The University of Aberdeen’s Careers Service has been successful in its collaborative bid for £107,000 of funding to support two projects designed to enhance the employability of international students.
The funding provided by the Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Challenge Fund is part of a scheme which aims to attract and retain bright, motivated and hard-working people to live, work and study in Scotland to support economic growth.
This project in collaboration with Dundee & Herriot-Watt Universities will provide the following employment sectors as case studies for students to explore: Finance; Energy; Construction; Life Sciences; Management & Consultancy; Public Sector/Not-for-Profit; Engineering & Manufacturing; Retail & Logistics.
The first project, which is in collaboration with Dundee and Herriot-Watt Universities, is designed to enable international students to gain learning outcomes associated with traditional employer-based work placements, via campus-based and online provision. As part of the project a series of industrial case studies in sectors including Finance; Energy; Construction; Life Sciences; Management & Consultancy; Public Sector/Not-for-Profit; Engineering & Manufacturing; Retail & Logistic, will be developed and made available to international students to enhance their employability skills and develop the business awareness which employers seek.
Each case study will be designed to give students the opportunity to work in groups on a real industry-based problem, gain an insight into the nature of the work and the prevailing commercial and time pressures, and practise relevant employability skills such as team working, time management and presentation skills.
The case studies will be constructed in such as way that they can be delivered flexibly over either a single class, afternoon workshop or as part of a relevant course.
The second project will focus on sourcing and arranging short work placements for international postgraduate students to enhance the impact and value of their study experience in Scotland. This work will be carried out in partnership with the University Careers Services at Dundee, Glasgow and Stirling. The scheme will complement the existing Placement Development Unit based at the University's Careers Service which secures and offers summer placements opportunities for penultimate year students from across the three Colleges.
Peter Fantom, Head of the Careers Service said: "I'm delighted that the Careers Service will be able to expand our work placement and work-related learning provision. Both projects will help develop innovative and effective ways of supporting our growing number of international students."
The funding will run in academic years 2008/09, and 2009/10 giving international students additional support to enhance their employability and integrate into Scottish life
For more information on the services offered by the University of Aberdeen Careers Service visit http://www.abdn.ac.uk/careers/, email href="mailto:careers@abdn.ac.uk">careers@abdn.ac.uk</a> or call 01224 272109.