Ground-breaking employability
initiative expands to Military Tattoo
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QMU has top graduate employment
rate in Scotland
I
T’S OFFICIAL – QMU is top in Scotland and third in
the UK for employment of our undergraduate leavers.
98.2% of our graduates are in work or further study six
months after graduation. The Scottish university sector average
is 95.2%.
This information was released by Higher Education Statistics
Agency (HESA), which published the UK performance indicators
relating to the employment outcomes of students six months
after completing their qualification. The statistics, which were
published in July 2017, are based on students who graduated
in July 2016.
QMU’s Principal, Professor Petra Wend, said: “We are
delighted that our efforts to continuously improve the
employability of QMU students are reflected in these figures.
Over recent years, we have been ambitious in our vision to
strengthen our employability strategy by creating outstanding
development opportunities for our student community,
including mentoring programmes, internships, networking
events, scholarships and volunteering opportunities, employer
engagement networks and international travel opportunities.
Our academic staff are well connected within their industries
and many of our graduates acknowledge the assistance
that individual staff have provided in helping them secure
employment in their chosen areas.
“QMU offers an impressive range of career-enhancing
extracurricular opportunities and our size means that a high
proportion of students, particularly those who seek out
opportunities, can easily take full advantage of these benefits.”
This issue of QMYou features many stories about student
and graduate development opportunities, demonstrating the
University’s work in preparing students for successful careers. ❒
A
ground-breaking initiative which offers paid work
experience opportunities for students expanded in
2017 to provide tourism ambassadors for The Royal
Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Pioneered by QMU, the Student Tourism Ambassador Role
Scotland (STARS) programme was designed to create a tourism
ambassador programme for the City of Edinburgh, creating a
seamless journey for all visitors from their arrival at the airport
and on to the main city attractions. No other city in the UK has an
initiative like this which nurtures the talent of university students
to help enhance the visitor experience and strengthen the city’s
tourism reputation.
The programme has helped 60 students secure paid employment
in customer service tourism roles with Edinburgh International
Airport, Virgin Trains at Waverley Station and Edinburgh’s St James.
This summer, the project provided up to 18 students to assist
visitors at The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Professor Joe Goldblatt, from QMU, is a world renowned expert
in events management. He conceived the project with Juan Garcia,
QMU’s Employability Adviser. Professor Goldblatt explained:
“Since it started in summer 2014 in the international arrivals hall
at Edinburgh International Airport, our University STARS students
have welcomed 350,000 people from all over the world. The fact
that our STARS students speak 22 languages between them helps
to ensure that international visitors to Edinburgh are given a warm
welcome, which is backed up with useful visitor information.”
The students have all developed important customer service and
communication skills that equip them with desirable skills for the
tourism, events and other relevant industries. The introduction of
a student coordinator’s role has provided outstanding leadership
skills, with students who have held this position gaining graduate
jobs in related sectors. Having worked as STARS Coordinator,
Rebecca Neish went on to work for Disney World in Florida, later
returning to Scotland to secure a graduate level position with the
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce.
The STARS team was excited about the project expansion with
students working in a variety of different roles with The Royal
Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Adrian Crighton, a PR, Marketing and Events student, is currently
working as STARS Coordinator. He said: “I am gaining essential
practical management skills over and above the academic
knowledge I’m learning on my degree. It’s improving my confidence
and developing my problem solving and leadership skills. It was a
great opportunity for some of our STARS students to gain experience
of working at this world famous event – seeing the growth in
confidence in every STAR student was very inspiring. The skills
that they have learned, such as problem solving and managing
visitor numbers, will no doubt help them in their future careers.”
Professor Goldblatt confirmed: “The model not only creates paid
work and outstanding skills development for our students, it
offers business solutions for our partners and could be easily
transferable to other locations and universities.” ❒
QMYOU / News in Brief
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