In this section you will find examples of student focused activities that Bridges CETL supported or funded to enhance students' PDP and employability.
B:Fest, Luton community Arts Festival was initiated and organised by the Bedfordshire Media Arts Department. It engaged many student volunteers and staff from across the University, local artists, companies and sponsors. The Project aimed to inspire excellence across all artistic genres and bring inspirational artistic works to Luton. The Festival was largely supported by Bridges in 2008 and 2009 and became self-sustaining in 2010. An increase in students’ employability and their co-operation with local employers, are the key outcomes of the initiative.
Who’s
the Bigger Fish? happened for the fourth time in 2010. Initiated by the
CPCD and co-operatively organised with Bridges, it aimed to
provide an alternative way for Business School students to demonstrate
how their skills, knowledge and experiences meet with employer
expectations, using a competition format to accelerate the learning
experience, while creating new opportunities for employer engagement. Working in a competitive setting helped students develop a sense of community as well as bridging the gap to employment.
Flux
is the key annual
inter-university competition that bridges the gap between education and
the
world of work. Bridges funded a team of six students to compete at the
National Competition in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, Bridges coached 36
students to gain various employability and enterprise skills and
organised an intra-university competition to select the best students.
As a result, the Bedfordshire team won the National Flux 2010 against tough
competition from 32 other universities. A large part of the success was down to the tight-knit community of the Flux team.
The Junior Research
Institute (jRI) is an extension of the existing research community
across the
University. The jRI initiative was born as a
result of the work the T&L Directorate has been doing in the area of
Research Informed Teaching (RiT). jRI engages students as partners in their subject research
community.
Organised by the CETL Student Liaison Officer, the Conference brought together around 55 students, academic staff and guest speakers from: Servisair, BUNAC, i-to-i, Tourism Society, Marriott Hotels and TUI. The main aim of the event was to link students from leisure, travel, tourism and event management programmes with the employers from the local travel and tourism companies.
Mediatrain and Going Professional bring vocational practice to the heart of the academic curriculum in the Media School. During the Going Professional course, all second year students research job roles in the media, write CVs and apply for work experience schemes. In Year Three the same students can opt to take the Mediatrain unit. Mediatrain is not a taught course; it’s a preparation for working in the media. The lecturer sets up work experience opportunities with media companies and productions for local organisations in the voluntary and public sectors.
Bridges had a presence on the committee of the SLTN for the last three years. The Network promotes students as active and valid members of learning communities. It was formerly established and run by students working with CETLs across the country and later engaged several students from universities, which didn’t have a CETL. Due to the CETLs end, the Network is sustained via an independent partnership with HEA that now oversee the Network’s functionality. As a result, more students now get actively engaged in their learning and share their work with others.
The
website was created as a direct result of the U CRe8 Club workshops and the
need to bring the topics of PDP and employability to the attention of the wider student community.
Students were given a space where they could download workshop materials, see
profiles of students actively involved in T&L, play PDP games, read more
about PDP and e-portfolios as well as publish, share and market their work to
others.
The U CRe8 Club was an initiative that helped students to explore the world of work and to develop and articulate their skills gained at university or on their work experience during studying. It aimed to support the curriculum and to guide students to their further personal development planning (PDP) and employability through developing a community of ‘students 4 students’. To adopt this kind of practice, it is crucial to attract and then engage students in a way that suits them. Ideally, it is recommended to create, develop and sustain student communities within departments that will be willing to do industry related workshops for other students, mentor them or work on their own little projects.
