Workplace skills

Advice on how to help students develop employability skills for the 21st century workplace, covering real-world experience and authentic learning that aids graduates in the transition to professional careers.

Diverse team of scientists in a competition

How supervisors can use research competitions to inspire lifetime learning

While some may think that entering student science competitions is all about the gold medals, the long-term nature of such projects is perfect fodder for learning meaningful skills

Zheng Pai

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

A man ponders how to get from A to B

The power of ‘active feedback’ to prepare students for professional experience

Working with industry clients on real-life challenges is an important component of many university courses. Nick Quinn and Alison Gibb explain how they prepare students for this professional experience using ‘active feedback’

Nick Quinn, Alison Gibb

University of Glasgow

Prompt questions for ChatGPT

Prompt engineering as academic skill: a model for effective ChatGPT interactions

Gathering information from AI requires a new layer of search skills that includes constructing effective prompts and critically navigating and evaluating outputs

Adrian J. Wallbank

Oxford Brookes University

Cropped image of hands of PhD candidate receiving their certificate

Individual consultations can help PhD students to complete their studies

Personalised consultancy gives assistance to PhD students and candidates to keep their momentum and build their academic careers, and it also helps instructors identify and train future supervisors

Szabolcs Várbíró , Judit Réka Hetthéssy, Marianna Török

Semmelweis University

Deforested rainforest now used for cattle farming

We’ve engaged 250 student volunteers to hold climate emitters to account

The Net Zero Tracker taps into students’ passion for climate action, teaches them net-zero literacy and builds their employability. Here’s how we work with them

Camilla Hyslop

University of Oxford

Young woman pondering some notes

Failure as a career development tool

How to encourage students to actively examine their ‘failures’ to provide useful direction and inform improvements when considering their future career options

Dawn Lees, Rachel Sloan

The University of Exeter

Young male entrepreneur working in a cafe with coffee and laptop

How to support students considering self-employment

Not all students want – nor can they find in a challenging employment market – graduate jobs after university. Victoria Prince looks at what more faculties can do to support students in creating their own business opportunities

Victoria Prince

Nottingham Trent University

Careers services must prepare students for workplace abuse

Careers services: how to prepare graduates for workplace abuse

University career services must do a better job of helping students identify and manage psychological abuse following entry into the labour market

William E. Donald, Sucheta Das

Ronin Institute, University of Southampton

Black university student making his voice heard

We must reverse the rapid erosion of student oracy

The inexorable march of technology is leading to fewer direct conversations in universities – here’s how to help your students improve their oral skills

Richard Willis

University of Sussex, University of South Wales

Image depicting different elements of and outcomes from learning

Show off students’ employability with e-portfolios

Why and how to make e-portfolios a central part of university courses, helping students identify and exhibit skills that will appeal to employers, by Lourdes Guàrdia and Marcelo Maina

Lourdes Guàrdia, Marcelo Maina

Open University of Catalonia (UOC)

Research and business need to go hand in hand in an uncertain future

Four tips for developing students’ business skills

How to teach skills that bridge the gap between completing an undergraduate business programme and embarking on a successful career, by Qi Li and Rosemary Bai

Rosemary Bai, Qi Li

Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen

University career services can leverage social media

Social mobility via social media: opportunities for career services

Four practical suggestions for how university career services can make greater use of social media to support social mobility among their students

William E. Donald, Kaz Scattergood

University of Southampton, Ronin Institute, University of Liverpool

Matching students with college programmes improves employability

In the rush to meet labour market needs, universities can’t forget the human element

Understanding that students are people first, with lived experiences that influence their choice of college and career, will help position graduates for success

Steven Johnson

National University

Is online education killing conversation

Will online education lead to the death of conversation?

Students who can critique ideas and generate sound, reasoned arguments in real time will be better prepared to find success after they graduate, says Rebekah Wanic

Rebekah Wanic

Nova Southeastern University

Adult learners require a variety of supports at university

I know first-hand that adult learners need a variety of supports to succeed

From flexible class schedules to a friendly smile, colleges that focus on individual needs are best positioned to help learners thrive at school and in life

Shannon Uresti

College of Health Care Professions

Students working on a project together

The secrets of supporting successful student start-ups

Guidance to how universities can support student entrepreneurship and successful business creation, shared by John Lonsdale

John Lonsdale

The University of Edinburgh

two young women talking over a laptop

Strategies for developing live student-client projects

Projects in which students work in a professional consulting capacity with “client” organisations can bring many benefits for all involved, but need careful set-up and support, as Lyvia Royd-Taylor explains

