Building graduate employability awareness within a widening participation higher education provider setting

‘Graduate employment outcomes’ has emerged as the primary performance measure for Higher Education Providers and this thesis explores how employability skills can be improved within an institution with a widening participation student body. The researcher is the senior academic responsible for the institution in question and with graduate employment outcomes an issue of organisational survival, resolving this challenge is critical. Following an exploration of existing literature and finding that no existing framework encapsulates employment capabilities for widening participation students, a conceptual framework on employability was designed, and a scheme developed to improve graduate employment awareness. Utilising Action Research as a methodology, the scheme was implemented, reviewed and adjusted over four cycles exploring engagement and efficacy. Additionally, data was collected at key points in the research to gain an appreciation of students’ changing perceptions of their employment readiness both before and after completing the scheme, with student perceptions validated against proxy employer perceptions. The findings propose that student profile in terms of age, gender, work experience and first to attend university do impact a students’ perception of work readiness. Widening participation students over-estimate their understanding of the employability skills required in the workplace and their understanding of employers’ expectations. They lack confidence in their ability to succeed in the graduate marketplace, and are not confident in their appreciation of the industry or sector they wish to join. This thesis contributes to knowledge through the proposition of a framework and scheme to build awareness of employability skills in a widening participation student body in a scalable and manageable way, which builds student understanding and confidence in graduate employment readiness. It suggests an approach which engages students with complex personal lives in building employability skills through industry engagement and a whole-organisation approach which is both financially and organisationally deliverable.