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Higher Education
Achievement Report:
Employer Survey
Kerry Matthews
17th September 2010
Would you find the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) useful
as part of your recruitment process?
No , 12.50%
Yes, 87.50%
2
Had you heard of the HEAR or related projects prior to receiving this
questionnaire?
Yes, 21.90%
No , 78.10%
3
Which information within the HEAR would you use when assessing an
applicant (select all that apply)
•
Name of the award and classification - 87.5%
•
Additionally recognised activities e.g. volunteering, member of club / society – 78.1%
•
Programme details – level / length of degree, access requirements, mode of study – 71.9%
•
Language of instruction /examination - 59.4%
•
Programme results – description of modules taken and mark – 59.4%
•
Details on University prizes / awards 56.3%
•
Programme requirements – description of learning outcome, skills and attributes –
56.3%
•
A statement detailing the attributes developed by the student – 56.3%
•
Institution status e.g. research intensive / accreditations – 46.9%
•
Information on professional status – 43.8%
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Which section of the HEAR would you find most important/useful when
assessing an applicant.
(1 being most important/useful, 8 being least important/useful)
• Section 4 - Information on the contents and results gained
• Section 2 - Information identifying the qualification
• Section 1 - Information identifying the holder of the qualification
• Section 3 - Information on the level of the qualification
• Section 6 - Additional information
• Section 5 - Information on the function of the qualification
• Section 7 - Certification of the HEAR
• Section 8 - Information on the national higher education system
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Do you have any additional comments on the contents of the HEAR that
you would like to mention?
Extra curricular activities is a
minus, in my opinion. It could
focus students away from their
degree course and weaker
students may believe that they
could supplement their academic
achievements by having a greater
number of other activities.
Information regarding extra-curricular
activities and departmental prizes would
be very useful to us - this is something
that would provide valuable information
to all employers when considering
application forms.
It seems that it won't address the
fundamental issue of the wide variation in
the quality of degrees from different
institutions
It is important students do not use the HEAR as an
excuse to not write a good effective CV. The inclusion
of extra curricular activities could make the need for a
CV somewhat redundant and this is a concern if
students no longer feel the need to write their own
information on what they have learnt
6
When would you most likely look at a student’s HEAR during the
recruitment process?
Number of responses
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
At application
At testing
At interview
At
assessment
centre
Application Stage
At offer /
references
Other
7
Would the HEAR in an electronic format be more useful to you than a
paper transcript?
No , 12.50%
Yes, 87.40%
8
As well as seeing the students’ module marks, would you also like to know
how the module was assessed? E.g. exam, individual coursework, group
coursework or presentation.
No , 25.00%
Yes, 75.00%
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Employer Comments – Key Themes
• A good idea with potential
• A useful tool that is over complicated
• It doesn’t provide anything different to a good CV
• Students are under pressure to achieve more than just a
good degree
10
Do you have any other thoughts / comments on such an initiative that you
would like to share?
Looks a bit like a HIP - decent idea being
made impractical by all sorts of complicated
jargon, ultimately counter-productive.
The information covered in Hear is very similar to
that of any graduate's CV, due to the fact they are
unlikely to have much actual workplace experience.
This is my only concern, as we can usually tell a lot
about someone by how they have written their CV
and what they have chosen to include. This may
take quite a bit of that out of their hands and
therefore make candidate screening, faster but less
effective
A candidate's ability to recognise their personal development
through extra-curricular activity and highlight this in their
application is a key skill. Potentially students would expect
their certificate to do all the work of the application - leading
to more apathetic applications
I hope it won't lead to students being
punished who did not do a lot of part
time work during University as this could
cause a conflict of issue with their
studies. Not that these elements are not
important in the right balance but this
could occur if students felt they had to
tick every box on the HEAR and therefore
spent all their time in extra curricular
clubs, jobs, etc
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Do you have any other thoughts / comments on such an initiative that you
would like to share?
As a recent graduate it seems a little pointless - if the applicant is a good one, all of this
information would be included on their CV? I suppose an applicants HEAR would prove
this, but it seems a little unfair on some students (for example to have the entire module
grade transcript included in the hear - if a student has taken a class to learn something
extra, but has struggled, is it fair to include this for employers to see, even if overall in
their degree they've achieved a good grade?!) Also it puts constant pressure on students
who may not be so academically minded.
Saying this though - personally I would have wanted to have a HEAR, it would have been
excellent to have all of my achievements documented by the university, therefore I
wonder if introducing the HEAR will disadvantage graduates who have not got one?!.
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