The role of numeracy skills in graduate employability

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the role and importance of numeracy skills in graduate recruitment within a diversity of employment sectors. Design/methodology/approach – The results of a mixed-methods study, involving three online surveys (including an employer survey), student focus group sessions and interviews with tutors, are presented. Findings – The results reveal the importance that employers attach to graduates’ numeracy skills and the extent to which employers use numeracy tests in graduate recruitment. They thus highlight the potential for poor numeracy skills to limit any graduate's acquisition of employment, irrespective of their degree subject; especially since numeracy tests are used predominantly in recruitment to the types of jobs commensurate with graduates’ career aspirations and within sectors that attract graduates from across the diversity of academic disciplines, including the arts and humanities. Research limitations/implications – Since participants were self-selecting any conclusions and inferences relate to the samples and may or may not be generalisable to wider target populations. Practical implications – The paper highlights what actions are necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills in the context of graduate employability. Social implications – The vulnerability of particular groups of students (e.g. females, those not provided with any opportunities to practise or further develop their numeracy skills whilst in higher education, those with no (or low) pre-university mathematics qualifications, and mature students) is highlighted. Originality/value – The article is timely in view of national policy to extend the graduate employability performance indicators within quality assurance measures for UK higher education

Every student counts: promoting numeracy and enhancing employability

This three-year project investigated factors that influence the development of undergraduates’ numeracy skills, with a view to identifying ways to improve them and thereby enhance student employability. Its aims and objectives were to ascertain: the generic numeracy skills in which employers expect their graduate recruits to be competent and the extent to which employers are using numeracy tests as part of graduate recruitment processes; the numeracy skills developed within a diversity of academic disciplines; the prevalence of factors that influence undergraduates’ development of their numeracy skills; how the development of numeracy skills might be better supported within undergraduate curricula; and the extra-curricular support necessary to enhance undergraduates’ numeracy skills

The views of five participating undergraduate students of the Student Associates Scheme in England

This paper reports findings from a study which explored undergraduate perceptions of the Student Associates Scheme in England (SAS). The scheme was established by the Training and Development Agency for Schools in an attempt to increase the number of graduates entering the teaching profession, particularly in shortage subjects such as the physical sciences and mathematics. The scheme places undergraduate students on short-term placements in secondary schools throughout England to provide them with experiences that may encourage them to consider teaching as a career option. Findings show that the SAS school placements were a positive experience for the students participating in this study. However, a question emerged as to whether or not the scheme is targeting students who have yet to decide upon teaching as a career or just reinforcing the existing aspirations of students who have already decided to teach. As the scheme is attempting to increase the number of teachers entering the profession this question has important implications for this study and further work which will focus on undergraduates who think that their career ambitions would not be fulfilled by teaching

Staying in the science stream: patterns of participation in A-level science subjects in the UK.

This paper describes patterns of participation and attainment in A-level physics, chemistry and biology from 1961 to 2009. The A-level has long been seen as an important gateway qualification for higher level study, particularly in the sciences. This long term overview examines how recruitment to these three subjects has changed in the context of numerous policies and initiatives that seek to retain more young people in the sciences. The results show that recruitment to the pure sciences has stagnated, general trends have hardly varied and the track record of government policy in influencing change is not strong. There is no evidence for increasing achievement gaps between the sexes at A-level and even national policy requiring that all young people study science up to the age of 16 appears to have had little impact on recruitment at this leve

Supporting Men of Color Along the Educational Pipeline

This brief outlines research on men of color in terms of access to and success in higher education, specifically pre-college programs, and policy initiatives designed to address these issues. It includes four interviews with practitioners and policy researchers and highlights exemplary programs that work with students of color along the educational pipeline and that can serve as resources for all who work to support men of color, primarily college access practitioners

Lessons construction can learn from other sectors

The construction industry is traditionally considered a white, maledominated industry. The UK construction industry is at its busiest for a decade and is suffering from skill shortages in both craft and manual trades, and at the professional level. The issue regarding the lack of women in construction has become more prominent recently, attracting government and industry-wide attention due to this potential skill shortage facing the industry. To meet these targets the industry cannot rely on recruiting the traditional male- dominated workforce. Therefore the UK government is examining ways to encourage women into traditionally male-dominated jobs. Since then a number of initiatives have been introduced promoting construction careers to women; however they have yet to achieve the desired effect. The main aim of this paper is to investigate how the construction industry can successfully recruit and retain professional women by looking at what lessons can be learnt from other sectors such as medicine. Hence this paper looks into other sectors, in particular the medical sector and how it has become an accessible career for women. It also focuses on the culture of other sectors to establish the influence this has over the employment of female professionals

Barriers to and supports for success for Maori students in the Psychology Department at the University of Waikato

The overall objective for this evaluation was to investigate the barriers to participating in tertiary education for Maori, and supports for academic success for Maori students in the Psychology Department. With this objective in mind, we set out to: Investigate the barriers that impede success for Maori students in the Psychology Department. Identify variables of success and how they can be more effectively managed within the Psychology Department. Identify factors that contribute to Maori students continuing their studies through to graduate level. Provide recommendations for future development of a supportive environment for Maori students in the Psychology Department

Intellectual Growth For Undergraduate Students: Evaluation Results From An Undergraduate Research Conference

We describe the development and evaluation of the university-wide, weeklong undergraduate research conference at the University of New Hampshire. Despite increases nationally in the number of undergraduate research conferences (URC), there has been little research examining the social and educational impact of these events on student presenters. We describe the development and evaluation of the university-wide, weeklong URC at the University of New Hampshire. A survey administered to URC participants over a four year period revealed that research culminating in a presentation at the URC was one of the more influential events students experienced during their undergraduate years and students realized a high level of satisfaction from presenting at the URC