Exclusive: An interview with Prof Christine Booth and Dr Simon Brown of Sheffield Hallam University (Part Two)
 In April 2006, JobStreet.com had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with two eminent academics from the Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom.
Prof Christine Booth is the University’s Executive Dean in the Faculty of Organisation and Management, responsible for the leadership and management of the Faculty as well as the Academic Work Planning within the University. She is an experienced planning practitioner, researcher and senior academic in the fields of planning practice, equal opportunities, gender and diversity.
 Dr Simon Brown is the Director of Enterprise in Teaching and Learning. His main responsibility at Sheffield Hallam is to support colleagues to improve the student learning experience. He leads the University’s employability and enterprise curriculum development, and is active in developing innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
Here is the second half of the interview with Prof Booth and Dr Brown. The questions were posed to them by Quah Seng Sun, JobStreet.com’s Content Manager who is also a certified resume writer. Click here to read the second half of the interview.
Interviewer: Do you believe that institutions should foster a closer working relationship with the private sectors (companies) in terms of revising course work to suit the marketplace? Will this place private institutions in a better position to work closely with the companies as compared to a public university? How important do you deem will be the roles/responsibilities of lecturers to catalyse the changes in the course work?
Reply: One of the essential features is to provide learning that reflects the environment in which the graduate will ultimately work. So – if the graduate is to be an engineer – then the curriculum should provide learning opportunities that mirror the world of the engineer. This will involve both the professional bodies and employers who should provide contexts and examples for the students to work on.
In this respect, private universities should be no better placed than public.
Academics at all levels need to support these changes. Bottom up and top down. Otherwise, the initiative will fail.
It also requires support staff to be involved as well. Our experience shows that the greatest success occurs in areas where all the key stakeholders work together to develop the students.
Interviewer: With the world economy in a flux of endless change, how long do you think will today's specific technical skills be relevant? Will general education ultimately take more importance over or be more relevant than specialised skills training?
Reply: Graduates clearly need the skills and knowledge to survive today. What we hope to achieve are graduates with the ability to continually develop themselves. To improve their skills and knowledge as they need to. We want to develop life-long learners who are able to adapt to a changing environment.
Skills for life, self awareness and reflective practitioners.
Interviewer: Expectations are generally high among graduands that there will be employment when they graduate. When reality strikes, leaving the graduate job seeker disappointed that it is still a rat race out there, what advice can you give him? How can he develop and demonstrate the kinds of skills and attributes that define employability?
Reply: Sadly, the reality of life is that it is tough to get a job. Many students will receive 10s if not 100s of rejections before they get their first job. We support our students through this period but it is a learning experience.
Students must not take rejection personally; it is just they were not right for that job. There will be a next time, and they should learn from what happened.
Students need to learn to refine their applications to analyse exactly what an employer wants and carefully match their experience and ability to that specification.
Students that can articulate what they have learnt and what they can offer will then stand a greater chance of being recognised and recruited.
Interviewer: How do you view the trend of students seeking a tertiary degree today as compared to, say, a decade or two ago? Do you see them preferring to pursue a post-graduate degree or joining the employment market? Why?
Reply: If it is right for the graduate to take a post-graduate course, then they should do so. This will improve their education – but it may not necessarily improve their employability. Post-graduate qualifications in themselves are no more of a guarantee of employment than under-graduate qualifications. In some cases, it may make them worse as the graduate is seen as more, possibly over-qualified, and potentially too specialist. It really depends on the individual and what they want to do.
Interviewer: The mismatch between the skills taught and the demands of industry/employment has often been cited as a cause of unemployment among fresh graduates. How would you recommend that this issue be addressed?
Reply: The best help for all the stakeholders is by working with employers and students to develop curricula fit for today and for the next five years. It takes time to develop new curricula - so spend time to get them right. Continually review. It is not a choice between knowledge and skills. Learning in a context allows students to improve their knowledge while developing their skills for employment.
Interviewer: From the context of the street-wise graduate - the supposedly full-time students who combine studies with substantial amounts of term-time work - how would you consider them vis-a-vis graduates without any work experience?
Reply: One key feature is the student exposure to structured Work-Based Learning (WBL). Evidence in the UK suggests employers do NOT value part-time work and it can be seen as a negative factor. However structured WBL in the context of their programme of study is seen as very positive by employers. Academics can help their students by encouraging them to reflect on their learning from their part-time work. If a student can see how their work has helped them develop and articulate this, employers will value this.
Interviewer: Once again, I thank you for your valuable time.
Reply: I do hope these answers have helped. Our view is that the students can only do so much. They need help to become employable and we think that starts with good curriculum design and institutional commitment to supporting the student.
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