On-campus student employment: research from America
- A Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) project
- Brief background
- An example: Talent Development Center
- Relevance to UK higher education?
- Further information
By Professor Philip Sullivan, Projects Director at De Montfort University
A Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) project
This parallel session discussed the first findings of a HEFCE Leadership, Governance and Management Fund project concerning the innovative approaches to student employment of Northwest Missouri State University and the subsequent careers advantages offered on graduation. Whether the approaches taken are appropriate for UK education is for individual institutions to decide, though the benefits for student recruitment, achievement and retention, graduate employability, careers and alumni involvement have prompted much interest.
Brief background
Having commenced student employment some 20 years ago, Northwest now employs 17% of students for around 15 hours per week, which includes 50% of overseas students. What makes Northwest different from other US universities is that students are employed in all academic and support departments, some in positions of visible responsibility. For example, five students work in the vice-chancellor’s office; alongside everyday tasks they manage the office’s student feedback system, draft speeches, manage data, organise events, and more. Most, perhaps all, of the staff are strongly supportive of the student employment policy, though it took some years of trial, error and uncertainty to allay apprehensions.
An example: Talent Development Center
In one of the hundred or so video clips taken by the project, Northwest’s vice-chancellor, Dr Dean Hubbard, explains that the ‘breakthrough’ came with the establishment of the Talent Development Center (TDC) ‘…because the benefits were so obvious..’. This centre, which in many ways typifies the university’s support for its students, is based in the belief that all students can improve their learning achievements. Here, two regular staff and over 60 trained student employees meet individual or small groups of students by appointment to help improve their subject knowledge, grades, learning skills and employability. The improvement in retention as a result is estimated at around 10%. Some of the TDC’s employees have the title of ‘Supplemental Instructors’. These tend to be students who gained an ‘A’ in a subject; they are invited, usually by academic staff, to retake the course (module) and to hold after-hours sessions for students to discuss the course content and learning points. In the spirit of talent development such sessions are attended by students who are concerned about their understanding of the course, as well as those who want to raise their likely ‘B’ grade to an ‘A’. Northwest has found that peer learning is a powerful thing. Over 3,000 students have direct contact with the TDC in a year, and around 90% will have at least one contact during their time at the university.
Relevance to UK higher education?
The students, staff, parents and graduates recorded by the project all agreed that on-campus student employment is a good thing. While there are many similarities between the UK and the US, America is a different culture and what succeeds there may not necessarily be successful here. That said, given the rising numbers of students, the need for many to earn money during their education, the desire of many students to gain employment skills, and the moral imperative to support first generation and hitherto modest academic achievers, it is possible that some of the findings of the HEFCE funded project will be of interest to some institutions.
Further information
For details of the February 2008 dissemination events, please contact project member Prof Philip Sullivan at psullivan@dmu.ac.uk.
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