ABSTRACT
Ask any student on any programme of study to explain his or her motivation and there is a fair chance that the answer will be to get a good or better job.
FROM GUIDANCE TO EMPLOYABILITY
In the past, career education, information and guidance (CEIG) for most graduates sat outside the curriculum and was given little attention until the final year of study. Participation was often limited to collecting a schedule for the annual ‘milk round’. Today however ‘employability’ is a central concept for students, employers and universities themselves. Universities know that applicants, parents and employers all pay particular attention to the graduate employment column in newspaper league tables. In parallel with the increased public information on employment indicators, CEIG has grown more complex and has become more closely integrated with programme content. Key skills, curricular focus and teaching input will all reflect the consensus on the need f or students to enter the world of work with something useful to offer. Additionally, issues around student access to customized information that is relevant and up to date have been revolutionized with developments in IT that have changed the whole practice of CEIG. With this shift from narrow, extracurricular, reactive CEIG arrangements to a complex, integrated, proactive and student-centred and more strategic approach, the focus on QA and QE have been in the foreground.
