Developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities in Vietnamese universities: student engagement and inhibitors of their engagement

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 854-867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Huu Nghia Tran
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities

scholarly journals Student voice and influence on employability in Australian higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Andrewartha ◽  
Andrew Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Student Voice ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Student Perspectives ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities

 Higher education institutions are increasingly focussed on improving the capacity and potential of their graduates to gain employment. Attempts to develop employability skills through both mainstream and extra-curricular activities create new demands and expectations for students. Despite these demands, little attention has been given to student voice and influence in the employability sphere. Furthermore, the specific role of student unions in improving employability has been marginalised in Australian research. The research reported in this paper involved conducting a national survey of student groups and a comprehensive desktop review to capture student perspectives and investigate strategies to improve employability. From the research five broad student-centred approaches were identified: providing input into university employability strategies; placing students in positions of leadership and responsibility; delivering careers services; managing clubs and societies; and advocating for students from equity groups who have relatively poor completion rates and/or graduate outcomes. The findings are discussed and recommendations targeted to higher education institutions and student unions are provided.

Students’ continuing personal development (S-CPD) - a scheme to promote student engagement in extra-curricular activities

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei Cheng Ooi
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electronic Engineering ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities

PurposeThis paper presents an overview of a lifelong learning scheme. It outlines the design of the scheme that was initially targeted for electrical and electronic engineering students and later students across the faculty of engineering in the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM). The scheme named “Students’ Continuing Personal Development (S-CPD)” is developed to improve student participation in extra-curricular activities and at the same time, to create awareness among students of the importance of lifelong learning and to facilitate the development of such skills.Design/methodology/approachThe scheme involves creating and developing more than 30 categories of activities together with a well-structured information technology infrastructure. Various strategies, such as offering awards, are applied to promote student engagement. In 2015 the pilot scheme was rolled out in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus and adopted by all departments in the faculty of engineering in the subsequent year.FindingsS-CPD scheme is aligned to the importance institutions of engineers in the world places on continuing professional development and also to the importance industry and employer places on transferable skills. The scheme provides students with a structured way to plan, participate and record their participation in extra-curricular activities that is relevant to their future careers as engineers in a holistic way. S-CPD scheme not only provides a good platform for students to hone particular “soft” skills and they are also aware of the importance and engaging in lifelong learning to make the most out of their university and also life experience.Research limitations/implicationsThis research could lead to many other studies including the factors that affect students' engagement in extra-curricular activities, short-term and long-term impacts of S-CPD scheme, and also involve psychology research such as psychological factors influencing students' engagement in the scheme.Practical implicationsThis scheme could be repeated in worldwide university programmes.Originality/valueThe S-CPD scheme can be viewed as having a two-pronged growth strategy. The first is to engage students in extra-curricular activities that enhance and improve their learning and personal experiences. The second prong of the growth strategy is to inculcate the growth mindset for lifelong learning, hence adapting well when their profession involves fulfilling CPD requirements.

scholarly journals Reflecting On Practice: Embedding Student Engagement Through Interdepartmental Partnership

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 229
Author(s):  
Catherine McConnell
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Information Quality ◽  
Active Participation ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
School Based ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities ◽  
Working Together ◽  
The University

This case study will reflect on the approach that the University of Brighton Student Engagement Group (SEG) has taken towards embedding student engagement across the University and through working together on the national REACT project. The SEG comprises colleagues from Engagement and Information (Quality), the Centre for Learning and Teaching and the Students’ Union. Working together - and bringing individual areas of specialism to this partnership - has provided both a productive approach to a range of aspects of student engagement and connected three areas of the university that previously did not have a joined-up approach. The types of activities the group has focused on include: recruiting School-based Student Engagement Champions; holding a Student Engagement staff away-day; attending local meetings with Champions to establish rapport and get a good idea of the context of student engagement and who the ‘hard-to-reach’ students are within each School. This paper situates the engagement of students in co- and extra-curricular activities, towards improving opportunities for students’ active participation, and student-staff collaboration. 

scholarly journals Does All Work and No Play Make a Dull Graduate? Perceptions of Extra-curricular Activities and Employability

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Milner ◽  
Wendy Cousins ◽  
Iain McGowan
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Prima Facie Case ◽  
Student Activities ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities ◽  
Support Students

It has been argued that there is a prima facie case as to why extra-curricular activities should be thought to contribute to graduate outcomes, yet few studies have examined student activities beyond the classroom and their role in student experience and graduate outcomes. This study collected data via a questionnaire survey (n=852) and a series of focus groups with students (n=95) to examine undergraduate perceptions of the role that extra-curricular activities play in developing employability skills. It was found that extracurricular activities were significantly correlated with other employability related aspects of student experience and viewed favourably by students in terms of CV building and enhancing employability. Yet students also reported that it was often difficult to participate in activities outside of their academic work and paid employment. It is concluded that the value of extra-curricular activities is widely recognised and universities should support students who wish to engage in them. Furthermore, future programmes aimed at harnessing the capacity of extra-curricular activities to develop student employability need to give due consideration to strategies for enhancing inclusion and diverse participation.

scholarly journals Student engagement and partnering for employability skills development

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-213
Author(s):  
Ofoegbunam Thaddeus ◽  
Kevin Chinemerem ◽  
Ifeyinwa Edith
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Skills Development

scholarly journals The role of extra-curricular activities in increasing student engagement

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saba Munir ◽  
Muhammad Zaheer
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Virtual University ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Extra Curricular Activities ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe first objective of this study is to review the mechanism of conducting extra-curricular activities (ECAs) in the open and distance learning (ODL) setting. To achieve this objective, the procedure of ECAs at the Virtual University of Pakistan has been studied. The second objective of this study is to find the impact of ECAs on student engagement.Design/methodology/approachThis is a cross-sectional quantitative study. The questionnaire has been used to collect the data. The purposive sampling technique has been used, while this study's sample size is 970. An independent sample t-test has been used to find the difference between the groups.FindingsThis study shows a significant difference between the engagement levels of students who have been part of any ECA at university compared to the students who never participated in any ECA.Research limitations/implicationsThe results have been derived from the data gathered from one university only that might hinder the generalizability of the findings. The same study can be conducted in other ODL institutions to authenticate the findings.Practical implicationsThis study will help in realizing the policymakers of ODL about the importance of ECCAs. This study has also discussed an existing system of conducting ECCAs in an ODL setting that can be generalized and implemented across all the ODL universities to enhance student engagement.Originality/valueThis study has highlighted the importance of ECAs in ODL institutions that have been neglected since forever. This study is novel because it has highlighted the importance of social interaction of students in ODL and its relation with student engagement that has not been highlighted by any study so far.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document