摘要：Professor Marshall, in her conference opening remarks, asked
‘What is a university for?’ She then discussed the need for higher
education to develop graduates who can offer solutions to global
challenges, but that this needs to include not only core skills for
each discipline but also wider graduate skills that employers
require. Professor Wakeham, in his keynote, questioned whether
our current approach to employability development is working, for
STEM undergraduates, highlighting the poor employment rates for
STEM UK graduates.
In this Conference Reflection article, we will respond to the
issues raised above by considering what the overarching challenges
are for universities trying to teach employability and graduateness.
Drawing on the conference keynotes, employer-led
reports and using the reviews of Shadbolt and Wakeham, we will
consider what problems and issues exist and what solutions are
being devised, reflecting on the successes and difficulties reported
on at the Manchester conference.
