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The Work Experience Bank (University of Manchester)
The project sought to offer a co-ordinated solution to the issue of "how to expand opportunities for work experience for higher education students". The Work Experience Bank was a partnership of the University of Manchester and UMIST Careers Service, 14 partner agencies in the Greater Manchester region, and two national partners, viz. the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (CSU) and the Shell STEP programme. The consortium aimed:
Prior to developing a web-based system for co-ordinating and promoting work experience in the region, an audit of current work experience programmes in the partner agencies and across academic departments was undertaken. This audit provided a "snap-shot" of the level of academic involvement in organising undergraduates' work experience. It found that, across the participating universities, approximately 10,000 students (17 per cent of the student population) are involved in work experience (excluding professional training) annually, 42 per cent on employer-based project work, 40 per cent on industrial placements, and 17 per cent on academically-related vacation work.
A survey of students who graduated in 1998 from the University of Manchester or from UMIST provided details on the volume and type of student work experience, the ways in which they obtained it, and their reasons for undertaking work experience. The survey confirmed that the majority of students (66 per cent) do gain work experience by the time they graduate and that 98 per cent of those surveyed had also gained work experience prior to university.
The project's development phase comprised a pilot which gave students, academics and employers access to information and work experience opportunities in the UK and overseas. An on-line skill tracking system for students undertaking all forms of work experience was also developed. These systems were then integrated and Work Experience Bank was launched as a regional brokerage system enabling on-line student registration, vacancy posting, vacancy matching and emailing, and on-line skills tracking.
A student survey found very high levels of satisfaction with the quality of the WEB service. A telephone survey of a sample of businesses advertising vacancies on the WEB found a high level of satisfaction with the efficiency of vacancy-handling systems. On-line brokerage had not resulted in a surplus of applications or an increase in inappropriate applications: small and medium-sized enterprise vacancies were typically attracting two to six applications.
In March 1999, the Manchester WEB was launched at CSU as the National Work Experience Bank, which, in addition to the features developed through the project, also provides access to other national and regional brokerage systems and a register of national work experience providers. Over 10,000 students a week access CSU's Work Experience Bank (the third most popular job-related section of CSU's website).
A North West Work Experience Bank was launched in January 2000 (with the support of the North West Development Agency). Customised workbanks are now being developed in other regions (with funding from other government sources), with the intention that a nationally compatible network of regional workbanks (linked to the national web sites at CSU and the National Centre for Work Experience) could be in place in the next two years.
© 2001
