Developing graduate attributes through a credit-bearing placements course

Wood, B. L. (2023) Developing graduate attributes through a credit-bearing placements course. Project Report. Employability in Programme Development (EPD); University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Dumfries Campus of the University of Glasgow has offered a placement course at undergraduate degree for many years. As a result, there is now a strong partnership between the university and most local environmental organisations, who are keen to have students on placements and who see them as future employees. There is the potential therefore for our students to boost local employment levels, and some of our graduates have successfully applied for positions in local environmental companies. The placement course is in lieu of a dissertation, worth 60 credits, and is available in semester 2 of the third year; about 70% of the cohort choose the placement option. Students have 300 credits and have acquired sufficient knowledge and understanding and practical skills to be of benefit to the placement organisation. As part of the teaching before students go out on placement, students write personal learning goals which are explicitly linked to the university’s graduate attributes matrix (University of Glasgow, 2023a). During the placement, the students keep a work-based journal within which they track the process of the personal learning goals and when achieved (or if they become irrelevant to the work undertaken) they create new goals. The benefits to the students are the articulation of their attainment of graduate attributes onto the CV and into their letters of application for the next stage of their career.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Additional Information: Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission.
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wood, Professor Bethan
• Authors: Wood, B. L.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Publisher: Employability in Programme Development (EPD); University of Glasgow

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