Employability learning

What do we mean by Employability Learning?

Employability Learning is defined as, ‘a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy’ (Kempster, online, n.d.).

Question set

  1. Where in my programme can I meet, hear from and network with prospective employers, alumni and stakeholders?
  2. Where in the programme am I enabled to recognise the parallels between my academic experience and my employability?
  3. In what ways is my experience of the programme reflective of a diverse range of career role models, promoting awareness of equality of rights and opportunities within the workplace?
  4. How far are the assessments I’ll undertake reflective of authentic tasks I’ll carry out in the workplace?
  5. What opportunities are there for me to build confidence and strategies to develop my networks of career contacts, including employers, alumni and other stakeholders, and to present myself in person and online?
  6. How does the teaching team support me to take ownership of the latest graduate competencies and Brookes attributes to inform my career development? This question has been changed from original question on the website
  7. What is the scope for undertaking placements, internships and local, regional and global mobility on my programme?
  8. Do the expectations set for me from the beginning of my programme match the professional expectations for behaviour, self-management and etiquette expected of a graduate?

What do I need to do?

Embedding opportunities to gain the skills referred to above is crucial for the student journey. Moreover, this is also important because fee paying students expect to be equipped with the employability skills, resilience and confidence to improve their long-term career prospects. How universities approach this may impact how candidates choose their courses.


OCAED thanks the Oxford Brookes Careers Service team for the content on this page.