Queen's Employability and Skills Award (QESA)
The Queen’s Employability and Skills Award is an innovative programme which enables students to gain an accredited award which recognises skills developed through different types of casual work, short term placement, volunteering or involvement in clubs and societies.
Significant numbers of students do not have formal work placement opportunity within their degree programme, however, may aquire a wide range of employability skills by engaging in other work related activities.
The programme delivered by the careers service enables participants to gain a theoretical and practical understanding of the skills they are developing.
It also involves training on how to reflect on the experience and make the link between work experience, transferable skills and graduate employments.
What You Have To Do To Achieve the Award
The award has three key elements:
- Experience
- Reflective report
- Personal presentation
The award will be conferred if students successfully meet the following criteria:
- Minimum of 200 hours work experience
- Submission to the required standard and guidelines of Reflective report
- Successful delivery of a personal presentation
Reflective Report
Written assignment of no less than 2,000 words in which students’ explore how the experience undertaken has enabled the development of skills for the graduate marketplace
Personal Presentation
Presentation of 5-10 minutes outlining context of work experience, personal experiences, learning outcomes and how the placement experience has or will impact on future career plans
Awarding Body
Queen’s is the awarding body and all students who successfully complete all aspects of the programme will receive the Queen’s Employability and Skills Award.
Further information
For those in the School of Biological Sciences who would like further information regarding QESA, please contact Mark Gallagher.
For all other Schools, please contact Programmes.