welcome to the Business School  

Placements  with  Industry  Experience  in  Business  and  Management  Programmes  

Outline  11:00 Welcome and Outline Aims and Objectives of Workshop

Prof. David Boughey (Director of Student Engagement) Dr Elaine Dunn (Head, Business School Careers and Alumni Relations)

11:10 Placements in Programmes: Evidence from Across the Sector Prof. David Boughey

11:45 Launching and Running the “with Industrial Experience” programme Sandy Williams, Beate Wilmshurst (academic leads) Dr Elaine Dunn, Susannah Day (Careers and Alumni Relations leads)

12:35 The Higher Education Academy Richard Atfield (HEA Discipline Lead – Business and Management)

12:45 Lunch

13:30 Student Engagement, Experience and Advice Ryan Thompson and Chris Harper (Exeter WIE students [Ginsters / Accenture])

2:30 The Future of Placements – Panel and Group Discussion Prof. David Boughey

3:30 Coffee and Networking

… been here before…  

The Times, 6 December 1969, p. 16.

Placements in Programmes Evidence from Across the Sector  

David  Boughey  

The Placement Agenda  

Variety of terminology, usage, and purpose?

• Placement (old sandwiches); internships; work experience

• Employability – KPIs, value proposition, return on investment

Applicants, students and parents [better degree & employability]

Universities respond [look at marketing materials] and external

drivers [EQUIS, AACSB, AMBA] and support [QAA, ASET]

• Integrity and Authenticity of Learning

QAA Benchmarks  

General Business & Management (2007)

3.8 Business and management degrees are strongly related to practice and therefore there should be a strong link between the development of skills and employability of graduates.

4.2 There should be integration between theory and practice by a variety of means according to the mode of delivery including, for example, work-based learning, work experience or placement, exposure to business issues including employer-based case studies, visits and inputs from visiting practising managers.

View from Wilson  

A Review of Business-University Collaboration (2012)

“Despite the undoubted advantages of undertaking a placement, there has been a decline in this practice in recent years from 9.5 percent of the total full‐‐time cohort in 2002/2003 to 7.2 percent in 2009/2010. A small number of universities in the UK provide the majority of sandwich placements, in particular those with a tradition of sandwich courses: for example, Loughborough University, University of Surrey, University of Bath, Brunel University, Aston University, Bournemouth University and Ulster University” (Wilson, p. 38).

Since mid-90s, approx. 115,000 – 119,000; 115,805 in 2008/9, or 6.2% total UG.

36.7% FT first year Bus/Admin in 2008-9 expected to take 4 years (Languages 37.3%) [HESA, Student Introduction 2008/9, NB. same source as Wilson]

 

New Sandwich Students  

Figure 1 New Sandwich Entrants, total and “business”, 2007-2011

0  

5,000  

10,000  

15,000  

20,000  

25,000  

30,000  

35,000  

40,000  

45,000  

50,000  

2007/08   2008/09   2009/10   2010/11   2011/12  Notes: Total excludes 14% of first year population with no identified mode of study. Sandwich might not have any “industrial” filling. Red line indicates ‘N’ JACS (i.e. all the Business related codes) plus ‘L1’ (Economics). Blue is total new sandwich entrants. Source: HESA database

New Sandwich Students  

Figure 2 Percentage of new FT students on Sandwich degrees

Notes: As figure 1. Assumes all sandwich students are FT. “Business” = 19.48 and sector = 9.60 in 2011. Including PT reduces the % to 17.53 for “Business” and 8.2 for the sector. Source: HESA database

0  

5  

10  

15  

20  

25  

2007/08   2008/09   2009/10   2010/11   2011/12  

Distribution of New Entrants  

Figure 3 Concentration of New Sandwich Entrants, 2011-12

0  

500  

1,000  

1,500  

2,000  

2,500  

3,000  

3,500  

1   6   11   16   21   26   31   36   41   46   51   56   61   66  

Note: As for Figure 1. Source: HESA database

Top University Providers?  

Table 1 Top University & Business School Providers, by new entrants, 2011-12 (maybe…)

By University By Business School

University of the West of England 2,948 Leeds Metropolitan University 1,609

Leeds Metropolitan University 2,833 Sheffield Hallam University 1,296

Sheffield Hallam University 2,780 University of the West of England 1,030

University of Hertfordshire 2,765 Manchester Metropolitan University 1,002

Coventry University 2,738 University of Hertfordshire 890

University of Huddersfield 2,693 University of Portsmouth 837

University of Ulster 2,316 University of Ulster 770

University of Portsmouth 2,292 Bournemouth University 730

Modes of Placement Engagement  Mode   Example  

4  years  integrated,  paid  (employee),  and  leads  to  professional  qualificaMon  aNer  6  years.  Named  degree.  

BSc  AccounMng  –  Exeter,  with  KPMG  and  ICAS  

3  years  integrated,  paid.  Named  degree.  Workplace  learning.  

Barclays  with  NoYngham  Trent  and  Anglia  Ruskin  

4  years  “with  placement”  degree  a)  CompeMMve  external  b)  CompeMMve  internal  c)  Branded  degree  with  employer,  

therefore  guaranteed  through  admission  Could  be  120  credits  or  leads  to  30  –  60  credits  in  years  2  and  4;  also  2  x  6  months  

4  years  not  integrated  and  not  named   Student  interrupts  studies  for  a  year  

School Leaver Programmes  

Dominated by accounting firms

• KPMG – Exeter (ICAS), Birmingham (ICAS), Durham (ICAEW)

• PwC – Newcastle (ICAEW), Reading (ICAEW), Nottingham (ICAEW)

• EY – Lancaster (ICAS)

Placement Provision  

The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) conducts periodic surveys of member organisations.

• In 2011-12 53% AGR organisations offered sandwich / industrial placements (work placements at 31%, ie far from all)

• Some employer thinking that internships (8-10 weeks) easier to manage, and just as valuable to the employer.

• Decrease in proportion of AGR availability of placements 2011-12

Placement Recruitment – a snapshot  

Figure 4 How are Placements Marketed (view from the AGR)

Source: AGR

Some questions  

What is then the purpose of an undergraduate business degree?

“If then a practical end must be assigned to a University course, I say it is that of training good members of society. Its art is the art of social life, and its end is fitness for the world. It neither confines its views to particular professions on the one hand, nor creates heroes or inspires genius on the other” (Newman, [1852] 1960, p. 134).

Is there a risk of making students “employable” to the detriment of discipline content and the intellectual journey of a degree? (Does it matter?)

Slightly less philosophical questions  

We’ll pick-up on some of these during the rest of the morning and in the discussion this afternoon:

• Should placements be compulsory for business degrees?

• Should placements be assessed?

• Do placements reinforce barriers to entry to the job market?

• What future for studying abroad in the “3rd” year?

• What are the alternative models?

Links to Resources and Information  AGR www.agr.org.uk ASET www.asetonline.org Newman, J.H. (1960 [1852]). The Idea of a University. San Francisco: Rinehart. QAA (2007). General Business and Management. 165 02/07 http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/GeneralBusinessManagement.pdf QAA (2013). New Challenges, New Solutions: Quality Assurance of Placements http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Pages/NCNS-Placements.aspx Sharmila Devi, S. (2013). “Which make the best accountants – graduates or school leavers?” Financial Times, October 16. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7d4c11fa-29b2-11e3-9bc6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2nZgKh6U3 Wilson, T. (2012). A Review of Business-University Collaboration. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32383/12-610-wilson-review-business-university-collaboration.pdf

See also HEA resources on employability at:

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/disciplines/Soc_Sci/Strategic_2013/EmployabilityAndGlobal