November 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference will examine the way forward for improving the employability of graduates and giving them the best start as they enter the job market.
Bringing together key stakeholders with policymakers, the discussion takes place against the backdrop of the economic impact of COVID-19 and with concerns about the prospect of widespread unemployment as the economy contracts.
Delegates will look at latest developments, the approaches being taken by universities - and implications for institutions, their careers services, and businesses looking to recruit, as well as for students who have recently graduated or are due to in the coming years.
The agenda:
- An overview of the graduate employment market
- The impact of COVID-19 on university careers services
- The effect of the pandemic on graduate employers and their future offer to students
- Priorities for careers services and employers - responding to changing demand, meeting student expectations, and the impact of postgraduate qualifications on employment prospects
- Ensuring university courses prepare students for employment after graduation - providing skills employers need, course structures, employment opportunities and student choices, and graduate outcomes (LEO) data
- Widening access - supporting the link between students and employers
- The role of employers and government in supporting students into employment - building strong employer links post-COVID-19, the impact of unpaid internships and widening access
- Improving graduate employment prospects - key policy priorities
Key areas for discussion:
- responding to changes in the graduate labour market:
- the HE sector - how students, and universities and their careers services, are adapting to the impact of the pandemic, and including support for students in a difficult labour market
- employers - how businesses have initially reacted to graduate recruitment in light of the pandemic
- immediate action - approaches can be taken in the short term to maintain effective recruitment practices, including latest developments in digital recruitment
- past experience - what can be learnt from previous recessions and shocks to the job market
- university careers services:
- innovation - new approaches being used with the increasing importance of information, advice and guidance in a changing employment market with challenging operational conditions
- enhancing delivery - with use of podcasts and online streams, and ensuring that as far as possible all students are able to access their support online both before and after graduation
- developing new online content - reflecting how students might need to adapt their career plans in light of the pandemic
- international graduates - ensuring outreach to is maintained during the pandemic
- maintaining a broad offer - serving increasing demand for helping students to deal with potential health issues, and periods of unemployment, whilst maintaining their employability
- skills, course structures and student attitudes to employability
- student and employers attitudes - implications for the effectiveness of HEI graduate employability strategies:
- future employment prospects - how much do they influence student degree choices and what are the implications for the range of courses offered
- employability in the curriculum - what has been the effect on graduate employment prospects from the increased focus in recent years
- choice of university - how is the attractiveness and appeal of some institutions to prospective students being altered by increased difficulties for graduates in getting a job
- options for the response - ways that universities can adapt to maintain their appeal as a good place to study and progress to an attractive job and career
- university strategies:
- TEF and LEO data - how they are impacting HEI decision-making around employability and investment in careers guidance services
- implications - what the influence of TEF and LEO data means for university decisions on future course provision
- graduate wellbeing - changing graduate career pathways and other challenges arising from the pandemic, and university responses, and how this may affect future LEO data
- adjustments and allowances? - how data from the period affected by the pandemic will be referenced in metric tables going forward
- the future of the metrics - options for designing broader measurement of successful student outcomes
- government measures - the announcement that universities in England will be able to bid for extra places to be made available on courses which are of ‘strategic importance’
- postgraduate study:
- staying on? - the potential for a post-COVID recession to lead to an increased number of students remaining in higher education after graduation
- potential impact:
- employment prospects - how postgraduate qualifications affect future career prospects and workforce skills in a changing economy
- vocational focus - with growing uptake being seen in postgraduate courses such as initial teacher training, how might this translate into increased chances of employment
- wider implications - what an influx of postgraduates means for the job market, the economy and key sectors, and for HEIs as they adapt to new demand and resourcing requirements
- links with employers, internships and widening participation
- employers and government - their roles in supporting graduates into employment, with businesses of all scales indicating that they will reduce the number of graduates recruited this year
- inequalities:
- concerns that people from a BAME background, women and disabled workers have been disproportionately affected by the rise in unemployment as a consequence of COVID-19
- how can employers and HEIs work to avoid exacerbating the disparities already seen amongst such graduate groups entering the labour market
- the digital divide - the impact of the rise in technology-driven forms of employment and recruitment on under-represented groups
- work experience:
- what can be learned from the development of virtual internships in offering opportunities for socially distanced work experience during the pandemic
- options for businesses, including maintaining access to short term work opportunities, such as internships and placements, particularly for disadvantaged graduates and those without professional connections
- policy - options for government such as subsidies for employers to maintain access to internships and placements, and establishment of a youth employment taskforce to monitor the situation in the post COVID period and investigate possible policy solutions
Developments that are relevant to the discussion:
- COVID-19 - universities going into lockdown due to high rates of positive cases amongst the student body and concerns that:
- this will lead to a number of students leaving their courses and subsequently affecting their employment opportunities
- the increased use of remote access could impact the quality and breadth of careers advice and delivery of course
- the overall jobs market - expectation that the UK is likely to see a large increase in unemployment in the coming months, which will potentially lead to an increase in the number of graduates in ‘non-graduate’ jobs, with concern from the Secretary of State that even prior to the pandemic 34% of graduates were in ‘non graduate’ jobs, the 3rd highest in Europe
- recruitment - the Institute of Student Employers employer survey finding that respondents have reduced their planned recruitment for this year by 23%, and almost 40% of employers are yet to finalise their hiring plans for the coming year
- graduate confidence - attitudes to future prospects in light of the pandemic, with recent research finding that 63% of students have seen applications put on hold or paused, as well as a 73% decline in graduate vacancies with each graduate position now seeing competition from over 100 graduates
- the TEF - uncertainty surrounding its future and how teaching excellence will be measured in the UK universities following the COVID-19 pandemic
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders.
This conference looks no different. Places have been reserved by officials from BEIS; the Department for Education; the Cabinet Office; the DWP; the DCMS; the Department for Communities, NI; the Department for International Trade; the Government Equalities Office; the Ministry of Justice; the Department for the Economy, NI; the Valuation Office Agency; and the Welsh Government.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
