Presentation from the 'A Plus for Business' workshop at the Erasmus+ 2016 Annual Conference.

1. Aston University Erasmus+
Business Engagement
Jessica Neumann, International Partnerships Development Officer
j.neumann@aston.ac.uk, 0121 204 3667

2. • Aston University in a nutshell
• Employability – targets for 2020
• Placements facts & figures
• Benefits, value & impact of traineeships
• Business engagement & retention
• Challenges
• Looking to the future
Agenda

3.  Founded in 1895 and University title in 1966
 Five distinctive schools based around vocational subjects
• Aston Business School
• Aston Medical School
• Languages and Social Sciences
• Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Life and Health Sciences
 Strong league table positions
• Top 10 in the UK for proportions of graduates achieving
professional jobs (82.2% of Aston graduates find a grad-
level job or further study)
• 4th in the UK for Placement Sandwich Degree
• Top 30 universities in all university ranking table
Aston University- who are we?

4. Employability & Internationalisation –Aston 2020
Making our students globally employable + work-ready + aware of their
development + trying career paths  2020 target: 100% placements, 35% abroad
 Currently: 71% students on placements,
including 25% abroad
 Sandwich Degree – After second year of
study
 Option for full year work, full year study,
work/work, work/study, study/study
 Assessed and count 10% towards degree
classification

5. Facts & Figures

6. Benefits, Value & Impact
 For the University:
 High graduate employability rates: 12th in UK, QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2016
 Strong employer engagement: campus visits, year on year recruitment
 Reputation: High performing Aston students path the way for future placement students
 For students:
 A competitive edge: Real life work experience to add to their CV
 Additional skills: Linguistic, intercultural, confidence, adaptability, resilience etc.
 Links to employers: A huge network of UK and international employers likely to recruit for graduate roles

7.  Why should employers take on Erasmus+ students?
• Additional support with projects
• Fresh perspective
• Native-English and other language skills
• Discovering new Talent for future recruitment
• Brand awareness and international customer network
 Our students are:
• Eager to gain experience
• Happy to relocate if required
• Already have experience
• Flexible in terms of duration: 3 / 6 / 9 / 12 months
• Available from Summer 2017
Employer Benefits

8. Preparing students for the workplace
• First Year
Led by Careers Consultants + Intro to Placements Sessions + Employability
Modules + Fairs. Access to part-time work to build CV
• Second Year
Term 1: Placement Preparation Sessions, Employers on Campus, International
Placement Event, CV Checks, 1-to-1, Peer to Peer student support
Term 2: Mock Interviews, Practical Workshops, Employers
Term 3: Placement Preparation Sessions, including Intercultural Awareness
Workshops. Placement Motivation Event and Coaching Sessions for unplaced
students.
• Third Year
Placement Tutor – Academic support
Personal Tutor – General Support
Placements Team – Pastoral support
All University Support Services available remotely i.e. Counselling.

9. Where Do Our Students Go?

10. How do we source traineeships?
• Preparing students for applications
• Preparing our students so they are high quality- developing our reputation
and ensuring retention of organisations
• Alumni
• Many Aston alumni are now in high positions in global companies. Invest
time and money into visiting and building connections.
• Researcher alumni event
• Executive and alumni team visits
• Actively searching for opportunities
• Dedicated Business Development Manager
• Websites: - www.erasmusintern.org etc.
• Networking
• Using staff network to reach potential providers

11. • Student engagement
• Deliver the same message in multiple ways, via multiple
channels, multiple times
• Be creative, try again… and again
• Student misperceptions of Placements Abroad - Myths
• Scary
• Expensive
• Only for language students
• Academic collaboration - ongoing work
• Pockets of resistance, lack of engagement
• Pockets of scepticism (mainly with
Study Abroad)
Challenges

12. • KA107 traineeships available from 2018
• Perhaps difficult to estimate but already there is high interest
• Brexit
• Continually reinforcing message that scheme
is available in 2017
Looking to the future!

13. Any Questions?
Jessica Neumann
International Partnerships Development Officer
j.neumann@aston.ac.uk
0121 204 3667