1) The Chair worked to increase institutional membership in NAGCAS by clarifying the process and benefits with senior staff. 2) The role of Institutional Representatives has changed from just connecting career development practitioners to their institutions to also influencing employability agendas and professional standards across diverse career services roles. 3) In 2013, the Institutional Representatives Committee saw more activity than recent years with 35 representatives participating primarily through their LinkedIn group, though members were too busy to lead proposed working groups.

1. NAGCAS Institutional Representative Committee 2013 AGM Report
I commenced as Chair of the group in January. Initial efforts went into increasing the number of
universities with institutional membership – a number of busy senior staff were confused about (or
had overlooked) the process of institutional membership and the opportunities it provides.
It is worthwhile revisiting why we have an IR group -the old concept of “Head of Service” is no
longer the way we connect. Many career practitioners are focussed on exerting influence to
increase the reach and effectiveness of career development learning and employability agendas
across their institutions, in some cases that means communities of practice and in others
practitioners may be positioned with varying reporting lines within an institution. What these people
have in common are roles and professionalism consistent with the CICA standards, and a desire to
be part of a professional organisation that values diversity of approaches and roles. They may
work in TAFE or Higher Education, and are valued members of the new, extended NAGGCAS
“family”
The Institutional Representatives Committee has seen more activity in 2013 than recent
years.There are currently 35 Institutional Representatives, with 33 of them members of the
NAGCAS IR LinkedIn group, which is the primary means of communication.
11 members participated in a teleconference in May on the topic of” Defining our niche in the
world of industry engagement” A poll was conducted, and areas of greatest interest were 1.
Working party to scope and share national and international trends and good practice, utilising
employers (large and small), student and academic stakeholder groups; 2 Working party to
establish NAGCAS advisory board to work with employers and consider national forums.
However it is indicative of the busyness of these cross institution roles that none was able to
volunteer to lead either of the groups! Hopefully this will change in 2014.
There has been robust discussion and many ideas put forward across the group for the agenda for
IR meeting, held Sunday Dec 1.
In summary, 2013 has been a year to consolidate Institutional membership as an important valueadd of NAGCAS involvement. We need to make sure that the dialogue continues in 2014, and that
all IRs are active in the NAGCAS IR LinkedIn group
Joanne Tyler
November 2013