Want to boost your employability opportunities while studying? Put your ‘hands on’ experience through University!

University is a great experience for all students but what shouldn’t be ignored is that this is the best time to plan and prepare for their future career. We should start thinking and take advantage of every opportunity that comes across, particularly when still at Uni. Yes, you may be surprised but our Business School is undergoing a transformation of the way teaching is delivered, focusing on a contemporary practice-based higher education. If you do not know yet, this is all about teaching and learning based on ‘real life’ projects. Experience gained through university aims to develop your skills set and broaden your employability prospects. And I think for most of you, this is the primary reason for getting into higher education, or not?

Wrest Park [photo source: www.english-heritage.org.uk] 

My career journey started exactly with one of these ‘hands on’ experiences. The Junior Research Institute forTourism (jRIT) being part of our Business School is a student-led initiative that helps students gain practical experience as they work on consultancy projects with local organisations. At that time, I joined an exciting project that was collaboration between jRIT and English Heritage and had the responsibility for leading a group of four undergraduate and postgraduate researchers. Then I realised that I was just about to crack on my first management role in my life. That was a thing that I was extremely excited about.

Our key responsibility as a team was the assessment of interpretation methods provided in one of the most stunning historic properties in Bedfordshire – Wrest Park - part of English Heritage. This is an easy job! – One would say. Well, this is not the case! In ‘real life’ consultancy projects you should think of your assignment as something more than a report. It is the way you keep the good teamwork and share responsibilities between the team members so you deliver the project successfully and on time.

You learn a lot from such experience. Our consultancy work included meeting the ‘client’ and get to know their project needs, preparing an action plan, collecting visitor interviews, sessions of data analysis and presentation, writing up the final report and deliver a presentation to one of the venue’s managers. Yes, that was extremely helpful to me! And the most exciting aspect of it is that you can improve your skills set in a ‘real life’ context, which you can use in your future career. Finally, when you get your reference that means you have done a good job!

So, believe it or not, the University may play a key role in defining your future. In the past University was about giving you the most comprehensive knowledge on your chosen area of study. Contemporary universities however focus on how you can get the most of your studies, involve you in ‘real life’ projects, and develop you as a practitioner as opposed to theorist, so you become more competitive on the job market. Practice-based education is our priority as a Business School at University of Bedfordshire and is directly feeds into our curriculum.

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About the Author: Deyan Hristov

Deyan is a Graduate Academic Assistant at the University of Bedfordshire Business School, where he has been engaged in various research projects. He joined the Business School in January 2013 and has also been working towards completing his PhD in organisational change since then.