Project Name: Placement Transformations

Lead Institution: Keele University

Project Lead(s): Peter Hooper and Richard Mendez

See the full Transformations programme playlist

 

Student placements and internships project: to achieve integration of various systems (CRM, SRS) and other datasets (placements; HEAR) in order to provide better quality data to support the strategic coordination of activities around: student placement (student awareness, ease of application, recording of outcomes), internship, employability and co-curriculum development.

 

NB Project also seeking to identify and deliver improved efficiency, and enhance Keele’s organisational capability for this aspect of business and community engagement.

 

Background

 

About Keele University:

 

Keele University is renowned for its exciting approach to higher education, beautiful campus, strong community spirit and excellent student life. The University provides high quality teaching across a wide range of academic and vocational subjects. Most of Keele’s students study for one of more than 500 Dual Honours programmes, where they can gain an honours degree level qualification in two subjects. Keele also have single honours degrees in American Studies, Environment and Sustainability, Geography, Law, Mathematics, Music Technology, Politics and in Medicine and other health-related subjects.

 

Aims and objectives

 

The specific institutional problem area we aim to address via this JISC Transformation bid is the need for strategic coordination across the University’s various placement, internship, employability and co-curriculum development activities.  These activities are all interlinked, but managed at a variety of levels and across a number of units within the University.  In particular we are seeking to improve student awareness of placement opportunities, ease of application for a placement, and enhanced recording of placement outcomes.

 

Context

 

As part of Keele’s recently approved institutional strategic plan (2010-2015), major emphasis is placed on enhancing the student experience.  This is being addressed via a number of operational deliverables, but of particular relevance to this call is the need to improve the systems required to support a planned increase in placements and internships.  We need to make best use of limited resource – and optimise interfaces between systems.  These interfaces are both internal (e.g. a wide variety of academic-led placement activity, overlain by centrally-led employer engagement; and student development opportunities as part of the co-curriculum); and external (e.g. multiple interfaces with local employers).

 

The specific institutional problem area we aim to address via this JISC Transformation project is the need for strategic coordination across the University’s various placement and internship provisions. At present, systems used to broker, record and archive placements and internships differ across Keele University. This can lead to duplication of effort and a lack of awareness as to which employers have been contacted. The work is also important because it also aims to:

 

• improve students’ and graduates’ awareness of placement and internship opportunities;
• improve prospective employers’ awareness of our provisions; 
• improve ease of application for an internship;
• enhancing recording of placement outcomes.

 

The business case

 

The business case is straightforward: by improving student and employer awareness of placement and internship opportunities we will increase the number of opportunities on offer, make establishing a placement or internship simpler and improve the overall experience for all involved.  Measuring the quantitative benefit this brings the Institution is part of the project.

 

Key drivers

 

Internally, the key drivers are:

 

• the delivery of our strategic target to offer all students who express an interest the opportunity to undertake a placement;
• to enhance the overall delivery of placements and internships through better coordination of information across the institution; and
• improve our management of interactions with external partners, particularly SMEs in the sub-region (North Staffordshire) where we have developed hundreds of new links in the past three years.

 

Externally, the key driver is the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEfCE) insistence on improved engagement between the HE sector and companies, through knowledge exchange and enhanced employer engagement.

 

JISC resources/technology used

 

The JISC resources we identified as particularly relevant to our needs are:

 

• CRM self-analysis framework

 

This was useful as it provided a definitive checklist for consideration when considering a CRM system and the factors to contemplate. The “Are you ready for change?” section was useful as it flagged up the less obvious aspects when considering a CRM system – the ‘people factors’. As such, the self-analysis toolkit enabled Keele to reflect upon and variety of aspects before making a decision as to which CRM to select.

 

• Strengthening of SLRM for Enterprise Students

 

This was very useful as it has parallels with Keele’s project, albeit, it focusses on student enterprise rather than student/graduate work experience. It was good to view the University of Hertfordshire’s methodology – especially regarding the focus groups and questionnaires. As such, their methodology partly informed Keele’s methodology. 

 

• JISC infoNet Process Review infoKit

 

This was of some use from a generic standpoint. It was used to on an ad-hoc basis to provide some structure to the project’s lifecycle. Whilst the stages were not followed in a coherent linear manner, the resource did allow for self-scrutiny and reflection to ensure a degree of review, redesign and re-engineering took place (for example, the improvements to the internship website underwent these stages).

