Technological universities have increasingly become an attractive prospect for students looking to progress their careers, due to their strong industry ties, abundant internship selection, and abundant opportunities for gaining practical experience. But what is it that truly sets them apart?
At Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Career Services Officer Fiona O’Donnell explains that they offer comprehensive student support to assist them in honing career-oriented skills. This support extends from CV crafting to interview techniques, all facilitated through workshops and courses. ATU further enhances these services with employability workshops conducted in-house.
Beyond this, ATU collaborates with various industry sectors, orchestrating events that offer guidance on job market navigation, building personal brands, speed networking, and more. “It’s a valuable opportunity for our students to gain insight into what characteristics employers seek in recent graduates, and to understand current employment trends”, states O’Donnell.
Learners are given the chance to engage in actual work-based projects, which significantly boosts their experiential learning, providing hands-on experience whilst also allowing them to see how their developed skills correlate with employability.
On a similar note, Dave Kilmartin, Technological University Dublin’s (TU Dublin) Head of Student Success, remarks that students are prepared for professional life from their first day. “Our students are involved in practical learning activities that are tailored to develop the necessary skills and experience to shine in a competitive job market,” he explains.
TU Dublin’s unique education model, which emphasises project-based learning, analyses students not merely on their theoretical expertise, but their ability to apply these concepts to solving problems ingeniously. This novel approach integrates students into the university community, creating an unparalleled learning experience, and developing grads for critical economic sectors.
In addition, TU Dublin is actively striving to incorporate sustainability into its curriculum, equipping students with the necessary knowledge and skills to contribute to a sustainable future within their respective fields. This is accomplished by applying what they’ve learned throughout their programmes progressively.
In 2023, all new enrollees chose to contribute to climate action and sustainability projects in an introductory programme as a show of commitment to these causes. TU Dublin is known for its extensive support measures in career build-up, available through its career development centre. This is run by proficient career coaches with diverse expertise ranging from arts and humanities to sciences and health, digital/data, computing, and engineering and built environment.
Kilmartin suggests that from year one, students can engage with career coaches for a profound understanding of the motivations behind their career choices in relation to their skills, personality, interests, and values, and determine the line of work they would find satisfying for many years. During their tenure, students gain access to career development learning classes, where they learn how to formulate an impactful CV, strategies for interviews, personal branding, and networking tricks during their university years.
The career development centre occasionally organises career fairs on campus, tailored specifically for various disciplines. These fairs offer students the chance to interact directly with potential employers, and gain insights into employer opportunities, either as internships or full-time engagement post-graduation. Placement opportunities are key aspects of many TU Dublin curricula. The career development centre conducts learning sessions to aid students’ readiness and applications for these programmes and offers them a structure for assessing their experience in the future.
Kilmartin points out that placement experience could play a significant role in instructing career learning and assisting students in making informed decisions about their career goals. An official from South East Technological University (Setu) mentions that the university is recognised for producing industry-ready graduates who are sought in fields like nursing, software and games development, engineering, culinary arts, computing, and sports. The university has in place several student support services to aid students during their transition to tertiary level education and during their course of study at the university.
Staff offering student support and career development avail opportunities to students and graduates to acquire the necessary skills and qualities to excel in their careers throughout their working life. As per Michael Loftus, Vice-President for External Affairs at Munster Technological University (MTU), the university consciously involves its enterprise collaborators in the creation and development of its graduates.
Our programme and curriculum are designed inclusively, roping in industry specialists to guarantee the topicality and relevance of the subject matter, explains the spokesperson. Students have the chance to put their learnings into practice throughout their academic journey.
Work-based training forms a crucial piece of the relationship we have with employers. It enables learners to adjust to a work environment and obtain hands-on, scalable skills that come in handy when they start their careers, iterates the representative.
Our students are sought after by employers and internships allow businesses to scout these potentials in what is essentially a protracted job interview. A significant number of our interns turn their temporary roles into permanent ones upon graduation.
It is our industry connections that make these opportunities for learners possible. Seeing our past students, now working at these organisations, return to interview placement candidates, is always a pleasure, he adds.
But the real-world experience does not stop at the classroom door. They extend to tasks set by employers for students individually or in teams. These tasks often come to a competitive conclusion with presentations delivered to experts from the allied company.
Wherever feasible, last year students take on ‘capstone’ projects that are derived from or influenced by existing workplace hurdles. This offers learners the opportunity to tussle with genuine data sets or handle challenges relating to process or product based on true or anticipated situations.
Our ‘extended campus’ serves as the singular communication point to facilitate conversations between external bodies and our personnel, students, and researchers, by leveraging customer and case management techniques.
Irene Sheridan, who helms the ‘extended campus’ of MTU, points out that real-world problems are not conveniently categorized by academic subjects, so a more holistic approach from the university is offered. Tracking of our relationships allows us to employ a strategic method to identify opportunities and we also tap into various global networks to assure global best practices inform our engagement initiatives.
On the other hand, a representative of Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) expresses that the university takes immense satisfaction in priming students for employment via a multitude of approaches aiming to connect the academe and the corporate world.
Our method includes partaking in industry collaborations, internships, and an array of arrangements meant to enable a smooth shift from the university to the professional life, the spokesperson mentions. Utilising our ‘careers connect’ platform, learners can uncover details about job vacancies, higher studies, scholarships, and training programmes.
Students can avail themselves of a variety of services, such as setting up meetings with career development consultants, receiving CV and interview help, as well as taking part in advanced career workshops and company seminars. The higher learning institution also provides reinforcement in student employability, preparation for work placement and career counselling, empowering them to realise their full career capabilities.
The institute offers multiple engagement opportunities for potential employers, encompassing on-campus visits, seminars and digital events. These employers can post job opportunities for part-time, holiday or graduate roles through the campus’ career-based portal and can directly engage with students at job fairs.
Industry collaborations give students the chance to gain knowledge on different career avenues and business sectors. A standout feature of this method is the focus on live projects and consultative work. For instance, digital marketing students in Athlone are given the opportunity to work on tangible projects for leading brands, formulating and initiating digital marketing plans as part of their final year or master’s qualification. These initiatives afford students priceless industry experience while also providing specialist proficiency to businesses in various sectors.