JISC

Overview

The focus of the Graduate Recruitment Intelligence (GRI) project is to enhance students’ and graduates’ employability by enabling them to market achievements through online systems that interface to achievement data held in university systems.

The GRI project supports the implementation of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR).  An expectation of the HEAR is that the final document will be electronic to enable access by third parties (e.g. employers, HEIs).  This project will explore the practical application of HEAR data to deliver a service which supports students transition between study and employment or further study.

Aims and objectives 

The project aims to:

1. Improve student access to, and exploitation of, corporate and student data held in disparate information systems.
2. Integrate online student employability profiles with academic results and other student achievement data, which are held by the University of Gloucestershire.
3. Contribute to the development of the HEAR XML specification and technical architecture considerations for implementing the HEAR.
4. Pilot the exchange of data between the University of Gloucestershire’s internal corporate systems and externally-hosted third party employability services through secure web services.

Project methodology

The project will be managed as part of the University of Gloucestershire’s involvement in the national HEAR implementation project.  As such, an internal advisory board has already been established which includes staff from Teaching & Learning Innovation, Academic Registry, Academic Frameworks, ICT Services and the Students’ Union.  The advisory board will evaluate this development in the context of the overall University of Gloucestershire HEAR project, which includes the Employable Gloucestershire Graduate Scheme (EGGS) and improving data collection between the academic Faculties and central services (e.g. University prizes and awards; additional recognised courses completed by students).

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

Outputs

• Project webpage.
• 10 blog postings (minimum).
• An electronic HEAR for students, which can be accessed by employers (with a student’s permission).
• Feedback on the HEAR XML specification and consideration of other standards.
• An assembly to explore a shared service.

Outcomes

• Students’ enhanced awareness of employability skills and additional co-curricular learning achievements.
• Employers’ enhanced awareness of the broad range of skills achieved by students through co-curricular learning activities.
• Recognition by employers that recruitment and selection criteria should be expanded.
• Recognition by the HE sector of the benefits offered by the HEAR.