 

Outcomes

 

The solution and the outputs

 

The aims of the project aforementioned can be achieved by means of developing or acquiring a new or existing Client Relationship Management (CRM) system that can enhance co-ordination and recording of information pertaining to our placement and internship provisions. Allied to this the CRM system in question needs to be compatible with our website so that we can ensure we address the other aims related to raising awareness of placement and internship provisions to students/graduates and employers alike, whilst also ensuring ease of application for an internship.

 

Achievements: Short-term outputs (completed within the timeframe of the project) 

 

• scoping exercise (surveys) to gauge current levels of placement and internship activity and the processes used to place students;
• scoping exercise (focus groups and interview) to gauge students’ and employers’ awareness and /or perceptions of placement and internship 

          provisions at Keele University;

• implementing the feedback from employers and students to improve the current internship website – both visually and also in relation to ease of

          internship application;

• acquiring an interim CRM system to manage placement and internship provisions – to be used across a limited number of central departments;
•  scoping exercise (research) to explore the eventual development/acquisition of a fit-for-purpose CRM system - to be used across the institution.

 

All the short-term outputs above have been completed within the project’s timeframe, with the exception of the last bullet-point, as this is an on-going exercise with other stakeholders.

 

Achievements: Long-term output (completed outside the timeframe of the project)

  

• Acquiring a fit-for-purpose CRM system used across the institution for placement and internship provisions.

 

 

Output / Outcome Type	Brief Description
Survey	Scoping exercise (surveys) to gauge current levels of placement and internship activity and the processes used to place students.
Focus groups and interview	Scoping exercise (focus groups and interview) to gauge students’ and employers’ awareness and /or perceptions of placement and internship provisions at Keele University.
Website augmentation	Implementing the feedback from employers and students to improve the current internship website – both visually and also in relation to ease of internship application.
Interim CRM system	Acquiring an interim CRM system to manage placement and internship provisions – to be used across a limited number of central departments;
Research and JISC final report	Scoping exercise (research) to explore the eventual development/acquisition of a fit-for-purpose CRM system – to be used across the institution.
CRM system	Acquiring a fit-for-purpose CRM system used across the institution for placement and internship provisions.

 

How did you go about achieving your outputs / outcomes?

 

Output 1:

 

In order to understand what placement provisions where occurring across the institution and how they were being administrated, I conducted a survey asking key questions relating to the placement provision of each academic school (see Appendices: Interview questions - Placements). Once the survey was designed, I contacted all the academic Heads of Schools and asked for their participation. Thankfully they were all compliant. I gave them the choice of either being interviewed in person or completing the survey electronically and returning them to me by email. All surveys bar one, were completed and returned to me as of April 2013. Upon completion of this exercise, I evaluated the information to gauge the extent to which different systems were being used and also to gauge commonality. In summary, there were pockets of placement activity occurring across the institution in various guises. Of those schools managing a placement provision, there used different software for placement management with Excel spread sheets being the most common.

 

Output 2:

 

Two employer focus groups were held to gauge the opinions of employers on a range of matters. At the heart of it were questions pertaining to their awareness and/or perception of Keele’s placement and internship activity and how easy it was for them to access such information and offer placements or internships for our students/graduates.

 

The feedback suggested that many employers were not aware of our provisions and some made key recommendations for ease access so that they could offer placement opportunities to Keele students. One such recommendation came from a representative of Staffordshire County Council regarding the creation of a placements timetable on the employer pages of our website. This timetable would document all placement modules occurring at Keele University and inform employers at what time of year those modules would sent students out on placement. This would enable employers to know in advance what time of year they could take on our students for placements according to degree discipline. This employer suggestion has been taken up as a project recommendation (see Recommendations). Other key suggestions from the focus groups included:

 

• a streamlined employer (and student/graduate) section of the internship webpage – this would convey how employers can get involved in internships more lucidly and better instructions on where to retrieve/download relevant forms; 
• a self-matching facility on the website enabling employers who come across students/graduates (without our involvement) to take them on as interns, thus cutting out the full recruitment process and saving the employer time.    

 

 

The suggestions aforementioned have now been implemented. The other suggestion beyond the remit of this project included

 

• a clearer marketing message to employers about what skills/expertise Keele graduates could bring to their businesses;

 

 

While this latter suggestion will be acted upon, given its scope, they will not be done/completed in time for the end of this project. 

