Shifting Territories: Supporting Graduates Beyond Graduation

  • Dave Webster: Associate Dean of Learning Teaching and Student Experience, Camberwell Chelsea Wimbledon - Academic Development and Student Communities

Abstract

In this presentation I will focus on a series of small projects, between 2014-2017, that supported recent Fine Art graduates in their transition into the world beyond university. These projects where developed from networking opportunities with CERN, MAMCO, United Nations in Geneva and the Shoreditch Trust in London. Aspects of this work led into the development of Graduate Intern roles in CCW which are supported by UAL Employability and Enterprise. Building on some of the research used in the development of the UAL Creative Attributes Framework I will argue that concepts such as “transferable skills” are not enough to explain, develop and promote what is learnt by Art & Design graduates beyond Art & Design disciplinary knowledge.

Presenting each of the projects, involving 5-6 recent graduates, I will show how engagement in multi-disciplinary and multi-practice projects enable students to reflect on their own future and their impact on the world at a critical time of their development. Leading on from this I will consider the graduate employability attributes developed by Hinchliffe & Jolly (2011) and what these small projects might suggest about Art and Design pedagogic opportunities. A main concern is the way in which we can enable and support our students to “perform” their (disciplinary) practices in the social world.