Authors: Katherine Emms and Andrea Laczik
The research explored the undergraduate delivery of Cardiff University’s National Software Academy (NSA). The National Software Academy (NSA) presents a delivery model of higher education that is deemed to be successful in developing highly employable students and work-ready graduates. Through semi-structured interviews, the research investigated how the NSA built in employer engagement and developed a curriculum and teaching approach from the outset to ensure their students are equipped with skills necessary to secure and maintain employment after graduation.
Key Findings
- Employability skills are explicitly taught throughout the course (e.g. presentation skills, working as a team, how to network) is part of the course and these skills are referenced in module objectives, and regularly put into practice.
- Students take part in authentic real-world projects addressing real-world issues, set by employers and aligned with the module objectives.
- The NSA adopts practices that exist in industry and integrates these into the learning environment.
- Both staff and students foster close relationship with a wide range of industry partners. Industry partners feed into the content of the course to ensure it is constantly kept up to date and relevant.
