1. STAR THE TREK Dr Joy Perkins & Peter Fantom Careers Service

3. Why did we introduce the STAR Award? The Award: Provides evidence of our Curriculum Reform ambitions Connects strongly to employability and our ongoing SFC employability activities Displays our strategic approach to enhance the student experience Builds upon our own experience as well as existing examples of good practice in other HEIs

4. What are the STAR Award development phases so far? Since its inception in 2007, the STAR Award has gone through a number of development phases. These phases are as follows: Phase I Initial Desk-based Research (Sept–Dec 2007) Phase II Non-Academic Recognition Scheme (Jan–June 2008) Phase III STAR Award Pilot (September 2008–August 2009) Phase IV Enhanced and Extended STAR Pilot (Sept 2009– July 2010) Phase V Launch of STAR in conjunction with our reformed curriculum (Sept 2010- present)

5. What does STAR 2010/11 involve? Attending an introductory session Participating in a specified Students’ Association or community volunteering role Selecting a STAR Award level – bronze, silver or gold Participating in two workshops on skills development and interview technique Maintaining an ePortfolio-based reflective diary Undertaking an assessed competency-based interview to measure achievement of Aberdeen Graduate Attributes

6. What are the distinguishing features of the STAR Award? Alignment with employability-focused Graduate Attributes Employer participation throughout the Award Strong partnerships within and beyond the University ePortfolio use – Record of Activity, skills audit and reflection Hierarchical assessment framework – bronze, silver and gold awards Bespoke competency-based interviews

7. How many students have participated annually since its inception? Academic Year No. of Students 22 40 135 200

8. What challenges have we faced with the Award? Challenges identified with the start-up process. Challenges associated with up-scaling the Award.

9. Today’s Task Discuss in a small group the up-scaling challenges identified on the cards. What do you consider the greatest challenge associated with up-scaling a co-curricular (employability) award? Are you able to rank the identified challenges? (1 being the most challenging) Is the Group’s perception based on personal experience of managing an Award or just guided by today’s discussions? Take 15 minutes as group to discuss and rank the challenges on the sticky sheet, making a note on the A1 sheet of your ranking justification.

10. Aberdeen’s Rankings 1.Resourcing the Award 2.Assessing the Award 3.Broadening student engagement with the Award while retaining perceived distinctiveness of the Award. 4.Student completion of the Award 5.Marketing the Award to students, employers and university staff.

11. The End!