Hear from AGCAS


Elaine Boyes joined AGCAS as Executive Director in January 2016. Here, she reflects on some of the main issues present during her first few months in post and the impact of a shifting higher education landscape.


I had a list of relevant topics I was planning to talk about. We live in fast-moving times: by the time I had started writing, the list did not read like the most pertinent narrative. So, I sit at my desk knowing that by the time you read this some of my comments may well be out of date.


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Measuring success The one constant, as I write, is the sense of uncertainty across the sector. AGCAS, like many with a vested interest in higher education, awaits the next phase in the consultation on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). What will this mean for students, the wider higher education sector and the daily lives of our 2,700+ members? If we embed employability into the teaching framework, what will it look like? How will we measure success? For the 80% of graduate roles that do not require a specific degree subject, how do we ensure that students leave university with the right skills and attributes?


We also need to ensure that the data we collect, and how we measure success, truly supports the evolving needs of a wide range of users - students, graduates and employers. To this end, AGCAS has been supporting HESA in developing


28 00 Graduate Recruiter | www.agr.org.uk


hen I offered to pen my first column for Graduate Recruiter


the consultation on changes to the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DHLE) survey, as part of the destinations and outcomes review.


Value for money In the face of uncertainty, we have become masters of juggling often conflicting perspectives. There has been much debate in the media, at government level and, unquestionably, amongst parents across the country about the value for money of higher education. New reports appear daily querying whether graduates earn more and, if so, how much more and is it sufficiently more to justify the fees? Other reports talk about the widespread failure to promote social mobility through higher education. However, since many of these reports are based on subsets of the UK higher education and graduate labour markets, they rarely show the full picture.


Return on investment The current higher education landscape, with increasingly prominent references to students as consumers, return on investment and students’ expectations in the consumerist market, is a challenging environment for us all. A government policy highly focused on the skills agenda and with a clear view on the role of universities in this agenda adds significant


pressure. The debate around the potential for employment outcomes, student satisfaction ratings and teaching quality measures to impact on raising fees continues to be hotly contested.


Employer engagement It is incumbent upon higher education careers and employability professionals to strike a balance between students’ expectations, the realities of the graduate labour market, and the requirements of ‘UK Ltd’. Equally, our role is to ensure that both employers and students are well informed about the transferability of degrees. This brings us full circle to the well-aired graduate attributes debate and its place in our respective worlds. I know many AGCAS members value the opportunity to engage with their employer partners and share our challenges in evidencing impact and return on investment.


During my short time with AGCAS, I have been impressed by the varied ways in which member institutions and employers are working together, from collaborating on degree programmes, providing valuable work experience, offering mentoring and delivering guest lectures. We have received a number of approaches from other countries seeking advice on how to support graduate employability and on best practice in employer engagement. As typical Brits, while we focus on identifying what we do not do well, we forget to enjoy the areas of employer/university collaboration that we do get right and that the rest of the world admires us for.


Across the country, there are a great many innovative collaborations and exciting new developments, all of which place employability at the heart of activity. So, have a biscuit with your coffee this morning - you deserve it.


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