Careers specialists share best practice at AGCAS biennial

Almost 500 careers specialists/advisers from University Careers Services throughout the UK will meet in Edinburgh next week to share best practice at the AGCAS Biennial Conference, run by the Association for Graduate Careers Advisory Services.

Employability is one of the key themes for the conference which features a keynote speech from Andrew Cubie, Convener of the Cubie Committee & Chairman of Napier University Court, who will talk about supporting students and graduates to enter and succeed in the world of work in the context of wider access to HE; employability and the different national approaches to student funding within the UK.

In addition there will be a panel discussion on Enhancing Student Employability involving students, graduates, employers, academic staff, careers advisers and researchers which will focus on ways in which the key stakeholders can work together. The conference will also see the launch of ëYour Jobs On-lineí, an AGCAS video which dispels the myths about applying for jobs on-line and the ëAGCAS Briefing on Employability for HE Careers Services and Practitionersí.

AGCAS chief executive Margaret Dane comments: ìThe AGCAS conference shows the ways in which an increasingly diverse sectoral group comes together to share its best practice for the benefit of the collective and its clients.

ìWe are offering a multitude of sessions that address ways in which HE Careers Services are dealing with the pressing issues facing higher education and its students. These include dealing with increasing diversity as a result of widening participation, exploring the new landscape of the graduate recruitment market and ensuring quality.î

Quality is another theme of the AGCAS Biennial and Peter Williams, chief executive of the HE Quality Assurance Agency, will address the issues facing HE today in providing quality support for students and graduates.

In addition Ian Livsey, chief executive of the Guidance Accreditation Board, will present awards to the first 15 AGCAS member services to have achieved accreditation against the matrix Quality Standard for Information, Advice and Guidance Services.

Diversity is also a theme and in conjunction with Graduate Prospects, AGCAS will launch the ëHE Careers Services and Diversityí report which will be presented by one of its authors, Lee Harvey of the Centre for Research and Evaluation at Sheffield Hallam University. Also being launched is the new edition of the AGCAS publication ëA Level Playing Fieldí which promotes diversity in graduate employment.