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Thursday 16 Sep 2010

DEGREES MUST MATCH BUSINESS NEEDS, SAYS NETWORK RAIL

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Network Rail today warned Britain risked a generation of graduates no more employable than school leavers unless universities and business worked better together to deliver a programme relevant and practical for the commercial world.

As the company launches its graduate scheme for 2011, it warns that whilst applications are up, there is a worrying trend of candidates with little or no awareness of how business operates, and in some cases, engineering graduates with a surprising lack of understanding of the basics.

Iain Coucher, Network Rail chief executive said: "A successful railway is vital to Britain’s economic growth and prosperity. To deliver this we must continue to hire top graduate talent. The partnerships we have with a number of universities produce many graduates ready for work and who will make a genuine contribution, yet we’re also seeing a worrying increase in graduate candidates who have little more to offer than school leavers. Many have seemingly coasted through university without getting any sort of a grasp of the realities of business."

"In these tough and competitive times, students must do more to make themselves ready for work. Universities and businesses must play their part in shaping learning that will be meaningful, practical and valuable to prospective employers.  If we continue to simply churn out ever increasing numbers of graduates rather than produce quality, rounded individuals, the talent pool on which British business relies will be a rather diluted one.”

The University of Birmingham is one institution which collaborates with Network Rail. Dr Clive Roberts, School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering said: "Through our multi-disciplinary Centre for Railway Research and Education at the University of Birmingham we offer both undergraduates and Masters students practical experience of working collaboratively with industry during their studies. 

"As part of their final year project, or a summer placement, students are encouraged to join our established research teams.  Students are either embedded in a company or carryout experiments in our railway systems laboratory.  For example, this summer we have two MEng students, who have already secured jobs in the railway industry, working in our laboratory as part of a team with some of our research staff, Network Rail and Arup; the work aims to assess the benefit of anti-icing and de-icing products to help improve train punctuality during winter months.

Network Rail has also conducted a survey of around 300 graduates who have entered the Network Rail scheme in recent years. It found:

 

• Half (50%) already had an understanding of the career options open to them before university 
• As students, they got careers advice from a number of sources with 76% choosing the internet, 71% university and 58% friends. Less than half (37%) got advice from careers advisers.
• Less than one in five (16%) believe their university course prepared them for employment, with three quarters (76%) believing it only did so in some ways
• Three quarters (75%) undertook some work experience or voluntary work during or after their course, with 91% of these believing that it made them more attractive to potential employers. 

 

Network Rail has also today launched a pilot programme where a group of five graduates will act as envoys for the company and a link to their former universities. They will help to arrange for expert engineers from the company to speak in lectures, or provide information on the industry that may be useful for students.

Graduate engineer at Network Rail Oliver Nenadovic commented on how he improved his employability: “When you are immersed in the bubble of university, it is sometimes easy to forget that there is more to take away then just a degree and debt.  I identified the skills I needed to develop myself such as leadership, innovation and teamwork and got involved in activities to strengthen them. I volunteered to lead a design project, helped out at an engineering teaching event for local schoolchildren and captained the football team. This along with getting some relevant work experience during the summer months really helped make me stand out.”

Iain Coucher added: "Oliver is a great example of having three key attributes that prospective employers look for. He had sought out relevant work experience, could provide examples that demonstrate his personal qualities such as leadership, and of course could show how his learning was relevant to our business. We want the university experience to deliver more candidates like this otherwise Britain risks falling behind.”