Scottish Higher Education Employability Conference

Description

Organising career events to foster student engagement with employability: the case of Heriot-Watt’s languages department Building bridges between Higher Education and the job-market has become increasingly important in an era when graduate unemployment is soaring. Academics and professionals alike agree that stronger cooperation is key to facilitating the integration of graduates in the professional field, and there are various ways to ease this transition. The challenge is particularly difficult for graduates specialising in translation and interpreting, as despite the high demand for language skills from the various sides of the industry, there are a limited number of employers who target specifically these graduates. It is therefore crucial to ensure that students are aware of the realities of the market and have a good understanding of the pathways to consider if they wish to work as a translator or as an interpreter. To tackle such a challenge, one of the approaches adopted by the Languages and Intercultural Studies department at Heriot-Watt University focuses on co-curriculum activities designed to facilitate the dialogue with professionals and to encourage students to engage more with their own personal career development. To this effect, career events are organised as part of the cooperation between the Career Services and the Career Liaison Officer of the department. These events take the form of career talks or workshops. We will explain how these sessions are organised, and which speakers are targeted in order to offer students the best chances of a comprehensive approach to their personal development, in order to enhance their chances of a successful career in their field.

Period	21 Apr 2011
Event type	Conference
Location	Edinburgh, United KingdomShow on map