Futurefit

Futurefit is a report produced by the CBi that examines how Universities can build employability skills in their graduates. The full document can be downloaded here:

Here are some ideas that ‘Futurefit’ proposes to improve students employability:

> Building employability skills into the curriculum through work-related learning – for example, using case study examples linking the subject knowledge to its application in the outside world.

> Adapting the way the curriculum is taught and assessed – for instance, ensuring students have the opportunity to give presentations or work in a team, and rewarding the demonstration of employability skills

> Offering compulsory – usually accredited – modules designed to help students acquire employability skills

> Making paid work placements of up to a year a key part of the university experience, often with a network of contacts with employers at departmental or faculty level and/or centrally.

Creative Review

Creative Review’s question of the week on 11th August 2009 was ‘How do you organize placements?’ and the posts soon began to discuss the wider issue of whether education was preparing students correctly for the world of work. The full discussion can be found here, but what follows are some of the more relevant posts.

One of the key messages to come out of the report (referring to ‘FUTUREFIT’ which we discuss later) was the need for universities and businesses to ‘up their game’ in the development of employability skills in students – both in terms of the number of placements on offer and in terms of course content. Both universities and students need to recognise that employability skills should not be treated as an ‘add on’ but as an essential part of the university curriculum. Geoff Gradwell 2009-08-11 17:13:19

I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think the problem stems from degree courses. The sad truth is that half the people—while maybe having a good student portfolio—do not possess the skills required to do the job. Many do of course, but it’s always a gamble. If people are not taught key industry skills on their degree, how else are they going to learn until they are equipped enough to become a junior designer? James 2009-08-12 16:41:06

PS - I agree with James that university’s and colleges leave their students woefully under prepared for the real working world. Trevor Collins 2009-08-12 17:12:57

“My suggestion is that universities run a module through which a placement is arranged by each student for themselves, and is carried out in term time. For a university to actively encourage students to go on a placement would surely be a good alternative to simply telling them about ‘professional practice’ in a classroom. This way the students have the guidance of tutors if needed, and could work for free as they still have the money from student loans for life’s costs.” Matt 2009-08-11 17:17:53

Michael Johnson

This passage from the Michael Johnson ‘Thought for the Week’ blog describing the current problems with the RCA provides an interesting take on the relationship between industry and education.

'The key issue that has distracted the course for decades has been ‘art'. Communications graduates have been at pains to present their work within the context of white walled galleries, not grubby old commerce. Work has often been presented as ‘work in progress', never finished. The ‘process' has become the king, not the problem to be solved.

With the movement of the ‘real art' departments to the Battersea site, this art-lite stance will become even harder to maintain, and feels increasingly at odds with the other design departments which view their industries as essential and valued partners, not hated adversaries.

The roots of this was the self-immersion/self expression phase of British design prevalent in the nineties, fuelled by then-zeitgeist collective Tomato. This found an eager audience in South Kensington. Rightly or wrongly, a collection of part-time tutors were gathered to support the course with performance, video art, experimental film and art specialisms. Coupled with the merger of the traditional disciplines, the ground was laid for a new generation of crossover graphic artists to bloom.

But they haven't. By all accounts the department is just as silo-ridden as it ever was. If you don't believe there's an art bias, just a brief interrogation of the department's website reveals that of the dozen or so current MPhil and PhD students, the vast majority describe themselves as artists (and only two as graphic designers).

In the meantime, the better undergraduate courses like Glasgow, Kingston and St Martins* (in the UK) have successfully incorporated these ‘conceptual' leanings into their courses, whilst still producing graduates capable of the basics of craft and typography. Students from these courses may not glean much more from two more years at college, apart from more room to experiment, and have often chosen simply to start work and get on with their lives.'

The full post can be found here:

Vocational Education?

To view vocational education as prescriptive and overly focused on process is to view commerce through a twentieth century lens. It cannot be a prescriptive experience that promotes a passive response. Twenty first century industry requires creative, flexible and dynamic thinkers and any educational experience designed to serve these industries would prioritize and nurture these attributes.

“Creativity - the base for innovation - has never been more important. For business, it holds the key not just to success, but to survival. And for society it is the key to solving the major problems that have to be addressed, whether these be in healthcare, urban planning, transportation, education or a sustainable way of life.”

Sir George Cox, former Chairman of the Design Council. On the Role Of Creativity.

Design Industry Insights 2010

' 55,310 undergraduate Design students in the UK 2010 and yet only 51% of practising designers have a degree!!?'

'87% of Design businesses employ less than 10 people and 60% employ fewer than 5.'

Design Industry Insights 2010. The Design Council

CLTAD Funded Research

In spring 2010, Course Leader, Derek Yates, embarked on a CLTAD funded secondment in order to identify innovative best practice in terms of work based and work related learning within Higher Education.

This research involved:
> Going through Governmental research reports in reports such as ‘Future fit. Preparing graduates for the world of work. Produced by the CBI; The Future Face of Enterprise. Demos; The Cox Review. Sir George Cox.; the QAA Code of Practice for Work- Based & Placement Learning; Skillset. Guidelines for Employers offering Work Placement Schemes in the Creative Industries

> Tracking blogs, websites and publications produced by people like Creative Review, Design Week, the Design Council and Eye.

> Attending and talking at conferences like CCW Work Based Learning Conference and the ‘Design & the Creative Industries Conference: Working Together with Universities’ at Brighton University.

> Interviewing leading practitioners from across the creative industries such as the design team at Glue London (a digital agency); Steve Dunn, Creative Director at the Assembly (an advertising agency); Davide, Creative Director of Quayola (motion graphics/ interactive director); Matt Wade, partner Kin (an interaction & environment design agency); Russell Holmes, then Creative Director at Dave (the branding consultancy); Matt Rice, partner at Sennep (Web design agency); Roberto D’Andria, partner Bear (graphic design & branding agency) and Luise Vormitagg, partner at Container Plus (an Illustration Collective)

> Drawing together material gathered during previous collaborations with agencies such as: Moving Brands, Bibliotheque, the V&A, 300 Million, Kino and Onedotzero.

Key Ideas: Word

‘Key Ideas: Word’ took place on 12th May 2010 and was again organized with the help of Eye Magazine. It took the spring issue of Eye (Eye 75), which featured interviews with Anthony Burrill and Fraser Muggeridge, as its starting point. The day started with a series of 30-minute provocations delivered by Burrill and Muggeridge as well as Marcus Leis Allion and Camberwell Course Directors David Coventon and Derek Yates. The provocations attempted to assess how the trend that seemed evident in ‘Typography Now’ has developed. Staff and students were then given an opportunity to respond to these provocations through discussion and the production of a series of large-scale hand-drawn typographic sheets. This then formed the content for a publication that was designed by a student team led by FdA student, Astrid Joublanc.