This project seeks to enhance the student experience by exploring the wider professional context in which Warwick degrees operate to understand how to recognise better the relationship between undergraduate studies and professional practice.

The principal aim of this project is to develop a clear view of the student and recent graduate perspective on both the discipline and the discipline-specific student experience. By combining this with the perspectives of employers and staff a multi-faceted understanding can be generated of the professional values and behaviours associated with the discipline.

The overall outcome will positively impact both employability and the student experience, by connecting students more closely to a purpose beyond their performance on the degree.

The project is currently in its initial scoping phase.This involves a data gathering/analysis to understand the views of current students in the discipline and recent alumni (around 1 to 2 years into their post-Warwick career) on:

• What originally inspired them to want to become an engineer, lawyer, etc.
• Their current view of what the key elements are of such a professional.
• What knowledge and skills (both discipline specific and transferrable) has been/will be most useful in performing as a professional
• What they wished they had known when they started their studies.

The same themes will be explored with employers and staff members within their context to allow for a richer picture of the area. The project in this scoping phase will draw on a combination of focus groups, interviews and surveys as appropriate.

The results of this data gathering would be analysed to understand key themes and patterns from participants to gather insights into what might be considered reasonably generic in the journey from student to autonomous professional, and what is more discipline specific. These findings will provide a solid basis for discipline specific pedagogy conversations and shape the next phase of the project that will seek to develop a toolkit and resources to enhance discipline-specific and central employability support for students.

Project team:

Graeme Knowles, Project Lead

Jane Bryan, Project Lead

Bo Kelestyn, Project Officer

Rebecca Limb, Project Officer

Jack Magilton, Project Officer

Holly Girven, Project Officer