Why are you here?
home These quick reference guides deal with three main
aspects of being at university:
1. Studying and getting a degree
2. Expanding your horizons
3. Getting the key skills which employers expect
graduates to have.
This page focuses on expanding your horizons and
gaining key employability skills.
Expanding your horizons
Scope
Your time at University gives you enormous scope to
expand your horizons. You will be very lucky indeed if
you ever again find such opportunities to:
make friends and build up networks of contacts
learn about yourself and other people
take part in sports
further all kinds of interests, from aikido to
Wessex Films
develop the skills for which employers will pay
you highly as a graduate, as well as to study the
subject which you have chosen to read here.
Strategy
To get the most from what is on offer you will need a
strategy.
Day One may seem terribly early to start thinking about
what you'll do when you graduate. But you need to give
it a bit of thought now. At the start of your final term
it'll be too late to discover that the employer you want
to work for expects graduates to have a portfolio of Key
skills which you haven't built up because you spent all
your time in the bar or the library.
Key skills
The premium rates which employers pay graduates
show how important they consider Key skills to be.
Almost all major employers expect very similar key
skills:
Intellectual skills
ability to learn
decision making
critical analysis
planning and organising
management of change
problem analysis and problem solving
self management and time management.
Inter-personal skills
group work and team work
oral and written communication
negotiating.
Other skills
Information & Communication Technology
foreign languages
numeracy
commercial awareness.
Key skills at the University of Southampton
The University of Southampton has stated that key
skills must be 'an essential element in all new
programmes of study' introduced since 1998. So some
courses make explicit mention of the key skills which
your tutors expect you to acquire.
Even if you take such courses, you won't find any which
help you develop all the skills. You will need to take
responsibility for picking up most of them as you go
through University.
What will you do when you graduate?
It's an uncomfortable fact that few graduates are
employed solely to use their degree discipline.
Unless you become an engineer, health worker, lawyer,
researcher or teacher, your employer might not be very
interested in what you've read at Southampton
University - only in the fact that you were here.
That doesn't mean you can ignore your academic work
- your employer will respect a good class of degree, so
a 2.1 is much better than a Third.
Your course will give you the opportunity to develop
and practise several of the key skills which your
employer wants.
Acquiring key skills at University
Ability to learn
You can learn this on your course, from this website,
from other suggested websites and from books.
Group and team work
This is rarely required in any course, where it tends to
be everyone for her or himself. Student-led tutorials
and team projects can give you opportunities to
develop this skill.
Decision making
This is involved in all aspects of Higher Education from
your choice of University and Course, to your Final Year
Project and Career. It's important to be able to explain
and justify your choices.
Critical analysis
Many courses are designed to develop your skill at
cutting through the waffle and discovering the true
substance of an article, book or idea. Reading, note-
taking, critical analysis of texts and preparing essays
are key to this.
See also:
Making notes
Planning essays
Planning & organising
A crucial part of being a successful student.
See also: Time Management
Management of change
Although it's an important aspect of coming to
university, it's not so obvious a skill as Time
Management, and you will need to think of examples
that you can quote when a prospective employer wants
to hear about them.
Oral and written communication
Oral: taking part in tutorials.
Written: essays and dissertations.
By the way, it may cheer you to know that university
will probably be the last place where you'll have write
essays for people who know more about the topic than
you do: after this, you will generally be the expert.
Problem analysis and problem solving
Again, it's an important aspect of coming to university,
but it's not so obvious a skill as Time Management, and
you will need to think of examples that you can quote
when a prospective employer wants to hear about
them.
Self management and time management
Handing in essays and assignments on time
Balancing all the conflicting demands on your time.
See also: Time Management
ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
On just about every course you will need to submit your
essays typed. It makes enormous sense to word-
process them on a computer using a programme such
as: Word, WordPerfect or AmiPro. Then print them out.
Once you've learned how to do that, you should work to
fill any gaps in these areas:
Email
the Internet
presentations (such as PowerPoint)
spreadsheets (such as Excel).
Foreign languages
If these are not part of your course, it is well worth
contacting the Language Centre to see about getting
some extra tuition.
Numeracy
An essential part of some courses. If your course does
not require it, you may need to practise.
Negotiating
A skill which you may need when dealing with the
landlord or flat-mates, but which doesn't normally get
much exercise at university.
Commercial awareness
Not normally required on university courses.
Where to acquire key skills
University life offers many opportunities for gaining Key
skills. Here are four suggestions:
Students' Union
The Students' Union runs a training and development
programme called Student Focus, which is aimed in
particular at students who have been elected as course
representatives, or who are actively involved in the
Students' Union, for example in clubs and societies or
as elected officers.
Contact the Student Advice and Information Centre.
Special projects
On some courses you get to spend a year away from
the University, working abroad, or on placement. On
others you have to research and write up a major
project. These are all golden opportunities to develop
your portfolio of skills.
Housing
You will probably spend a couple of years living in
rented accommodation. Tasks like bargaining with the
landlord and your flat-mates over rent and sorting out
the cleaning rota may just seem like chores to be
endured. But in fact they are opportunities for you to
practise negotiating skills, organising people and
managing change.
Part-time jobs
You are quite likely to take on part-time work during
term, and almost certain to take a job during the
vacations. Often these jobs will be menial, exactly the
type you're here to avoid doing when you graduate!
But even the humblest job gives you practice at Key
Skills:
dealing with members of the public
handling money
dealing with several tasks at once
time-keeping
negotiating with customers and other members of
staff.
