RESEARCH INSIGHTS

RESEARCH INSIGHTS: SUPPORTING STUDENTS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND

Jayne Rowley, Executive Director of Student Services at Jisc, reflects on a year of immense change for university students and careers professionals.

I was really sad to miss the AGCAS Annual Conference this year

–although spending a week at three miles per hour on the beautiful Llangollen and Shropshire Canal gave me a chance to reflect on how quickly the year has passed and how uncertain the plans for supporting students, careers services and employers still are for next year.

We are going to have to continue to be agile, be prepared to change tack at short notice and be pragmatic about the ongoing blend of online and face-to-face engagement with students. I am certain that wellbeing and confidence will be at the heart of student concerns for some time to come.

This spring and summer we have undertaken several research projects to understand how the pandemic has impacted students, as well as those who support them. We ’d like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our latest Careers Advisory Services Survey. More than 250 careers professionals responded about advising students throughout the pandemic and future plans. Another highlight is the Prospects Early Careers Survey 2021 of more than 7,000 students and graduates.

CHALLENGES AND UNCERTAINTY

Remaining motivated to study and optimistic about careers were among students ’ biggest challenges of the past year. Mental health also featured heavily – the second biggest challenge for university students – and we have several initiatives to support this issue. Along with our Future You Webinars on confidence and growth mindset we are supporting the Student Minds ’ Student Space initiative. We are delighted with the feedback from students about these events and the numbers attending or accessing on-demand. These will be a cornerstone of our Future You Programme for next year.

Our findings reflect what has been a year of immense change for young people in which uncertainty has affected all areas of life, not least career plans. More than a quarter of students had changed their career plans due to the pandemic and 37% said they were still uncertain about what they would do.

The general sense of uncertainty ties in with findings from careers services, with the vast majority indicating that there had been an increase in students asking about changing their plans.

Given that university students who received careers advice were more likely to report that they were very certain about their career plans than those who had not, it is clear that the support they are receiving from the brilliant careers professionals in our institutions is extremely valuable.

REMOTE SERVICES

In the past year, it’ s been inspiring to see how quickly careers services have adapted to remote provision, embracing virtual careers fairs, offering online guidance and setting up virtual assessment centre practice sessions. Many cited the flexibility and accessibility of virtual services as the biggest benefit.

Careers professionals found that using video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Teams was the most effective way to connect with students and graduates. Among the social media platforms respondents said that the most effective were Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Some thought that Instagram and YouTube were useful so it might be worth exploring those platforms to share labour market information (LMI).

Nearly two thirds of university students said they had made use of these services, with finalists more likely to visit careers services than those in earlier years.

Careers services noticed that student engagement had increased as students could access support from the comfort of their own home. This meant that barriers such as location, travelling and fitting faceto-face appointments in around other commitments weren 't an issue. Attendance rates also improved for some with fewer no shows. Others commented on the ability to access a wider student body including transnational campus students. Students who were alone generally opened up more and seemed more relaxed than when they attended on-campus appointments.

This not only suggests that it will benefit both careers services and students to continue with the online format, but it also conveys that students are actively engaging with careers services to seek out the information they need, with 60% of respondents saying there has been an increase in demand for general LMI.

Both of our surveys indicated that there has also been a significant surge in the amount of students asking about the job hunting process many specifically seeking advice about virtual recruitment While the majority of careers professionals plan to continue with virtual one-to-one sessions when students are back on campus, some services are likely to adopt a blended approach to LMI delivery and careers support in the future. This will help to reduce social isolation and connect with colleagues and students in person while also offering online alternatives to those who can 't travel.

These insights are invaluable in helping us to support you in the best way possible in the coming year. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for more things we could do here at Jisc.

There are three reports in this series:

Work Experience During a Crisis

Jobs, Apprenticeships and Postgraduate Study

Careers Advice

These, along with other articles on careers services, can be accessed on Luminate (luminate.prospects.ac.uk).

– – and career planning. University students cited guidance on CVs, cover letters and job applications, and careers events such as job fairs among the most popular.

VIEW PHOENIX THEMES AND ISSUES next issue OF PHOENIX

NOVEMBER 2021

THIS ISSUE INCLUDES CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE FOLLOWING INSTITUTIONS:

City, University of London King ’ s College London Lancaster University Newcastle University Nottingham Trent University

Robert Gordon University Royal Holloway Staffordshire University The Open University The University of Sheffield University of Birmingham University of Bradford University of Cambridge

University of Chester University of Derby University of Exeter University of Hertfordshire University of Nottingham University of Oxford University of Reading University of Strathclyde University of the Arts London University of York