A collaborative approach to placement preparation and career planning for university students: a case study

Abstract The increasing proportion of graduates in the working population forces employers to be more demanding and discriminating in their selection of employees. Employers are especially concerned to recruit new graduates make an immediate contribution without a lengthy induction process. Preparing higher education students for their sandwich industrial placement year and also their future careers is therefore vitally important. This article discusses the innovative and collaborative placement and careers preparation programme given to students at the University of Glamorgan during the past four years. The programme is jointly delivered by a placement tutor and a careers advisor. The key to the success of this programme is the synergy developed between the two programme coordinators, who combine their respective extensive industrial experience and career counselling skills to facilitate a series of effective, participative workshops that develop the students' employability attributes.