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PAPER N
UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
LEARNING AND TEACHING COMMITTEE
Report from Academic Professional Development
14 May 2007

SFC Strategic Funding for Employability
The University has identified that in certain discipline areas graduate employability shows
considerable variances, particularly within the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS).
This disparity in performance has therefore been identified as an issue to be addressed
through the more effective deployment of existing resources and activities and the
development of a College level and subsequently institutional level strategy on employability
and professionalism. An event to launch the initiative within CASS and develop thinking on
the strategy was held at Discovery Point on Monday 5th February and was attended by over
fifty staff and employers.
A Professionalism and Employability working group (Stuart Cross, Law; Graham Nicholson,
Director of the Careers Service and University representative on SHEEN1; Lorraine Walsh,
Director of Academic Professional Development and Change Academy Team Leader2; Ken
Edwards, Employability Gym; and Claire Taylor, VPEC) are taking forward the plans for
development of the strategy. This development has now entered a second phase through the
receipt of strategic funding for employability from the Scottish Funding Council. The
funding, which is available for four years, will in its first year support the work of a pilot in
the College.
The key elements of this pilot will be to:

engage staff in a process where they audit curricula to ensure that provision is made
through delivery and assessment methods to map and track employability and
professionalism. This process will use both the subject benchmark statements as a
basis and an audit toolkit developed by the Change Academy Team as a resource.

expressly engage all students in the use of PDP and other bespoke employability
initiatives which will involve an expanded role and presence at curriculum level for
services and initiatives led by the Careers Service

increase the opportunities available for staff and students to engage with a range of
supporting resources e.g. the development of a ‘one stop’ work placements service,
careers/internship academic modules, and the Enterprise Gym.
The separate components for the pilot will be developed in tandem, with the Change
Academy Team working with seconded staff on the benchmarking and curriculum elements,
the University Careers Service working in partnership to develop scalable resources for
placement facilitation and the Learning Centre also working in partnership with seconded
staff to refine the use of PDP for the purposes of the pilot.
1
Scottish Higher Education Employability Network (SHEEN). For further information see
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sheen.htm.
2
The Change Academy Team comprises Dr Lorraine Walsh, Dr Terry Vickers, Dr Richard Parsons, Dr
Ken Peebles, Steven Blane (DUSA President) and Claire Taylor (DUSA VPEC).
1
Further details and the timeline for the project can be found in the SHEEN bid document
(Appendix 1 refers).

Quality Enhancement Themes (QETs)
The Quality Enhancement Themes conference – twelve colleagues from the University
attended this two day event in Edinburgh.
Integrative Assessment – the QAA held a workshop on this theme at Dundee earlier this year
and materials from the work of the theme have now been distributed.
The First Year – Dr Jonathan Weyers is the institutional contact for this theme. An update on
the work in progress is provided in appendix ii.
Research-Teaching Linkages – Dr Lorraine Walsh is the institutional contact for this theme.
Dr Walsh will be consulting with College Heads of Learning & Teaching to discuss the most
effective ways in which the work of this theme can benefit colleagues across the University.
Each Scottish HEI has been allocated £3,000 per theme to support engagement with the First
Year and Research-Teaching Linkages QETs (see also under APD Conference 2007;
Appendix 2 refers).).

Honorary Graduates’ Award for Innovative Teaching
Seventeen submissions were made this year with representation from each college. The
Director of APD will provide an oral update at the meeting on the winner (s) and any highly
commended submissions.

Academic Professional Development Conference - 19 June 2007
The APD conference will this year be jointly hosted with the College of Art, Science and
Engineering (CASE). The focus of the conference is the first year experience and the event is
partly supported by funding from the QAA QET The First Year. The keynote speaker is
Professor Mantz Yorke from Lancaster University. Professor Ron Piper (Vice-Principal for
Learning and Teaching at the University of St Andrews and Chair of the First Year QET) and
Professor George Gordon from Strathclyde University are also contributing to the event.
Colleagues from CASE will also be providing papers and workshops at the conference which
is open to all colleagues across the university who are involved in teaching and supporting
learning.