Lyvia Royd-Taylor

University of Brighton

Businesswoman mentors student

Experiential learning gives students invaluable workplace exposure

Strong industry partnerships can help students broaden their career objectives and create graduate opportunities

Reem Althawadi

Zayed University

Group hug of university students

Using the ‘36 questions to fall in love’ to revolutionise group work

Nici Sweaney shares a simple classroom task rooted in the psychology of interpersonal relationships that anyone can use to help students bond and feel more comfortable with group work

Nici Sweaney

Australian National University

Sustainable internship programme

How a sustainable internship programme can support social mobility

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds can remain on the back foot when entering the workforce. This programme offers higher education practitioners a replicable model that includes professional skills development and access

Fiona Hudson, Inís Fitzpatrick , Cathy Mcloughlin

Dublin City University

Cheating with phone in exam

How to design low-stakes authentic assessment that promotes academic integrity

Robust assessment design is more important than ever in the battle to maintain academic integrity, say Nguyen Bui and Simon Feros

Nguyen Bui , Simon Feros

Australian National University

Learning digital skills

Enable learners to become confident digital explorers

Universities must help students develop digital skills and competencies that will set them up for successful lives after they graduate

Mike Cooray, Rikke Duus

Hult International Business School (Ashridge), UCL

Illustration of mentoring tree of lightbulbs

Career mentoring can support student employability

Support for students extends beyond the classroom. Here’s how to develop a successful mentoring programme to help students take their first steps into the workplace

Zurria Qureshi

University of Westminster

Building a course around target 'customers'

Why higher education must serve students as the customer and the product

An effective university programme should continually adapt in order to add value for and to the students so that they can meet future workplace demands, Haksin Chan and Roy Ying explain

Haksin Chan, Roy Ying

The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong

Careers chatbot

Six tips for implementing a careers chatbot ethically and effectively

Helping students make good academic choices fuelled by their career aspirations before they start studying is crucial – and a well-designed chatbot can be very useful

Caroline Tolond, Deirdre Hughes, Chris Percy

Arden University, CiCi

Virtual summit

Experiential education through a simulated summit to combat human trafficking

Advice on setting pedagogical goals and planning a simulated international summit to support experiential learning for remote students, by Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati

Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Woman giving a presentation

Do we need to grade students’ presentation skills?

Presentation skills are considered essential by employers, but does this mean they should be graded at university? Marking can distract from the goal of improvement, and there are better ways to motivate students, says Axel Wieneke

Axel Wieneke

The University of Queensland

Tech brain

How we can use AI to power career-driven lifelong learning

By using data from job postings, course catalogues and students’ CVs, AI can help people address skill gaps and plot their educational journeys

Teck-Hua Ho

National University of Singapore

Two female students working on a laptop

Digital Universities task force: upskilling the MENA region through online learning

Ahead of Digital Universities Week MENA, a task force of four higher education experts shared insights on how online learning could help meet the growing demand for key employability skills across the region

Miranda Prynne

Campus

How to communicate the value of the arts and humanities to students

Classroom tips for debunking the arts and humanities employability myth

David Dodick offers practical pointers gleaned from a course he designed and taught aimed at communicating the value of arts and humanities degrees for various careers

David Dodick

University of California, Berkeley

Image of a lecturer teaching a class of adult students

Tutor training for architect-educators: twinning, observation, reflection and testing

Staff development and training for architecture tutors is very limited. This resource looks back at a tutor training programme that ran from 1996 to 2002, and draws lessons for future architect-educators

Martin W. Andrews, Mary Caddick

The University of Portsmouth

Engineering students

Engineering schools are riddled with issues – reinvention is required

From increasing diversity to embracing flexibility, engineering schools must enter a period of self-reflection if they are to remain viable

David Poole

Liaison International

An agile person

A step-by-step guide to implementing an agile curriculum

Flexible, innovative and creative, agile curricula offer many advantages over traditional approaches – here’s how to get started, says Olufunke Aluko-Daniels

Olufunke Aluko-Daniels

University of Huddersfield

A remote student working in a group with other students via an online meeting

Lessons in helping remote students obtain practical work experience

Universities face obstacles in helping distance learners access practical work experience. Ewout van der Schaft and Alex Mackrell share insight from initiatives at their business school

Ewout van der Schaft, Alex Mackrell

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

HE-industry partnerships are crucial for students to emerge from university work-ready

Half of students feel they’re not ready for a job – we must solve the HE-industry disconnect

