IT鈥橲 a catch-22 situation: you cannot get the job without having the relevant
experience and you cannot get the experience without having first done the job.
So what do you do? One solution is to make an early start in gaining experiences
of the working environment through one of the partnership programmes that exist
between the universities and industry.
Kate Mathieson, a student of genetics at the University of Nottingham, spent
the summer working for the aerospace company Ampep in Clevedon, Avon . Her task
was to investigate all the materials the company uses in its products and check
that they comply with the requirements of current health and safety at work
legislation. To complete the job, Mathieson built up a database for Ampep
including information on more than 500 items.
Fouzia Ouadi, studying chemistry at Aston University helped to install
software at the drop-metal forge manufacturers Woodcote Industries in Warley,
West Midlands, which resulted in energy savings, fewer breakdowns and a
reduction in pollution through fume emissions. Ouadi has now returned to Aston
to complete her chemistry degree.
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Chris Jones, studying astrophysics at University College London, saved many
thousands of pounds for the packaging manufacturer Clear View in Hornsey, by
assessing the contents of their factory鈥檚 unlabelled stocks of inks. His brief
was to examine and identify each one of the stocks so that they could be used or
disposed of safely.
Mathieson, Jones and Ouadi have all participated in Shell Technology鈥檚
Enterprise Programme, known as STEP. It takes undergraduates in the second year
of their degree studies and places them for eight weeks in small businesses,
where they undertake useful project work鈥攂ut not the menial photocopying
and worm鈥檚 eye view that many younger people on work experience often suffer.
Students also receive at least 拢100 a week which helps to cover their
expenses. This year the programme placed 1539 students in holiday employment
with small and medium sized enterprises all over Britain, and a few in France.
Participants in the scheme get much more than work experience as they also
receive induction training in project management, time management, report
writing and presentation techniques.
Two variants on the theme are STEP into the Environment, and STEP into the
Community. The first placed 60 students this year on projects designed to
鈥渋mprove the environmental performance of small and medium-sized companies鈥�. The
second, with 121 participants, puts students into projects with charities and
community organisations.
Not surprisingly, the employment record of those who have taken the scheme in
the past is impressive. Now in its 11th year, STEP is 鈥渆ducating students for
the demands of the complex world we live in鈥�, says Liz Rhodes, the programme鈥檚
director. 鈥淭here is plenty of evidence to suggest that students do become more
employable as a result of some work experience.鈥�
The recent inquiry into higher education, chaired by Ron Dearing, came out in
favour of students being encouraged to gain work experience, recommending that
the government, 鈥渨ith immediate effect, works with representatives of employer
and professional organisations to encourage employers to offer more work
experience opportunities for students鈥�. His report Higher Education in the
Learning Society praises STEP and suggests expanding it to encompass more
students and employers.
STEP is an exceptional example of what can be done to introduce people to the
working world, but it is not alone. University sandwich courses are an
outstanding success. Some offer industrial placements even before the studies
start. Most expect students to take a year away from the university after two
years of study. David Emery was sponsored through his engineering degree at the
University of Surrey by Racal Communications in Bracknell, Berkshire. The deal
included industrial training in design and development, quality assurance and
product reliability as well as a spell working in a customer support role. These
experiences came not only in time out from studies but also during the
vacations.
A growing number of degree courses in science and engineering, such as the
sandwich course in chemistry at the University of Bath, now offer the
possibility of employment experience in another European country. They provide
the chance to understand different cultures, and to develop skills in other
languages in addition to the practical experiences of employment. As employers
such as Eli Lilly, Volvo and Hewlett Packard begin to search more of the
countries of the European Union for their most talented recruits, such
experiences are an invaluable start to a technological career.
Many employers actively seek out university students in the penultimate year
of study and offer 鈥渋nternships鈥� (summer vacation work). Those who perform well
receive a contract of employment for when they graduate as soon as their
industrial experience is complete. Recruitment officers at Procter and Gamble
say their company would like to recruit all of its people by this route. So far,
this has not been possible. Others, such as Esso, take on students for both
summer work and year-long placements. According to a survey by the Association
of Graduate Recruiters, the starting salaries of graduates who already have had
some industrial experience and training averages around 拢500 more than
those who have not.
Two quite different schemes operate at opposite ends of the spectrum. The
Year in Industry, sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, places hundreds
of students in industry each year during their GAP year between school and
university. The International Association for the Exchange of Students for
Technical Experience is an organisation which arranges exchanges between
students in Britain and those abroad. Thus more than 200 British students of
engineering and science are able to work for a short time in another country
while similar people from abroad come to experience temporary employment in
Britain.
At the postgraduate level, the Department of Trade and Industry and the
Engineering and Physical Science Research Council jointly sponsor a scheme
promoting PhD studies in an industrial setting. Through partnerships between
universities and industrial research associations; research students tackle
projects of applied research, in an industrial environment, which are of value
to their industrial partners while being original research relevant for PhD
studies.
Further information about STEP is available from
115A Cleveland Street, London W1P 5PN
(or from the internet site http://www.businesslink.co.uk/services/ideas/step.htm).
Information on The Year in Industry scheme can be obtained from the
University of Manchester, Simon Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
(or http://www.ratio.org.uk/cied/YINI.htm).