ABSTRACT
Personal Development Planning is a process which involves keeping track of students’ professional development as a researcher and reflecting on the skills that they acquire during the course of their research. Industrial links and awareness of the challenges faced by engineering companies are viewed as key factors in adding value to any engineering educational provision. Embedding employability into core degree curricula has been a priority of stakeholders such as the government, universities, FE colleges, and employers for quite a while. A CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey states that businesses look first and foremost for graduates with the right attitudes and aptitudes, those that will enable them to be effective in the workplace; nearly nine in ten employers rank these in their top considerations. Technical knowledge still remains essential and paramount, but there is a clear realization that cross-cutting skills, skills that enable graduates to become innovative developers and users of knowledge, are equally important for industry to remain competitive.
