Skills development alongside your studies is essential to prepare for today’s world of work and employers are increasingly looking for graduates that are proficient in ‘softer’ transferable skills in addition to specialised knowledge from a degree.
The BU Skills Development Programme is free and available to all current BU students. It provides a structured approach to your career development and helps you build confidence in the personal and professional skills that employers are looking for and how to apply them to a job, placement or graduate position.
Check out the masterclasses and resources below to find out how to get the most out of the programme and showcase your development to employers.
Explore the "My Skills Development" tab on Brightspace
Take a look at the “My Skills” tab on Brightspace, where you can access a variety of e-learning resources, events and LinkedIn Learning pathways. Resources in this section are mapped to nine key skill groupings and are organised so you can learn at your own pace and effectively fit in development around your studies.
Find out how to get the most out of the "My Skills" section by exploring the new pages and watching the video below:
Attend new Skills Masterclasses this semester
This semester the careers and employability service have launched more employer led skills masterclasses for any BU student to attend.
The masterclasses are a great chance to network with employers and other students whilst developing your employability skills that will make you stand out when applying for placements and graduate jobs
These sessions are co-delivered with industry speakers and academics to provide insight into different industries. Topics covered in our masterclasses are based on skills we know are in growing demand within industry and this semester we are focusing on: Professional, Sustainable, Digital and Human skills.
Companies represented this semester include Santander, Dorset LEP, LIGHTBLUE Digital Agency, Grapevine, Tesco, Exclusiv3D, and MeiXter.
Throughout March we will be supporting the BU Eco Entrepreneurs Challenge alongside the Sustainability Team and we are very proud to welcome back two of our BU alumni who have set up their own businesses this semester as a part of our programme of events to support students who wish to explore self-employment.
You can find out more about the series and book onto any of our masterclasses by visiting: mycareerhub.bournemouth.ac.uk/students/events
Coming soon
In addition to the skills masterclasses and resources now available on Brightspace we are working on a structured skills programme, akin to the previous Global Talent Award.
This semester we are piloting the BU Skills Award with five academic programmes from across all four faculties. The award will be created with the Career Readiness Model in mind to help support students with their skills development no matter where you are in your career planning journey.
Using feedback from students and staff involved with this pilot, we are hoping to be able to offer this award as our extracurricular award for all students from September 2022.
More information about the progress of this project will be communicated over the next couple of months.
