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| Has it come to this? |
Employability, employability, employability. The
University of Kent is nuts about the word and rightly so. The Blair government
had a proclaimed target of 50% of school leavers attending higher education.
Where I agree with the principle of free and accessible education for all as a
principle, I do not necessarily believe that having a figures based target such
as 50% was necessarily the right way to go about achieving this aim. I
personally believe that University is great for many but for many it isnt the
only definition of success and for some its just simply not for them. All who
are willing and capable of studying at Degree level should be able to do so but
I wonder whether we can pluck this figure out of the air and make a policy
based upon it.
However, the point is that many more people have a degree
now than ever before. I recently heard someone say that nowadays having a
masters' degree is the equivolent to having a degree thirty years ago. The
University of Kent's strategy is certainly focussed towards the growth of
postgraduate numbers, particularly oversees students and as was to be expected,
following the rise in undergraduate tuition fees to £9,000 a rise in
postgraduate fees has fallen upon us. From my perspective this must partly be
due to the need to maintain the perception of the value and quality of a
postgraduate degree. However, support for postgraduates financially is not as
robust as it is for undergraduates and often postgraduates are forced to hold
down a part time job (particuarly challenging at postgraduate level especially
for a highly condensed one-year taught course) or take out a personal loan.
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| Impressive Woolf Lecture Theatre near Postgraduate accommodation at the Canterbury Campus |
Whether you are considering a postgraduate degree or not
its fair to say that if you are 21, freshly graduated with no work experience
you are going to find it harder to walk into a job then our parents' generation
did thirty years ago. So what are you going to do about it? My answer to this
question is to take your fate into your own hands... get out there and develop
your skills through volunteering. There are many ways you could do this
including going directly to charitable organsations or community groups in the
local area or you can pop up to the activities centre above essentials and
speak to Steph our volunteering co-ordinator or myself about the wide range of
opportunities available.
Another way that thousands of students at the University
of Kent are making themselves more employable is by being involved in a
society, CSR, Inquire or a student led volunteer group. Many people get involved
in these projects because they have a passion for them not necessarily thinking
about how they are passively developing the skills and knowledge that could be
the clincher in that first job interview.
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| The University runs a scheme offering intern ships and other rewards for students who have gone the extra mile |
In February during the sabbatical elections I was
fortunate enough to be able to meet with Karl Leydecker the Dean of Humanities
a few months esarlier I had been informed by Sam O'Hana (English School rep) of
a possible opportunity. Humanities had expressed an interest in organising
sessions for students during the third term which could develop employability
skills for students. As any society will tell you funds are hard to come by and
sponsors are not very forthcoming in these austere times. So Sam set up a
meeting for us all.
What Happened Next?
We proposed that the leaders of these sessions could be
students sharing their own skills and experience gained through
extra-curricular activities on campus and in-turn further developing thier own
skills through presentation and training. Each student led group whether
society or volunteering group would lead a 90 minute session open to all
students and be funded £150 by the faculty of Humanities towards their yearly
activities. There were nine sessions planned with a trial total of £3,000
funding from Humanities. The first sessions were held last week with Kent
Technical Services organising two techinical sessions; one in lighting and one
in sound for musical gigs. Feedback was excellent and their hands-on session
was very popular. Considering the specialist nature of the sessions the up-take
was also pleasing.
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Sessions are ongoing to the end of term on Wednesdays ,
they are free and everyone is welcome. If you would like to reserve yourself a
place you can e-mail standout@kent.ac.uk.
Be sure to check out the programme below as there are some exciting options to
chose from and you can join as many sessions as you like. You'll also be
helping to put up between £1,500 to £3,000 back into the coffers of societies
to be spent on student activities.
Whatever stage of your degree you are at its worth checking out the wealth of knowledge available through the Careers advisory service provided by the University.
