QAA Focus On - Graduate Skills

What is Focus On?

QAA Scotland's Focus On projects help the sector address recommendations and commendations from Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR). Focus On ties these outcomes to developmental activities, resources and events that the whole sector can get involved in. Projects last one academic year (from October to June). We try to focus on the most practical things that can help colleagues make a real difference in a short space of time.

Why graduate skills?

With debate on apprenticeships and skills high on the agenda in higher education, Focus On: Graduate Skills was relevant and timely. This project built on our previous work, including the Graduates for the 21st Century Enhancement Theme.

We identified topics relating to graduate skills in Enhancement-led Institutional Review (ELIR) Outcome Reports and in our Thematic Report on Employability and Graduate Attributes. We then consulted Scottish higher education institutions and students’ associations to identify priority areas. As a result, the project considered:

Readiness for Employment: how can we most effectively embed skills inside and outside the curriculum, including digital skills, for graduates from all disciplines?
Equality and Diversity: how can we support students from all backgrounds and characteristics to develop skills that will help them to secure and sustain success in the workplace?
Global Perspective: how do we ensure that all Scottish graduates are enabled to live and work in a global society, and that the Scottish sector is informed by global developments?

We have published two reports highlighting the key findings from the commissioned work and events held during this project.

Focus On Graduate Skills: Views from students graduates and employers

Publication date: 19 Sep 2019

This document reports on the key findings of the two commissioned projects carried out for Focus On: Graduate Skills. The two projects explored the views of students, graduates and employers on the skills students develop during their time in higher education in Scotland.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	1.07 MB

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Key findings from Sharing Practice and Shaping Strategy events

Publication date: 11 Dec 2019

This document presents key messages and links to all resources from two flagship Focus On events we held in June 2019 - Sharing Practice and Shaping Strategy.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	1.22 MB

We commissioned two projects.

Graduate Skills: Students Views
Graduate Skills: Graduate and Employer Views

These projects worked together to analyse the views of current students, graduates and employers on the skills developed by students at higher education institutions in Scotland, and to answer the following questions:

What is the sector doing well, and where could it do better?
How is the sector ensuring that appropriate digital skills are developed by graduates in all disciplines and subject areas?
How is the sector ensuring that all students (irrespective of background and different characteristics) are able to access the full range of skills development opportunities offered in higher education?
How is the sector ensuring that graduates are equipped to live and work in a global society?

Graduate Skills: Students Views

A team from the University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art led the Graduate Skills: Students Views project. The team brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise on the development of graduate skills and attributes in higher education.

Their exciting approach to research and engaging students in the project helped us to analyse the views of current students on the skills they are developing through their studies. We present this material in a way that helps individuals, institutions and the sector as a whole develop new policies and practices in this vital area.

Focus on Graduate Skills: Student Views on Graduate skills

Publication date: 25 Sep 2019

QAA Scotland commissioned the authors of this report to research the views of current students on their development of graduate skills. This report covers the findings of this research. It provides an analysis of student views on the skills they are developing through their studies at Scottish HEIs. It also highlights examples of good practice, and offers insight into potential gaps in provision. This work was complete as part of the Focus On: Graduate Skills project.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	1.61 MB

Introduction to the student views research project

Publication date: 08 May 2019

The document outlines the project team and provides a summary of the project which aims to analyse the views of current students on the skills they are developing through their studies at higher education institutions in Scotland. This work was completed as part of the Focus On: Graduate Skills project.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	2.02 MB

Graduate Skills: Graduate and Employer Views

Graduates’ and Employers’ Views of Graduate Skills Development

Publication date: 27 Aug 2019

QAA Scotland commissioned AGCAS Scotland to conduct research into employers' and graduates' views of the skills developed by students at Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs). This report provides up-to-date examples of good practice, insights into gaps in provision, and areas for development. The project surveyed 247 recent graduates of Scottish HEIs, mainly those who graduated in 2017-19, along with 30 employers from a range of sectors and company sizes. Two accompanying appendix are also available; Appendix 1: Survey Design and Questions; Appendix 2: Survey Responses by Characteristics.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	1.67 MB

Appendix 1: Survey Design and Questions

Publication date: 27 Aug 2019

This appendix details the survey design and questions, and relates to the full report - Graduates' and Employers' Views of Graduate Skills Development report. QAA Scotland commissioned AGCAS Scotland to conduct research to understand the perspectives of graduates in all degree disciplines, to examine access to skills development opportunities and understand whether a range of degrees offer appropriate digital skills and prepare graduates to live and work in a global society.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.12 MB

