Transnational Education (TNE) and Graduate Employability Project

 

Dear colleague, We are seeking your help with a project funded by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) exploring how employability is embedded in the curriculum for transnational education (TNE) programmes (e.g. branch campuses, partner-supported programmes, double and joint degrees, and distance learning programmes), and the ways in which UK HE providers support employability for students studying for their degrees overseas in other ways. Around 250,000 students are actively studying for UK degrees via TNE, but little is known about how approaches to employability used in UK-based programmes compare with practice on TNE programmes. We would like you to send us brief examples of innovative and effective approaches in the form of short vignettes (mini-case studies), and also your perspectives on the challenges that institutions face in embedding employability in TNE programmes. We provide more information about the kinds of examples that we are looking for in the attached guidance document. If you consider that employability in TNE programmes is not an issue for your institution we would also like you to let us know and provide us with some information about why this is the case. The project is working to a tight deadline, so we would be very grateful to receive your submission by Friday 17th October. If you have any queries about the project, then please contact Steve Woodfield or Robin Mellors-Bourne. Transnational Education (TNE) and Graduate Employability Project: Call for Evidence Summary: A research team comprising Robin Mellors-Bourne (CRAC), Steve Woodfield (Kingston University) and Elspeth Jones have been commissioned by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) to look into employability development within TNE (transnational education) programmes, an issue that is currently under-researched but which is often an important dimension of UK TNE for students. As part of this project we are contacting UK HE institutions to identify and collect some examples of innovative and effective practice around how HE providers embed the development of employability within the curriculum in all types of TNE programmes (including distance learning, flying faculty and partnership arrangements). We are seeking examples from a mix of subject areas, countries of delivery, levels of study, and institutions. The other dimensions of the project are a literature review and interviews with a sample of TNE alumni. The overall aims of the project are to distil and illustrate areas of innovative and effective practice, identify the key challenges faced by institutions, and then make recommendations that can support the HEA's work around employability and internationalisation and wider sector activity on TNE and employability.   Definitions: We recognise that the terms 'employability' and ‘TNE’ do not have widely accepted definitions, however our project uses definitions adopted by the HEA that take a broad, but student-focused, approach. · Employability: A set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy (Knight and Yorke, 2003) · Transnational education (TNE): Award- or credit-bearing learning undertaken by students who are based in a different country from that of the awarding institution (Adapted from the Council of Europe’s statement on TNE (2002)   Categories of innovative and effective practice: We are open to receiving a range of different types of innovative and effective practice on this topic, and recognise that HE providers approach employability development in different ways. The list below provides some examples of potential areas of such practice, but these are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive: · A particular institutional policy or strategy that addresses the concept of employability in TNE programmes (e.g. an international, education, or employability strategy) · The creation or development of institutional roles or structures that focus on embedding employability for TNE students (e.g. a specific TNE focus in careers, alumni, academic development) · Examples of how the curriculum for TNE programmes has been designed or adapted to develop employability and ensure its relevance for overseas delivery (e.g. study skills, language training, localised content, local placements) · The use of the co-curriculum to provide support for employability through offering modules or training focused on employability skills (e.g. interviews, CV writing, entrepreneurship, volunteering opportunities) · Initiatives around the pedagogical approach designed to help foster employability in TNE programmes (e.g. developing critical thinking and problem-based learning linked to employability) · Ways in which collaboration with educational partners overseas has helped to support employability (e.g. via curriculum co-design, building links with employers, organising work placements) · Links with key stakeholders in countries of delivery and in the UK (e.g. employers, professional bodies, local and national government, regulatory agencies) to support the employability and employment opportunities of TNE graduates (e.g. recognition schemes, work placements) · Addressing employability in approaches to the quality assurance of TNE when considering the academic quality and comparability of individual TNE programmes · Quality enhancement activity to facilitate staff or student engagement with the development or embedding of employability within the curriculum. We would also like your perspectives on what you consider to be the main challenges around employability in TNE programmes, and how these might be addressed. Again these are many and varied, and depend on the type of TNE and delivery context, but could include: · Managing expectations of partners and students · Ensuring comparability of UK and overseas study for quality assurance purposes · Addressing issues of equity between UK-based and TNE provision in learning, teaching and assessment · Engagement in in quality enhancement activities · Embedding employability through engaging students and staff on TNE programmes · Achieving relevance with an employability focus in local TNE delivery contexts · Recognition of TNE qualifications by governments and employers · Students’ and employers’ perceptions of the value of TNE for graduate employability Format and process: We are seeking vignettes - short case studies - of innovative and effective practice, and brief perspectives on the challenges of employability in TNE from your institution. These need only be a few paragraphs of text in an email or Word document (up to 750 words). We would be very grateful if you could structure each vignette in the following way: 1. Name of your institution 2. Basic information about the organisational unit, or TNE programme (e.g. programme name, country of delivery, TNE type, partner institution, subject, level of study), that is the focus of the innovative or effective practice 3. Category (or categories) of innovative or effective practice in relation to employability 4. Summary of your approach and why you consider it to be particularly innovative or effective 5. Your plans to further develop and/or disseminate this area of innovative or effective practice 6. Names and roles of key staff member(s), also the details for a key contact in case we would like further information and clarification. For each challenge please could you briefly summarise:   1. The nature of the challenge 2. Why it is an issue for your institution and your key stakeholders (e.g. students, employers, government) 3. Your ideas on how this challenge could best be addressed by your institution, the wider HE sector and national governments. We will summarise in our reporting trends emerging from the challenges and the examples of innovative and effective practice, but would like to include selected edited versions of the vignettes in our report, following agreement with you. All data and contact details collected during the project will be stored securely and will be destroyed two years following the completion of the project. We will share the data with the HEA to support its work in developing and refreshing the Internationalisation Framework and the Employability Framework.   Timescales and outcomes: We would be grateful if could you send your contributions to Steve Woodfield (s.woodfield@kingston.ac.uk) by Friday 17th October 2014. However, if you have any particular difficulties meeting this deadline then please contact us to discuss how best to include your contribution. If you are aware of other examples of innovative and effective practice outside your institution, please do let us know. Once the study is complete, we will include all contributors to our research within dissemination activity for the project. If you have any queries about this request, or about the wider project, then please contact either Steve or Robin Mellors-Bourne (Robin.Mellors-Bourne@crac.org.uk). About the Higher Education Academy The Higher Education Academy (HEA) is the national body for learning and teaching in higher education. We work with universities and other higher education providers to bring about change in learning and teaching. We do this to improve the experience that students have while they are studying, and to support and develop those who teach them. For more recent news, events and funding opportunities, subscribe to Academy Update and follow us on twitter @HEAcademy. 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