funding system, as well as incur high administration costs, which we do not believe is an appropriate use of student fee income. We therefore welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement that ‘the programme will remain flexible in its initial years’. To keep in line with our financial model we will need to spread our contribution equally over 2 two years – the recipients 2nd recipients’ second and 3rd third years of study. This also encourages retention and helps students at each stage of their studies. We will distribute the scholarships based on a combination of household income and prior attainment, which supports our strategy to encourage aspiration among under-under- represented groups. In doing so we will acknowledge attainment through achievement at A level as well as other qualifications. The University will allocate the National Scholarship Programme recipients a £1,000 cash bursary during their studies with the remainder of the award allocated as tuition fee waivers. The cash bursary will be made up of £300 in years 1 and 2 of their studies and £400 in their final year. Tuition fee waivers will be £2,700 in year 1, £1,200 in year 2 and £1,100 in year 3. Awards will be made to the top 74 166 new entrants in year 1 by their tariff score that are in receipt of a full maintenance grant.

Employability. The University has invested in its employability strategy, recognising that improving access to the professions should be a key outcome of our distinctive student experience. From an initial £3.5m investment, a range of initiatives have been defined to respond to increasing student expectations in this area. A further £1m investment into the new Employability Strategy for 2016/17-2019/20 will enable the University to continue to enhance its offer while also bringing in new posts that will directly support students from Widening Participation backgrounds through more effective analysis of graduate destinations data, increased engagement with regional SMEs, greater curriculum development and increased global reach with employers. The University was awarded the Times 2016 University of the Year for Graduate Employment. The University’s award-winning Personal Skills Award (PSA), which is committed to supporting its an employer-recognised standard, supports students to succeed develop, recognise and articulate their professional skills effectively in preparation for work experience and the graduate job market, and has grown from 350 to 1,800 students over the past five years. The past year has seen the addition of the PSA (Foundation) which provides a series of innovative online skill development modules open to all undergraduate students at the institution. The PSA is supported by a representative range of graduate employers that provide skill sessions, interview support, and contribute to the development of our online curriculum. The suite of bursary support now available enables students to undertake internships or work experience during their summer vacation. This includes the fully funded Global Internship Programme which offers students the chance to intern in top organisations across the world, giving students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain experience on a global scale. Working in large multinationals or in niche areas where experience is difficult to gain, the Programme is open to students from all backgrounds and enables them to experience internationalisation without financial constraints. Unique to the University of Birmingham are our Gateway Work Experience Bursaries, targeted at priority WP student groups (defined as A2B students, registered disabled, leaving care, first generation of the family into higher education, in receipt of a grant or scholarship, lone parent and ethnic minorities) offer up to £2000 to fund extra-curricular placements throughout the year. We fund a wide variety of work experience across a range of sectors and professions both in the UK and overseas including the arts, health care, community development, scientific and biological research, marketing and international development opportunities. The scheme has seen, and continues to see, great successes, with students securing places, on their courses own merit, ranging from a Public Affairs intern with the US Navy in Washington to providing comprehensive health services to rural communities in Ghana. To date 865 bursaries have been awarded and then move on paid directly to a fulfilling career. Whilst Roehampton has a strong record students with all recipients showing significant increase in employability it intends to build on this even further. In 2008communication and team-09, 88working skills with 83% of graduates were students reporting an increase in employment or further study six months after graduationtheir knowledge, compared to confidence and competence as a UK average direct result of 90%. We have this year created a new Student Development Office to enhance the support provided to students in developing their employability skills, bringing together the employment and careers service, placements, student entrepreneurship, volunteering and wider activities like extracurricular sportswork experience. In addition to the University will be offering more bursary programmes, we also source bespoke internships for our students as well as actively promoting opportunities for students to study abroad for a semester and is also looking at increasing opportunities for students to be employed on campus so as to provide both income and work experiencethe student population. The University of Birmingham has been allocated 74 scholarships for 2012an institutional Unpaid Internship Policy which ensures that all University sourced and generated internships are paid. We wish Analysis of the income that our students gain via these opportunities shows that this now produces over £600,000pa. The University works with a range of regional, national and international employers to keep our scheme simple and transparent: a complex system of selection would only add promote equal access to the confusion inherent best jobs. Skills training and mentor programmes run jointly with partner employers promote diversity and support students in gaining the new funding systemskills, experience and confidence to succeed in their chosen career. Employer partners include PwC, Jaguar Landrover and IBM as well as incur high administration costsregional employers such as Sanctuary Housing and the Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital. Careers Network at the University of Birmingham is increasingly focussed on evidence-based, which we do not believe is an appropriate use targeted development of student fee incomeservices and support. We therefore welcome Employability ‘Action Plans’ are produced annually for all academic Schools. These plans are developed alongside academics to identify areas of focus over the Secretary of State’s announcement that ‘the programme will remain flexible in its initial years’. To keep in line with our financial model we will need to spread our contribution equally over 2 years – the recipients 2nd coming year and 3rd years of study. This also encourages retention and helps students at each stage of their studies. We will distribute the scholarships are based on a combination of household income graduate destination data, student demographics and prior attainmentlabour market intelligence. To give just one case study, which analysis of recent employment data at academic School level highlighted an employability gap within the School of Law for locally domiciled, female, BME students. This led to targeted interventions at School level to address this, with the introduction of dedicated mentoring and updating of reference materials to ensure case studies are relevant and relatable to the defined cohort. Work has also been undertaken to ensure that local law firms are equally represented at University employment fairs to ensure that students are exposed to relevant and appropriate employment opportunities. Much of the investment we are committed to in relation to employability, and in particular our expanded internship programme, is specifically aimed at improving access to the professions for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It therefore not only supports our strategy efforts to encourage aspiration among under-represented groups. In doing so we will acknowledge attainment through achievement at A level improve student retention and success, but also acts as well as other qualifications. The University will allocate the National Scholarship Programme recipients a £1,000 cash bursary during their studies with the remainder significant part of the award allocated as tuition fee waivers. The cash bursary will be made up of £300 in years 1 our outreach and 2 of their studies and £400 in their final year. Tuition fee waivers will be £2,700 in year 1, £1,200 in year 2 and £1,100 in year 3. Awards will be made recruitment activity by making us more attractive to the top 74 new entrants in year 1 by their tariff score that are in receipt of a full maintenance grantstudents from disadvantaged backgrounds.