Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) World of Work (WoW®) Model
Terry Dray
Director LJMU Graduate Development Centre
t.dray@ljmu.ac.uk
WoW® at LJMU is strategic and can be summarised as ‘Connecting both students and staff more closely to the Work of Work (WoW®)’. It involves the whole of the University and employers, who are working in partnership in defining and verifying world of work skills.
WoW is in the first year of full operation and is a voluntary process for students. 2600 students had registered for the WoW certificate at March 2010.
LJMU consulted widely to identify exactly what is required from a university and its graduates in the 21st century. LJMU listened and took action, to ensure that graduates get both challenging educational development and high level skills, and are now offering all their degrees with an added WoW® factor.
WoW® means that the university’s undergraduate degree portfolio now has explicit work related learning and the development of eight Graduate Skills embedded within all 350 programmes. Uniquely, students are also encouraged to recognise and develop a set of higher level ‘World of Work’ or WoW® Skills, contained within 3 themes: Self Awareness, Organisational Awareness and the ability to Make Things Happen, that give them the edge in the demanding graduate market.
WoW® enables individual students to identify, develop and seek verification for these skills; the cachet for students and employers is that it is employers themselves who are judging whether these have been achieved.
LJMU has invested in a purpose built Graduate Development Centre which is a training and development facility set in the heart of Liverpool’s business district. This is the hub for interactions with employers and a delivery space for “Ready for Work” and WoW skills development programmes.
This new approach to higher education and employer engagement has gained the backing of many students, colleagues,employers and politicians.
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