Virtual Careers Service
The Virtual Careers Service for South West Wales, is one of fourteen projects that are underway due to the SWWHEP (South West Wales Higher Education Partnership) Reconfiguration and Collaboration Bid funded by HEFCW (Higher Education Funding Council for Wales). SWWHEP is powered by the three member institutions of Swansea University, Swansea Metropolitan University and University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
The Service
The overall aim of the service is to create a network between the three Careers Centres and provide students from all three institutions with a collaborative resource for careers guidance. Enhanced student employability will be achieved through more effective engagement with local and national employers, and through utilising innovative technical solutions.
The Specifics
The key objective of the proposal is to create an innovative Personalised Learning Environment (PLE). The Personalised Learning Environment that we have introduced will be the platform which will enable students, staff and employers to openly share information.
Within the PLE, students will be able to control their own Learning Environment. Here the student will build and maintain unique digital information recording their personal development and learning, or in other words, an e-portfolio. The E-learning and Personal Development Planning Coordinator, Chris Cardew, will use it to improve e-learning and employability skills at each of the institutions, focusing particularly on the generation of e-portfolios which can be sent directly from students to employers.
Supporting this, the Employability and Marketing Coordinator, will develop links with the local and national graduate recruitment market. In addition to outward promotion of the project, this role will look at introducing new and improved methods of interaction for employers through online communication such as blogs and pod-casts, and also through enhancing existing on-campus events such as careers fairs and workshops.
Key Information
The collaboration includes 19,842 students, which breaks down as follows:
Swansea University – 11,754
Swansea Metropolitan University – 6,007
University of Wales Trinity Saint David – 2,081
The diversity of subjects studied and areas of expertise in each institution make this partnership applicable to every company and every employer in South West Wales, the UK as a whole and globally.
