What do Life Science employers look for in graduates?
Danilla Grando A E , Catherine Pocknee B , Bronwyn Clarke C and Margaret Jollands DA School of Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia
B College of Science, Engineering and Health, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia
C School of Media and Communications, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia
D School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Vic., Australia
E Corresponding author. Email: danilla.grando@rmit.edu.au
Microbiology Australia 37(2) 60-64 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA16021
Published: 18 April 2016
Abstract
As part of an Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) grant to develop graduate employability through partnerships with industry and professional associations1, RMIT University invited industry representatives from Life Science (microbiology focused) professions to a focus group to discuss their views on desirable graduate traits and attitudes. Subsequently current Life Science students at RMIT were also invited to focus groups. Using an expanded framework for graduate employability2, their responses were coded and analysed and compared with responses from similar focus groups from other RMIT programs.
References
[1] Jollands, M. et al. (2015) Developing graduate employability through partnerships with industry and professional associations. Strawberry Hills: Office for Learning and Teaching.[2] Jollands, M. (2015) A framework for graduate employability adapted for discipline differences. In Proceedings of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia Conference (HERSA, 2015), Melbourne, 6–9 July.
[3] Prinsley, R. and Baranyai, K. (2015) Stem-trained and job-ready. Office of the Chief Scientist, Occasional Paper Series 12, 1–4.
[4] Arujo, N. et al. (2015) Student engagement for employability: a Belonging Project case study. In Proceedings of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australia Conference (HERSA, 2015), Melbourne, 6–9 July.
[5] MacKinnon, P. (2015) Engineering communication. In Short stories: innovative approaches to developing employability in our students (Eds M. Jollands and C. Pocknee). Strawberry Hills: Office for Learning and Teaching.
[6] Rodrigues, S. et al. (2007) The usefulness of a science degree: The ‘lost voices’ of science trained professionals. Int. J. Sci. Educ. 29, 1411–1433.
| The usefulness of a science degree: The ‘lost voices’ of science trained professionals.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
[7] Office of the Chief Scientist (2014) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: Australia’s Future. Australian Government, Canberra.