Are localised higher education and industry research partnerships delivering? Salah Al-Majeed reflects on how to bring sometimes disparate organisations closer together

University of Lincoln

Teamwork skills are crucial for students to learn as they head into the workplace

Six tips on helping your students improve their teamwork skills

We know that teamwork is more important than ever before – here’s how to help students identify their ideal role in a team, agree on responsibilities and more

Ingrid Benavides

Tecnológico de Monterrey

Image showing a young research assistant

Making undergraduate access to research experience transparent and inclusive

A barrier to research careers is accessing the relevant experience. Saloni Krishnan and Nura Sidarus outline a scheme that has helped a wider range of undergraduate students secure research placements

Saloni Krishnan, Nura Sidarus

Royal Holloway, University of London

Man on ball juggling balls in front of a city

How a rich extracurricular campus life nurtures well-rounded individuals

Soft skills such as organisation, communication and networking are often developed outside the classroom. Here’s how universities can help their students learn vital life skills

M. C. Zhang, Aliana Leong

Macau University of Science and Technology

Image representing the uncertainty of the future

How we used a business management theory to help students cope with uncertainty

Uncertainty is a major challenge to mental health so a team at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University used a business management tool to help students cope with worries about the future. Here, they explain how

Zheng Feei Ma, Jian Li Hao, Yu Song, Peng Liu

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Giving students the chance to work in a professional company housed in a university has benefits for all

We started a commercial software company at our university – and you should too

Staffed by students, epiGenesys provides profits for the university and allows students to work in a lively, supportive and successful business environment

Mike Holcombe

University of Sheffield

Image depicting effective teamwork

Training students in effective teamwork and collaboration

The ability to work effectively as part of a team is a vital life skill. Steven Bateman, Yan Jin and Jie Zhang explain how they support and train students in teamwork

Steven Bateman, Yan Jin, Jie Zhang

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Candidates waiting for a job interview

Recruiting university tutors using an interactive group activity

Hiring candidates with strong academic results may seem like the best way to recruit tutors. But this does not always mean they will have the right attributes to support student learning. In this video, Carl Sherwood explains how and why to use a group interview process to recruit university tutors

Carl Sherwood

The University of Queensland

Lifelong learning needs a reboot to help professionals untangle their continuing education options

Lifelong learning needs a reboot – here’s how to do it

Instead of untangling a miscellany of education products, lifelong learners should find the structure and purpose of their degree continues into their professional life

Matt Riley

Blueprint Prep

University staff and leadership should not forget that the academic and the vocational are deeply intertwined

Don’t forget that the ‘academic’ and the ‘vocational’ are deeply intertwined

It’s not enough to focus solely on academic mission, but neither is it enough to think of universities as little more than training schools, says Sir Chris Husbands

Chris Husbands

Sheffield Hallam University

A teenager with street smarts, but university graduates will need to combine practical and academic skills to boost employability

Do our students need to be book smart or street smart? They need to be both

Employers want talent to jump right in and fulfil new tasks without a lot of coaching. Project-based learning will help prepare students for this new way of thinking and working

Lee Ann Walker

Colorado State University Global

Image of students learning the transferrable skills wanted in the workplace

Strategies to train students in three transferable skills wanted by employers

Two simple teaching methods that faculty can use in the classroom to train students in the communication, problem-solving and critical thinking skills sought by employers, shared by Elly Vandegrift

Elly Vandegrift

University of Oregon

Papparazzi. Bringing in an expert guest to your university classes can help with student attention

Tips on bringing expert professionals to class to support learning

Capturing students’ attention can be a challenge for teachers. We propose bringing the real world to the classroom through expert guests, say Gabriela Espínola Carballo and Mariana Elizondo

Gabriela Espínola Carballo, Mariana Elizondo

Tecnológico de Monterrey

teaching cybersecurity

Supporting cybersecurity literacy for workforce-ready graduates

Employers need a cybersecurity-literate workforce, and higher education could play a valuable role in filling the gap

Steven Furnell

University of Nottingham

An excerpt of Romeo and Juliet, a literary work which could be used to teach students career-based skills

Five practical ways the literature classroom can help student careers

Olivia Burgess offers five tips for using literature classes to explore workplace preparation and engage career-minded students

Olivia Burgess

Colorado State University Global

Learning at work

Challenge-based learning: design and delivery in undergraduate courses

Courses that incorporate real problems from real companies offer students a rare chance to acquire knowledge while also developing useful professional skills

Nelly Ramirez Vásquez , Maria del Rosario Rosas Escalona

Tecnológico de Monterrey

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