Future Academic Professional Development Sharing Good Practice Events
30 May – Supporting the Development of Professionalism in Students
6 June – Working with International Students
Dr Lorraine Walsh
Director of Academic Professional Development
May 2007
2
Appendix 1
University of Dundee Professionalism and Employability Submission in
relation to Scottish Funding Council Circular SFC/82/2006: ‘Employability:
Strategic Funding for Higher Education Institutions’
Introduction and Context
The University of Dundee presently has 17883 students and over 3000 staff. Of the
total student population 12506 students are involved in undergraduate studies. Since
September 2006 the University has been organized in a structure of Colleges and
Schools with the four Colleges being:
o
o
o
o
Art & Design, Architecture, Engineering and Physical Sciences
Arts and Social Sciences
Life Sciences
Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing
Within this College structure Dundee has a strong representation of Schools which
have a focus on professional or vocational disciplines ranging across subjects as
diverse as architecture, nursing, medicine, dentistry, education, town and regional
planning, law and accountancy. Within the context of Schools which deliver
graduates into the professions there is often a requirement for external accreditation
by professional bodies as diverse as the Law Society of Scotland and the Royal
Town Planning Institute. The accreditation requirements of such bodies often require
Higher Education Institutions to reflect in their curricula what may loosely be referred
to as employability and professionalism criteria and which subject level units must
demonstrate are being met if accreditation is to be maintained. The University of
Dundee has identified through its Careers Service that in certain areas of activity at
School level graduate employability shows considerable variances. This variance has
been particularly noted in activity areas with the College of Arts and Social Sciences.
When figures for ‘professional’ or non-vocational programmes are examined and
withdrawn from the statistics in relation to graduate employment or further study, the
performance overall with the College shows scope for improvement. For example, in
2006 in the areas of law and accountancy 76 % of graduates from the relevant
Schools in the College progressed to graduate employment or further study. In the
‘non-professional’ or non-vocational areas of the College that figure drops to a total of
52% of students progressing to graduate employment or further study. This disparity
in performance has been identified by the College of Arts and Social Sciences and by
the University of Dundee as an issue to be addressed through the more effective
deployment of existing resources and activities and the development of a College
level and subsequently institutional level strategy on employability and
professionalism.
Existing Provision
The University of Dundee already operates a range of services and provides a wide
of range of facilities designed to promote the development of skills and abilities which
are intended to place graduates in a position of being well equipped for graduate
employment or further study. At School level many Schools operate closely with
professional bodies and maintain close and supportive links with professionals and
practitioners in those fields. Curriculum benchmarks often reflect not only QAA
requirements but those of professional bodies. Recognising the particular needs of
‘non-vocational’ students the College of Arts and Social Sciences has, in conjunction
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with the University Careers Service, developed a dedicated career planning module
which is supported by a tailored internship scheme. Access to this module is
restricted at present to students within the College of Arts and Social Sciences and in
turn further focussed on students on non-vocational programmes. The University also
promotes active engagement between students and potential employers with a key
resource in this area being the Enterprise Gym. Located with the Centre for
Enterprise Management the Enterprise Gym was created to enable undergraduate
students to develop enterprise and entrepreneurial skills and self-reliance. It achieves
these aims through a range of activities which include certificated modules, coaching
sessions with employer partners in the Enterprise Gym, business planning
competitions and activities and, generally, with the active and ongoing support of a
range of experienced and committed employer and business partners. Led by its’
Careers Service, the University has also committed heavily in recent years to the
development of a sophisticated suite of personal development planning tolls (My
PDP) and certain areas of the College have, in partnership with the Careers Service,
developed the use of these tools with considerable success. The Change Academy
team has also agreed to develop a toolkit designed to support academic staff
undertake a full audit of their subject benchmarks and to gauge how adequately
these benchmarks reflect the employability needs of their students and how
effectively the curriculum fulfils those needs and how.
While each of these activities and initiatives are successful in their own right the
College and University recognize that not all students benefit fully from their
existence. This occurs for a variety of reasons, which include staff not being fully
aware of the relevance or potential of programmes or activities to their curriculum or
School, students being unaware of the potential value and significance of optional
activities, limited co-ordination of ‘employability’ activities and limitations on the ability
of staff experienced in these areas of activity to share best practice with staff and
colleagues outwith their own School or area of activity. Recognising all of these
issues the Vice Principal of the College of Arts and Social Sciences established a
working group on employability and professionalism in 2006 (prior to SFC/82/2006)
with that group being charged with developing a strategy for the College aimed at
ensuring that a clear strategy was developed for embedding employability at the
curriculum level for non-vocational subjects within the College in the first instance
and thereafter to the College as a whole. The group was also charged with the
responsibility of developing an approach to professionalism as a key set of character
and graduate skills. An event to launch the initiative within the College and develop
thinking on the strategy was held at Discovery Point on Monday 5th February and
was attended by over fifty staff and employers.
Proposals and Activities
Against the backdrop provided the University of Dundee has resolved that priority
should be given in the first instance to applying the funds allocated in pursuance of
SFC/82/2006 to the development of initiatives which will support the needs of
students in the non-vocational areas of the College of Arts and Social Sciences.
It is proposed that in the first year a three-pronged approach will be taken to
increasing engagement and enhancing employability and professionalism.
The key elements in the process are:

To engage staff in a process where they audit curricula to ensure that
provision is made through delivery and assessment methods to map and
4
track employability and professionalism. This process would use the subject
benchmark statements as a basis and the Change Academy toolkit as a
resource. The development of analytical, problem solving, communication
and presentation skills etc. would be made explicit and tracked by students
and staff. Key to the success of this activity is the availability of experienced
academic staff who can advise and support other academic staff in relation to
curriculum development and support and advice on deployment of resources,
activities and assessment methods aimed at supporting curriculum changes
focused on inculcating employability skills and traits.