 

Output 3:

 

The feedback acquired from the employer focus groups and the interviewing of the Students’ Union President (the elected representative for Keele students) steered the immediate implementation of this output. The website augmentation was done in conjunction with a web developer at Keele University and at the heart of it was making the internship application process easier. Feedback had suggested that the ergonomics of the website were not conducive to ease of internship applications. Furthermore, we are in the process of implementing the suggestion put forward by Staffordshire County Council (see Recommendations).

  

Output 4:

 

Both the survey with academic departments and the employer focus group feedback in part steered the development of output 4; that being the immediate acquisition of an interim CRM system. Whilst it would take much longer to agree and implement an institution-wide CRM system, an interim CRM system used across a limited number of central department could be implemented quicker and could act as a pilot in the run up to output 6. The interim CRM system adopted is called Thank Q. It is a standard CRM system that can be adjusted to meet the needs of the user. Keele’s Alumni Department were already using the software. Following conversations with that Department, it was felt that the software could be utilised for the work of central internship staff and trialled as a pre-cursor towards output 6. The rationale for the selection of Thank Q was due to the fact that the software already has Keele student/graduate information uploaded, thus saving a lot of time and effort in getting such information on to a completely new system.   

 

Output 5:

 

On-going discussions and research with other departments/directorates (e.g. Marketing & Communications Department, Commercial & Business Engagement) has commenced so that longer-term the University can acquire a bespoke CRM system. Several external providers are CRM systems have been contacted and invited to present/demonstrate their CRM system software so that we can assess their suitability. Meetings are also being had with the University’s IT Department to explore related work that can be developed in-house; namely the development of an automated internship application process that can be integrated into the current website. The JISC resource CRM self-analysis framework will continue to be used in relation to this output. 

 

Output 6:

 

The acquisition of an institution-wide CRM system in a longer-term output and subject to the work being conducted in output 5.  

 

Immediate benefits

 

• The implementation of an interim CRM system (Thank Q) will improve the efficiency of internship brokerage as student/graduate data is more readily available and it provides a credible alternative to simply saving data in Excel spread sheets, which had been the default option until now.
• Website augmentation based on the views of stakeholder such as employers and internal staff. The website illustrating our placement and internship provisions has been improved so that it is easier to navigate and easier to apply for internship opportunities. Allied to this is the recommendation put forward by Staffordshire County Council during the focus group. This recommendation will form part of the website augmentation and allow employers to see at a glance what time of year our placement students (across different disciplines) go out on placement. This in turn will inform employers when to make requests for our placement students accordingly. 
• Aspects of the project’s outputs (e.g. the employer focus groups and the outcomes from that group) will feature as part of a conference paper delivered to delegates from other universities as of September 2013.
• Current and on-going research and discussions with key internal stakeholders (e.g. IT Department, Commercial & Business Engagement) in order to fulfil output 6.  

 

Future benefits 

 

The implementation of an institution-wide CRM system that is compatible with the website will improve the awareness and efficiency of our placement and internship provisions for students, graduates and employers alike. Impact will be tracked by means on another annual employer focus group due to take place as of March/April 2014. The intention is to report to focus group, the changes made since they first convened, and gauge their views on the impact of those changes. However it should be acknowledged that not all the changes will have been implemented in time for the next scheduled employer focus group. For example the ones that were slightly outside the remit of the project (see below) will take longer to implement.   

 

• a clearer marketing message to employers about what skills/expertise Keele graduates could bring to their businesses;

 

Key lessons: What did you learn?

 

• The employer focus groups informed me that there was a lack of general awareness amongst local and nation-wide employers about Keele’s placement and internship provisions. More so, of those that did know, they wanted the process by which to engage in such provisions to be made clearer;
• The institution-wide survey detailed the extent to which different academic schools utilised different systems and approaches to managing placement provision. This in turn enable me to take into consideration what a future institution-wide CRM system would need in order to meet the requirements of various placement provisions.
• The existing software used by the Alumni team (Thank Q) was fit for purpose as an interim CRM system for internships amongst other things (and to be used by a few central departments) until a longer-term solution was acquired.

 

Looking ahead 

 

General conclusions

 

It is clear that the execution of the short-term outputs will make an immediate impact. The website augmentation (incorporating the suggestion put forward by Staffordshire County Council) and the utilising of an interim CRM system will ensure that the aims identified in section 2.1 will be addressed, at least on a micro-level (i.e. several units or departments using the CRM system). Whereas the longer-term conclusion will ensure all the aims will be addressed on a macro-level (i.e. institution-wide). However the longer-term output is fraught with potential difficulties, namely:

 

• the potential for institutional bureaucracies and protocols to create stagnation;
• getting various internal stakeholders across the institution to come to a consensus about the right CRM system for Keele.  

