Professor of Biomechanical Engineering
Prior to the launch of the graduate attributes workstream, SEMS developed a graduate attributes project to ensure that their students were aware of the range of skills they were learning during their degree. The project provides a useful example of one approach to graduate attributes at School or Institute level.
Staff looked at various sources to find a list of the ideal attributes for a SEMS graduate. This involved resurfacing the skills already being learnt as part of the programmes, along with considerable input from industry leaders and employers.
The result was a list of around 50 attributes. After consultation with students, this was refined to 25 attributes which fell under 5 headings:
This allowed for a blend of soft skills such as verbal communication, self-development and critical thinking with hard skills that are integral to SEMS degrees, such as manufacturing techniques.
For all assessments, key graduate attributes were highlighted alongside them. For example, a piece of coursework could attract skills such as written communication and analytical skills. This fed into a student portfolio on QMPlus, giving students a bank of academic evidence to draw on when applying for jobs.
Students could also feel confident in expressing these skills to prospective employers, since these were the very skills that employers specified when SEMS reached out to them.
Staff within SEMS wanted to help their students prepare for the job market by encouraging them to reflect on the skills they were developing at university. They wanted to ensure that students had a clear understanding of what they had learned beyond the practical skills directly related to their programmes.
As such, they decided to embed within their programmes graduate attributes with a greater emphasis on improving soft skills.