Employability: what do we do about it? - Professor Lee Harvey Copenhagen Business School

Professor Harvey had worked in the area of employability for 20 years and wonders if there has been any progress.

He discussed the various definitions and they all contained skills, abilities or employment outcomes.

He asked the question is employability about a job or a culture? and said surely students have always wanted a job at the end but they come to University for an education.

He discussed employers always wanting endless lists of skills and attributes but it is an illusion there is one list often organisations want different things and within organistions they do not always agree. What he found was there was agreement on wanting students who were "willing to learn" and who had interactive skills such as communication, interpersonal skills and team working and these were often more important that the actual student grade. This was because what employers in all sectors wanted was someone who "fits in", "can interact effectively with all" and who can "transform".

He said there were various ways to adress employability and people had focused on modules, placements, threads through programmes and career planning. What was important was to include the following elements:

• Provide opportunities but students had to engage with these
• Encouraging engagement through pedagogy
• Enabling reflection on attributes
• Aiding articulation of abilities
• Should be built in not added.

The most important tool was work experience.