Aims:

The primary aims of the project were to:

1. examine the suitability of the Professional and Graduate Capability Framework (Scott, 2016) for each of the five sampled programmes incorporating and reconciling the perspectives of all key stakeholders (i.e, students, graduates, employers and Tertiary Education Organisation managers)
2. develop an evidence-based, sustainable and transferable model of future employability enhancement for each of the five sampled programmes
3. generate a comprehensive and research informed guideline on future employability enhancement in Tertiary Education Organisations that exemplifies and justifies how key commonalities and discrepancies between programmes and disciplines can be addressed.

Methodology:

Referring to a framework known as the 'Work Ready Plus' framework, the project used an action research methodology that explores the four stages of planning, acting, observing and reflecting.

Through interviews and observation, the project generated evidence-based best practices of employability enhancement for each of the five programmes.

It compared programmes, disciplines and sites, as well as identifying similarities and differences in the way each programme implements and evaluates their approach to employability enhancement.

Outcomes:

The following outcomes were sought from this project, with all resources to be made available for other New Zealand Tertiary Education Organisations.

1. Modified and validated scales of professional capability.
2. Survey data from large numbers of tertiary students from two cohorts of five programmes.
3. Interview data from stakeholder groups (students, staff, graduates, employers and managers).
4. Five fully developed ‘Work Ready Plus’ enhancement models tailored to the New Zealand tertiary education context comprised of:
   (a) new graduate outcomes added to the existing graduate profile
   (b) new learning outcomes added to one or more existing courses
   (c) new topic and the related teaching/supporting strategies added to one or more existing courses
   (d) a full resource kit housing all the necessary resources and instructions for the creation of the work ready plus learning environment.
5. One fully developed cross-disciplinary ‘Work Ready Plus’ handbook detailing all the theoretical principles and practical strategies for programmes in different disciplines and the differences and commonalities between disciplines.