Employability & Enterprise

Download: Wider Perspectives and More Options for English Language and Linguistic Students in PDF format (523kb)

Author: Jeanine Treffers-Daller and Jeanette Sakel (UWE)
Published: October 2010
ISBN: 978-1-907207-26-6

This report  published by the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies in August 2010 looks at the employability of English Language and Linguistics graduates. It offers an analysis of 'Destinations of Leavers of Higher Education' statistics in 11 institutions which offer Linguistics or English Language, an overview of good practice in developing employability skills in these institutions as well as a summary of student focus group discussions  and interviews with current students and graduates about their skills and work experience. On the basis of these analyses, the report makes recommendations about they ways in which institutions can help English Language and Linguistics students prepare for the world of work.

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report

Download: Work-Related Learning in English Studies: A Good Practice Guide in PDF format (615kb)

Author: Helen Day
Published: February 2010
ISBN: 978-1-905846-33-7

This Good Practice Guide written by Dr Helen Day of ceth (the Centre for Employability through the Humanities) is intended to help anyone introducing, or expanding, work-related learning into an English degree.  It discusses the benefits of work-related learning and also addresses some of the discipline-based concerns about its place on academic programmes.  The Guide gives plenty of practical advice about the costs of work-related learning, collaborating with employers and coping with assessment.  There are many case-studies disseminating the ideas and experiences of those who have introduced work-related learning into their curricula.

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report

Download: Teaching the Teachers: Higher Education and the Continuing Professional Development of English Teachers in PDF format

Author: Andrew Green
Published: February 2008
ISBN: 978-1-905846-146

This report looks at the role of higher education English in delivering continuing professional development to English teachers in the secondary sector, a potentially significant market for postgraduate courses. Secondary English also represents a way in which HE English might engage with the workplace and lifelong learning. Much of the report is based a survey of English teachers: they demonstrate a strong desire to extend their subject knowledge. It emerges, however, that the methods of course delivery in HE often prevent them from taking up postgraduate courses.

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report

Download: Here be Dragons: Enterprising Graduates in the Humanities in PDF format
Authors: Karina Croucher, John Canning and Jane Gawthrope
Published: October 2007
ISBN: 978-1-905788-43-9

This report is based upon interviews with graduates from a range of humanities subjects who are currently running their own businesses.  It explores how these individuals  believe that their university education (or failed to help) them  in starting and runnng their business. The report is not a guide to teaching business skills to humanities students, but demonstrates to lecturers, careers advisers and others that humanities students acquire a huge range of skills and attributes which will equip them to run successful businesses when they graduate.  It is also of interest to students themselves as they consider their options after university.

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report

Download: A wider perspective and more options: investigating the longer term employability of humanities graduates in PDF format

Author: Rebecca Allan
Published: March 2006
ISBN: 0-9541709-3-8

Understanding what graduates do after leaving university has mainly depended upon statistics collected six months after graduation. A wider perspective and more options is based on in-depth interviews with humanities graduates from the 1970s onwards and captures something of the diversity of career paths followed by graduates in so-called 'non-vocational' disciplines. The report will be a valuable resource for lecturers and careers advisors seeking to help humanities students prepare for life after graduation. The research was funded by the Higher Education Academy. It is a partnership of the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, the Subject Centre for History, Classics and Archaeology and the English Subject Centre. 

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report

Download: The English Degree and Graduate Careers in PDF format

Authors: John Brennan and Ruth Williams
Published: January 2003
ISBN: 0 90219 463 1

This report provides English departments with information about the employment patterns and prospects of their graduates and suggests ways in which these might be enhanced.

The report uses data gathered on English graduates three to four years after graduating. It shows that English graduates do take about four years to ‘find their feet’ on the career ladder, and that they do well in finding a job relevant to their qualification level compared to graduates in English-related fields or History.

The report also examines how the skills of the English graduate are profiled by departments, by the English Benchmarking Statement, and by graduates themselves. These are compared to other disciplines to give some indication of the ‘strengths’ and ‘weaknesses’ of the English graduate.

Please contact the English Subject Centre if you would like a hardcopy of this report