Career Readiness: Meeting students where they are : Case studies in strategy and practice

Abstract

Career Readiness: Meeting students where they are - Case studies in strategy and practice is an edited compendium offering insights into the ways in which universities have taken data-informed approaches to Careers and Employability strategy and operations based on the Career Readiness / Careers Registration (CR) approach.

Initiated by Bob Gilworth and his team at the University of Leeds in 2012, the Careers Registration process collects Career Readiness data with the aim of understanding where students are on their career development journeys, at organisational scale, and meeting them where they are with appropriate careers and employability engagement and support.

Since 2012, CR has been the subject of national learning gain projects in the UK and Australia and has been adopted by many universities in the UK and by universities in Ireland, Portugal, Australia, and New Zealand. CR continues to be developed and adapted with many developments being discussed within the CR+ group, a mutually supportive network of international institutions exchanging insights from their experience of CR. Drawing on this community of practice, the book shares examples of innovative strategy and practice through case studies contributed by a variety of practitioners in UK and Australia.

The case studies are organised around four key themes: critical success factors involved in both making CR happen and making it work; using CR in the configuration and communication of the careers and employability offer to students; using CR in partnership across the careers and employability ecosystem; and using CR within institutional strategy. Introductory and concluding chapters situate the case studies within the broader context.

This publication is intended to be of interest to a broad range of people in and around higher education who are interested in how universities engage with and support their students to create fulfilling futures.

Dr. Bob Gilworth has been in leadership roles in Higher Education Careers and Employability for around 25 years and is now at the University of Huddersfield engaged in teaching, research and consultancy in the field. In 2022, Bob was awarded the AGCAS President’s Medal for outstanding and sustained contribution. He is a past President and Research Director of AGCAS, a Fellow of NICEC, and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Sandie Townsley has worked with Bob to conduct research into the implementation of CR in higher education drawing on her previous experience in strategy consulting and data-led decision support.