University-employer links increase graduate employability

Engaging with employers to design curricula that hold student employability as a core priority boosts the likelihood of graduates finding work, suggests new research by the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).

The survey considered results from 200 UK universities and colleges, reviewed since 2010.

The benefits of maintaining close university-employer links reportedly include gaining work-relevant skills and knowledge to enter into the workforce, and being able to keep up to date with the skill-based demands of local employers.

Oliver Lester, a first-year Economics student, criticised promoting employability in university curricula: “Focusing on employability when deciding what we study seems to suggest that we only go to university to get a job.”

Warwick University’s WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) recently announced that it is to enroll up to 600 employees of Jaguar Land Rover in undergraduate level in product and manufacturing engineering.

Warwick’s head of press and policy, Peter Dunn, remarked: “Employability for the rest of our undergraduate courses is developed through cross-degree student skills programmes.”

Cameron Mason, a member of Warwick for Free Education who campaigns against cuts to education funding in the UK, commented: “Letting private companies gain influence over the education system sets a worrying precedent; should anyone with the means to do so be able to control what students are learning?

“The introduction of any kind of bias or agenda, in this case the desire for profit, fundamentally corrupts the purpose of university.”

The report precedes a primary research project carried out by the University of Warwick in collaboration with market research firm IFF Research on the impact of employability programmes offered to students by universities and colleges. The Warwick report is due to be published in April.