To expressly engage all students in the use of PDP and other bespoke
employability initiatives which will involve an expanded role and presence at
curriculum level for services and initiatives led by the Careers Service

To increase the opportunities available for staff and students to engage with a
range of supporting resources e.g. the development of a ‘one stop’ work
placements service, careers/internship academic modules, and the Enterprise
Gym.
To develop and prove the effectiveness of the strategy a pilot will be undertaken
based on development work undertaken between March and August 2007. The pilot
will focus on a non-vocational programme area in the College. The separate
components for the pilot will be developed in tandem, with the Change Academy
Team working with seconded staff on the benchmarking and curriculum elements,
the University Careers Service working in partnership to develop scalable resources
for placement facilitation and the Learning Centre also working in partnership with
seconded staff to refine the use of PDP for the purposes of the pilot. Once the pilot
has been completed it is intended that all programme areas within the College of Arts
and Social Sciences will undertake the benchmarking and curriculum mapping and
design processes from January 2008 onwards with a view to full curriculum
integration from September 2008 onwards. Based on the outcomes of the pilot and
the intended integration within all programmes within the College of Arts and Social
Sciences by the end of 2008 it is anticipated that the University will have a more
strategic and integrated approach towards students’ employability and it would
thereafter be the intention that the remaining Colleges within the University deploy
the model in the most effective and appropriate ways possible in support of their
students’ needs. While the focus will in the first two years be on the College of Arts
and Social Sciences dissemination of progress and best practice will be at an
institutional level. Services such as the proposed one stop placement service and the
Enterprise Gym will be identified as being available in other areas of the University,
subject always to availability of resources.
Funding Allocation
In the first year of the project the focus will be on developing a strategy and
methodology which enables the pilot area to successfully evaluate its curriculum,
develop mechanisms for benchmarking and integration of key resources and
activities. Recognising the key role of experienced and dedicated staff (see
paragraph 12 of SFC82/2006) £42,000 will be allotted to buy out or support the
provision of staff time to work collaboratively with the Change Academy team in
developing the curriculum and benchmarking toolkit, supporting curriculum design
and assessment changes, the provision of academic support within the selected pilot
area within the College of Arts and Social Sciences and the provision of dedicated
support for the immediate development by the Careers Service of an integrated/one
5
stop placement and internship service and to support curriculum level integration of
My PDP and other Careers Service led initiatives.
£10,000 would be allotted to support the development and expansion of the
Enterprise Gym.
Stuart Cross
Graham Nicholson
Lorraine Walsh
March 2007
6
Appendix 2
Paper AQC06-2-D
UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
UNIVERSITY SENATE
ACADEMIC QUALITY SUB-COMMITTEE
MEETING OF 1 MAY 2007
AGENDA ITEM 1.6: THE FIRST YEAR QUALITY ENHANCEMENT
THEME
Institutional Discussions
The University of Dundee has agreed to carry out a series of institutional discussions
related to the QAA Scotland Quality Enhancement Theme ‘The First Year’ (FYQET).
The overall aim is to allow staff involved in first year courses, whether through
teaching or administration, to

discuss matters related to the theme’s nine project strands (see Appendix 1);

identify and build on ‘good practice’;

use the information and understanding gained to enhance the quality of the student
experience.
The main issues covered by the FYQET have been summarised as topics related to
three main questions:
1. How can we make best use of the first year to engage and empower learners?
2. What do we want students to get from their first year?
3. How can we align student and institutional perspectives and expectations for the
first year?
Discussions will be jointly coordinated Dr Lorraine Walsh, Director of Academic
Staff Development, who is The University’s QET Co-ordinator, and Dr Jonathan
Weyers, Director of Quality Assurance, who is the ‘Institutional Contact’ for this
QET and a member of the FYQET steering group. Sabbatical executive members of
DUSA (Dundee University Students Association) will be involved in organising
student focus groups and will be invited to contribute to the institutional discussions
where appropriate. This working group will report to Professor James Calderhead,
Vice-Principal (Educational Development).
The QAA has made funding available to support the organisation of these events and
dissemination of information arising from them. It is not envisaged that engagement
of staff is constrained to events held at the University: applications for support to
attend related events outside the institution will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
7
Our intention will be to cover all nine projects in one way or another through a
coordinated series of meetings, seminars and workshops held over the next 9 months
or so. These will probably include:
1. Discussions related to the colleges’ Learning and Teaching Development Plans
and their relationship to the University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy. These
will include college and school heads of learning and teaching.
2. A series of first year student focus groups, conducted by DUSA, which will focus
on selected issues related to the theme. The main topics to be addressed will be:

Expectations and transition

Engagement – both with DUSA facilities and activities and with academic and
career-related support

Assessment and feedback
3. A meeting or meetings within the Academic Professional Development
programme involving FYQET project leaders and/or first year coordinators for the
University’s colleges and schools with the aim of promoting the sharing of good
practice regarding the FYQET project topics.
4. The University’s annual Academic Professional Development Conference in June
2007, which will include a contribution from a key speakers on the First Year and
a workshop or workshops related to the theme (Programme attached as Appendix
2).
5. Support will be given to a dissemination event for Project 6: Personal
Development Planning (PDP) in the first year, to be held at Dundee 14th May
2007, and at which we would expect University of Dundee staff to contribute and
attend.
6. A ‘Personalisation’ event, is planned for Autumn 2007. This will involve a
visiting international speaker, Neil Fleming, creator of VARK learning styles
questionnaire used as part of the University’s PDP. We also aim to invite the QET
project leader to this event to disseminate information from the project. (Projected
outcomes: record of presentations lodged online; notes from workshops lodged
online.)
7. Attendance at QET events: it is envisaged that relevant staff will attend
conferences / QAA workshops (e.g. the QET conference in March 2007).
(Projected outcomes: reports communicated via the online resource; key issues
summarised for feedback within reports.)
As part of its contract with the University, the QAA requires us to submit progress
reports and, by June 2007, a final report summarising the above events and findings,
outcomes and issues of relevant to the HE sector. This will be published by the QAA
following peer review. We also plan to publish an internal document capturing our
experience of the QET.
Jonathan Weyers, Lorraine Walsh, Claire Taylor (for DUSA), James Calderhead
April 2007
8
Appendix 1
The nine projects within the QAA Quality Enhancement Theme ‘The first Year’, with
email contact details for project leaders
Project 1: Sector-wide discussion- the nature and purposes of the first year
Professor George Gordon: [email protected]
Project 2: Discussion and exploration of student expectations, experiences and
reflections on the first year
Rowena Kochanowska: [email protected]
Project 3: Curriculum design for the first year
Catherine Bovill: [email protected]
Dr Kate Morss: [email protected]
Project 4: Formative and diagnostic assessment and feedback
David Nicol: [email protected]
Project 5: Peer support in the first year
Fiona Black: [email protected]
Project 6: Personal Development Planning (PDP) in the first year
PDP in Higher Education
Group from the PDP in Higher Education ( Scotland) Network, led by Kirsty Miller,
University of Dundee - [email protected]
Geri Smyth, University of Strathclyde - [email protected];
Colin Calder, University of Aberdeen - [email protected];
Colin Mason, University of St Andrews - [email protected];
Isabelle Pottinger, Heriot Watt University - [email protected];
Maureen McIntyre, Edinburgh College of Art - [email protected];
Jenny Westwood, Napier University - [email protected];
Allan Martin, University of Glasgow - [email protected]
Project 7: Personalisation of the first year
Hazel Knox: [email protected]
Project 8: Introducing scholarship skills
Fran Alston: [email protected]
Project 9: Transition during the first year
Ruth Whittaker: [email protected]
For further and up-to-date information about project activities see
http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/themes/FirstYear/activities.asp
9
Appendix 2 Draft programme for the 2007 Annual Academic Professional
Development Conference
The First Year Experience1
Academic Professional Development Conference hosted jointly with the
College of Art & Design, Architecture, Engineering & Physical Sciences
19 June 2007
Queen Mother Building
Tuesday 19th June 2007
9.30 – 10am
Registration and refreshments
Library and bookshop stands
10:00 – 10.15am
Welcome: Professor Anne Anderson, VP and Head of College
10:15 – 11:00am
Professor Ron Piper, VP (Learning & Teaching) University of St Andrews and Chair of The First Year
QET Steering Committee
‘Emerging Outcomes from the First Year Quality Enhancement Theme’
11:00 – 11.15am
11:15 – 12pm
Break - Library and bookshop stands
Session 1
Session 2
Workshop/paper
Workshop/paper
12 – 1pm
Keynote: Professor Mantz Yorke, Visiting Professor at Lancaster University
1pm – 1:45pm
Lunch - Library and bookshop stands and poster sessions
1:45 – 2.30pm
Session 3
Professor George Gordon, Research Professor at Strathclyde University
2.30 – 2.45pm
Break - Library and bookshop stands and poster sessions
2.45 – 3.30pm
Session 4
Session 5
Workshop/paper
Workshop/paper
3:30 – 4pm
Interactive plenary panel session
Chair – Professor Peter Gregor, Dean, School of Applied Computing
1
Part-sponsored by the QAA through funds received to support engagement with the First Year Quality
Enhancement Theme
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