 

However it is hoped that the completion of this JISC project and the execution of the short-term outputs will have created some impetus for the execution of the longer-term output.

 

Conclusion for the wider community

 

Although not an IT-related conclusion, and one that might be deemed obvious and thus not worthy of mentioning, I think it is important nonetheless. The need to identify and engage widely with key stakeholders is imperative regardless of the nature of the JISC project in question. The rich insights, perspectives and (even) recommendations stemming from engagement with key stakeholders (e.g. students, funding bodies, employers, academic staff etc) is likely to enhance a project and ensure its findings and outputs are more meaningful and impactful.

 

In the case of this project, it was this level of engagement that led to the inclusion of additional outputs and ideas that would have an immediate impact on the aims aforementioned. 

 

Appendix

 

Keele University – JISC project video

 

This can be found via the following link https://vimeo.com/inspiredfilm/review/70786140/f7e29b9fa9

 

Survey questions sheet used to gain information on placements from Heads of Schools, Keele University

 

A: About you
Post/title:
a. School
b. Faculty/Institution
B: Placements in your School/Institution
c. Please outline the current placement activity occurring in your    School/Institution?
d. Please outline the approximate number of students participating in      placement activity in your School/Institution?
e. What is the length of your placement provisions? How long are      students out on placements?
C: Placement model
f. Model: Please outline the current model used for placements   ·         School/Institution brokers placements? ·         Students find/broker their own placements? ·         Combination of the above?
g.  If you broker the placements, how have you gone about established a    relationship with employers?
h.  If you broker the placements, approximately how many employers do      you work with a year.
i. Who are your priority employers?
j. What IT system do you utilise for placement activity? What information     do you record?
k. How do you promote the placement provision to students?
D: Vision and targets
l. What is your School’s/Institution’s vision or future intentions regarding     placements?
m.  Do you have any KPIs for the School as far as placements are concerned?
n. If so, what are they?

 

Thank you for your time, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Richard Mendez

Head of Employer Engagement

Research & Enterprise Services

Keele University

Staffordshire

ST5 5BG

Tel: 01782 732000

Email: r.mendez@keele.ac.uk 

 

Conference paper abstract for ASET Annual Conference 2013 – the conference paper will touch upon some of the suggestions and outputs stemming from the employer focus groups conducted as part of the JISC project

                                                   

Aset Conference 2013 Workshop Title: ‘Breaking down the silos’:  creating mechanisms to ensure employer engagement is not confined to placement opportunities

 

Richard Mendez, Head of Employer Engagement, Keele University

Sarah Tudor, Head of Employer Engagement, Staffordshire University

 

Abstract

 

Placement professionals are very adept at engaging effectively with employers in order to generate new placement and/or internship opportunities. However can the same be said about their ability to engage employers for other provisions (outside their remit) that their institutions offer? It can become all too easy to work in silos and utilise one’s own employer engagement mechanisms solely for placements and/or internship activity.

 

Amidst the backdrop of the Wilson Review (2012) and the imminent Witty Review (2013), both of which encourage more university-business collaborations, it becomes increasingly important for all higher education professionals (who engage with employers) to operate more strategically and ensure employers are signposted to the suite of employer-related provisions offered by their institution; even those outside their remit.

 

This unique workshop encourages placement professionals to think about their current mechanisms for engaging with employers and challenges them to explore how these can be put to better use for the benefit of the wider institution.

 

During this interactive workshop, two case study examples taken from Staffordshire University and Keele University will illustrate how both institutions utilise their employer engagement mechanisms not only to gain new placement opportunities but also to exploit opportunities for employers to engage in other provisions within the institution. In both case studies the mechanisms also provided a useful means by which to disseminate feedback from employers to key stakeholders within the institution. 

 

The aims of this workshop are to:

 

• explain why improving employer engagement mechanisms are important;
• explore two case study examples of employer engagement mechanisms taken from Staffordshire and Keele Universities;
• explore how delegates can improve their current employer engagement mechanisms for the benefit of the wider institution.

 

References:

 

• Wilson, T. (2012) A Review of Business-University Collaboration, London: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills 
• Witty, A. (2013) Independent Review of Universities and Growth, London: Department of Business, Innovation and Skills