Using the HEAR as a tool to support Ulster’s Employability
Award
Sharon Milner- [email protected]
University of Ulster
www.ulster.ac.uk
Summary
The Ulster EDGE Award was launched in 2011 and the first pilot cohort graduated with their EDGE
certificate at summer graduation in 2013. To gain the EDGE students have to complete four
activities and the verification of these award activities is managed via the bespoke Ulster Higher
Education Achievement Report (HEAR) online database. From July 2014 EDGE graduates will
have the EDGE included in section 6.1 of their HEAR.
Background
The University of Ulster’s vision to lead in the provision of ‘professional education for professional
life’, and its commitment to supporting graduates to gain stimulating and fulfilling graduate level
employment, led to the creation of the Ulster EDGE Award in 2011. The Award provides formal
institutional recognition of employability enhancing activities which students can engage in over the
course of their degree programme. Its aim is to encourage undergraduate students not only to
participate in such activities but also to recognise their value, thus adding to the wider student
experience at Ulster and embracing the concept of lifewide education.
Structure of Ulster EDGE Award
The EDGE Award is currently available to full-time undergraduates. It is branded with the strap
line ‘sharpen up – give yourself the edge…’ see fig 1 below
Fig 1: EDGE Award website
THE CENTRE FOR RECORDING ACHIEVEMENT 104 -108 WALLGATE, WIGAN, WN3 4AB |
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