Appendix 2: Survey Responses by Characteristics

Publication date: 27 Aug 2019

This appendix details survey responses by characteristic including graduates’ course category, year of graduation, and destination, and employer sector, size, and levels of graduate recruitment. This appendix relates to the full report Graduates' and Employers' Views of Graduate Skills Development report. QAA Scotland commissioned AGCAS Scotland to conduct research to understand the perspectives of graduates in all degree disciplines, to examine access to skills development opportunities and understand whether a range of degrees offer appropriate digital skills and prepare graduates to live and work in a global society.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.56 MB

On 5 December 2018 QAA Scotland guest-hosted the #LTHEchat on the subject of 'Graduate Skills'. We used this tweetchat to ask a series of questions about how higher education institutions and providers can better support student to develop the skills they will need to thrive in their lives and work following their studies. The whole conservation was captured on Tweetchat.

sharing practice and shaping strategy visual minutes

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Summary Booklet

Publication date: 31 Oct 2019

This booklet summarises the 2018-19 Focus On project, Graduate Skills. It includes an overview of the project, information about the two research reports, and information, photographs, and illustrations from the two events.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	2.37 MB

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Key Findings from Research Reports

Publication date: 31 Oct 2019

This postcard summarises the key findings from our two research reports on the views of students, graduates and employers about graduate skills. It includes questions developed to stimulate discussion in your institution or students’ association. This work is part of the Focus On: Graduate Skills project. This work is part of the Focus On: Graduate Skills project.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.54 MB

Other related publications

Employability and Graduate Attributes: Thematic Report update 2018

Publication date: 05 Nov 2018

In 2017 we produced a Thematic Report on employability and graduate attributes. This report provides an overview of sector activity in this area as at the beginning of the 2018-19 academic session. The intelligence on which this update is based is the reports produced by institutions at the end of the first year of the current Enhancement Theme, along with the Technical Reports published for the first two reviews of the ELIR 4 cycle (Queen Margaret University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). It is likely that there is additional activity in the sector that is not captured here.

Author:	QAA Scotland
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.03 MB

Employability and the austerity decade

Publication date: 17 Jan 2019

This paper written by Dr Vicky Gunn and Mr Klaus Kafmann, University of Glasgow is from the Graduates for the 21st Century Enhancement Theme built on the previous work in the Employability Enhancement Theme in response to the austerity faced by both staff and students.

Author:	University of Glasgow
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.22 MB

Thinking strategically about employability and graduate attributes: Universities and enhancing learning for beyond university

Publication date: 17 Jan 2019

This discussion paper sets the background for the relationship between employability and graduate attributes and discusses challenges to the employability agenda. It then considers a number of conceptual models for mapping employability attributes. It itemises the key decisions which need to be made at programme design level and lists current projects and their outcomes which help in making these decisions.

Author:	Dr Vicky Gunn, Ms Sheena Bell and Mr Klaus Kafmann
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.31 MB

What is topical/emergent in Employability?

Publication date: 17 Jan 2019

This provides a brief introduction to trends related to Employability that were emergent at the time of writing. As employment is affected by the UK's fiscal situation, the role of the university in enabling students' employability is thrown into stark relief.

Author:	Dr Vicky Gunn, Ms Sheena Bell and Mr Klaus Kafmann
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.20 MB

Enhancing research-teaching linkages as a way to improve the development of employability attributes

Publication date: 17 Jan 2019

This discussion paper written by Dr Vicky Gunn, University of Glasgow provides an overview of the ways in which research-teaching linkages could be enhanced to improve the development of employability attributes. It looks at the background and past practices in the area and highlights the academics' ambivalent relationship with employability.

Author:	University of Glasgow
Format:	PDF
Size:	0.32 MB

What is Focus On?

Why graduate skills?

Outcome Reports

Focus On Graduate Skills: Views from students graduates and employers

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Key findings from Sharing Practice and Shaping Strategy events

Research projects

Graduate Skills: Students Views

Focus on Graduate Skills: Student Views on Graduate skills

Introduction to the student views research project

Graduate Skills: Graduate and Employer Views

Graduates’ and Employers’ Views of Graduate Skills Development

Appendix 1: Survey Design and Questions

Appendix 2: Survey Responses by Characteristics

Tweetchat and Events

sharing practice and shaping strategy visual minutes

Further information

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Summary Booklet

Focus On: Graduate Skills - Key Findings from Research Reports

Other related publications

Employability and Graduate Attributes: Thematic Report update 2018

Employability and the austerity decade

Thinking strategically about employability and graduate attributes: Universities and enhancing learning for beyond university

What is topical/emergent in Employability?

Enhancing research-teaching linkages as a way to improve the development of employability attributes