Employability is not just about work
At Think Education, our Employability Strategy revolves around setting our students up for life and preparing them for a journey through careers they love.
This means we provide our students with the optimum combination of qualifications with currency and relevance, transferable soft skills, and invaluable industry immersive experiences and connections – allowing our graduates to establish their careers and transition into others over time.
We work closely with industry to ensure our students graduate with just the right balance of attributes. Importantly, throughout their journey, we ensure our students do not study in isolation from the world of work.
Each student is encouraged to engage with their Success Coach, ensuring they make choices based on personal strengths. Industry and career experts are part of our course design and delivery. This is how we are committed to ensuring our students are ready for their professional paths and succeed in their career choices.
Industry connected
Our relationships with industry groups and employers ensure our graduates will meet the workforce demands of the future and make contribution to industry.
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Industry led curriculum design
From conception, our academic curriculum designers collaborate with industry experts who articulate the needs of the workplace. This is how we ensure that we develop courses relevant to jobs of the future. It does not stop there.
The inclusion of industry experts in our course advisory committees ensures that industry remains at the forefront of our quality assurance processes, as we build and improve structured curricula.
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Industry authentic places of learning
When our students come on campus, they learn in environments which resemble real-life industry and workplace. Lecture halls are conspicuously absent. Instead, learning takes place in immersive environments. Students enter spaces which include The Practice Wellbeing Centres. This is where our students work and study.
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Showcasing our students and graduates
We host activities throughout the year to ensure industry is aware of the best our students can offer by way of skills, expertise, innovation, leadership and commitment to contribute to society.
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Special speaker and guest presentations
Throughout the year, industry experts provide our students valuable insights into their own stories of career journeys, their approaches, industry assessments, their success, inspiration, overcoming challenges and making an impact.
The presentations range from in-class appearances to keynote events such as the Speaker Series which profiles industry leaders and influencers from diverse areas including sport, business, entrepreneurial and food backgrounds.
Work-Integrated Learning
At Think Education, it is a non-negotiable that every student goes to work. This means that every student undertakes Work-Integrated Learning or a placement during their study.
Every graduate also has an opportunity to volunteer – reflecting our commitment to Be Good.
Future proofing careers with soft skills
Equipping our students with soft skills to future-proof their careers While it’s crucial to master technical, practical and intellectual skills, research shows that graduates often lack certain important “soft” skills when they enter the workforce.The future of credentials, Smart Skills Digital Badges are made up of a suite of online short courses that address the key skills employers look for in candidates: leadership, interpersonal, creative and critical thinking, digital innovation and the ability to drive change.
Transferable between industries and occupations, these skills enable our Health graduates to move into different roles and careers throughout their professional journeys. By investing in our students’ development, we’ll keep them up to date with industry trends and increase their opportunities in the workplace and beyond.
Our curriculum
We provide an environment where all students are encouraged to take responsibility for:
- Distinguishing between ethical and unethical practice, and articulating the impact of their discipline or profession on local and global communities
- Describing their discipline or profession in the contemporary global environment, including the forces that have shaped the past, are driving innovation today and are taking it into the future
- Applying cognitive skills and dispositions necessary to be perceptive, analytical and creative in identifying and solving problems
- Demonstrating the interpersonal skills and dispositions of an effective team member and leader in complex situations
- Communicating effectively across diverse cultural groups
- Displaying leadership qualities to be a future leader committed to social justice and human rights
Success Coaches
Our Success Coaches are industry specialists who provide guidance and mentoring to our students as they navigate their studies while making important decisions about their future careers.Their support is critical to the journey each student takes to ensure their employability at graduation.
Our Success Coaches come from industry as well as the education space so they understand the intersections students find themselves at. They understand the demands of study on students as well as the importance of connecting our students to industry.
They help students prepare for Work-Integrated Learning as well as providing lifelong employability skills such as preparing and tailoring resumes, writing job applications and navigating professional options.
Planning ahead – Work of the future
As we come to terms with the reality of the current global pandemic, we are very much focused on envisaging what the world of work will look like in the future.
For Think Education it is more critical than ever to engage with industry to work out where industry is going and what the response to the global pandemic will be. As an education provider, we are focused on building a workforce which enables industry to operate in a post pandemic world.
This is critical as we prepare our students and build their capabilities for this future.
Among our key considerations is ensuring all our courses are relevant in a digital world. We will ensure our students possess the flexibility to work in a virtual world. This will include preparing our students for the realities of virtual job interviews.
