VIEWS & OPINION
49% of businesses report graduates lack vital employability skills - how can this be improved?
Comment by CLAIRE GRANADOS, Principal at business college Quest Professional
49% of businesses believe that a large proportion of ‘graduates do not have the skills expected of them at the point of hiring’ says the Association of Graduate Recruiters in its latest survey. This is a shocking statistic, particularly when you consider that the desire to find a job is amongst the top motivations for attending university. As a former business leader myself, now leading a business college focused
on equipping A-level and university leavers with the business acumen, employability and interview skills required to fast-track aspiring students into the world of work, I believe the lack of key skills amongst graduates is certainly an area in which UK institutions need to improve. I am passionate about ensuring young people have the skills they need to succeed in the world of work. Schools and universities need to examine the skills businesses require and build these into the courses offered to students enabling them to hit the ground running when starting their careers. Top of the list for businesses - and flagged by organisations as varied as
Microsoft and the BBC - is sector awareness. Candidates who can demonstrate they have a good awareness of the business and wider marketplace will move to the top of an employer’s hiring list. Knowledge of companies’ main competitors, their threats to expansion and governing principles will also impress an interviewer.
Also key are effective communication skills. This doesn’t just mean being
well-spoken in an interview - it also encompasses strong presentation skills, audience awareness, the ability to communicate as part of a team and knowing how to summarise information concisely. Developing and honing these skills before entering the workplace will ensure that students are able to confidently begin their careers and achieve success from the outset. Time management is also crucial. Teaching students not to be chained to
emails, to prioritise tasks and meet multiple deadlines is another important skill which cannot be gained solely through essay assignments. Good candidates should be able to demonstrate that they can cope with multiple tasks as well as perform under pressure. Strong team work is another essential skill. Very few university assignments
require students to work as part of a team and simple skills like communicating with colleagues and reporting to superiors are often lacking in graduates. Part of being a good team player is the ability to motivate others and foster a positive attitude. Employees who demonstrate a sullen or unmotivated demeanor are unlikely to progress no matter how competent they may be. On the flip side, employees who are polite, personable and enthusiastic to progress will always impress managers - and mark them out as future candidates to move up the corporate ladder.
Using virtual reality to fire our children’s imaginations Comment by SHAHAR BIN-NUN, CEO at Humaneyes, creators of the Vuze camera
Despite the burden of media hype and unrealistic expectation, virtual reality (VR) has come a long way since the launch of the first mainstream consumer devices of 2016. In the last two and a half years we have witnessed significant technological advances in the hardware and software used to create artificial realities but more encouragingly, a far greater understanding of how this powerful medium can be used to impact our day to day lives. The application of VR technology can now be found everywhere from business to healthcare, entertainment, construction, fashion, and even sports with football fans able to watch their team’s World Cup progress inside a VR headset and experience the match as if they were sat watching the game inside the stadium for the first time.
Changing learning in the classroom We believe, however, that the most important use of this technology is its ability to change the way we learn in the classroom. VR experiences, such as those provided by Google Expeditions, help students to see and experience amazing and even impossible-to-visit places, enriching the curriculum and doing so all from inside the classroom. These experiences in turn are also inspiring students and teachers, to then create and capture their own VR experiences using footage from 360° cameras.
July/August 2018
Lowering barriers to adoption We know that VR videos can be really powerful in aiding the learning process, which is why we have dedicated ourselves to lowering the biggest barriers to adoption by building affordable, easy to use cameras to capture immersive, high resolution 3D footage. The cameras provide video that looks great on a desktop or mobile but more importantly transitions seamlessly into a VR experience and allows the viewer to see the footage they have captured stereoscopically in 3D, capturing compelling moments just the way they were experienced.
The most exciting part of the journey We believe VR has a key place in the classroom for educators but much like how the wider VR industry has exponentially moved forward over the last two and a half years, the adoption of VR as a tool for education still has a long way to go. The good news is that we are at the most exciting part of the journey. As we put the technology in the hands of students and teachers and give them the tools they need to create new ideas and use cases, it helps us collectively understand the true potential of this technology.
www.education-today.co.uk 25
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
