‘Social scientists plan, analyse and present research findings’
Amidst global debates on employability and skills, there has been a commonly held myth about the lack of employability of social science graduates. In an interaction, Robert Allison of Loughborough University explains the myriad range of opportunities social science graduates can look forward to. Edited excerpts: What skills do social science graduates learn through their programmes? Social science graduates learn many academic skills which are transferable into employability skills. These include independent working, interpretation and assimilation of information and written communication skills. Social scientists plan, gather, analyse and present the findings of quantitative and qualitative research. They evaluate through critical thinking and work to deadlines. how can the employability of social science graduates be determined? Social science graduates enter a wide variety of destinations. These include finance, sales and marketing, media roles, human resources, teaching and social care.
In the UK, students are encouraged to self-assess and then discuss their personal progress with specialist advisers, with annual reviews of their career confidence and level of work experience.
Most UK universities also offer all undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake a year in industry (a placement year), to help develop leadership and collaborative skills as well as gaining valuable knowledge and high quality work experience. Almost half of all undergraduate students do a placement year in industry which can positively enhance their career awareness and career prospects.
Careers and Employability teams across UK universities provide specialist skills development and placements support, alongside high quality careers guidance and sector-leading employer events, including careers fairs to help all students achieve their potential and their preferred career outcomes. how does social science empower graduates to perform managerial roles? By utilising a range of skills gained through a social science degree (see above) and through a wide range of extra-curricular activities available to them, students from this stream are generally highly employable in a managerial capacity and the vast majority enter graduate roles classified as professional and/or managerial within 6 months of graduation. how has the emergence of digital humanities impacted social science? The UK has always been a leader in the intersection of digital technologies and the humanities.
This is perhaps unsurprising as we are a worldleader in media and communications research. We seek to understand how the media becomes involved in major social changes and to learn from historical failures as well as achievements. We use technology when we undertake conversation analysis research.
We have an interdisciplinary research group in the digital humanities which provides a regular forum for discussion and knowledge exchange on all aspects of digital humanities, digital media and digital environments. Technology and the humanities are intrinsically linked – as technology develops it will continue to impact more and more on the teaching and research of social science has academia developed enough tools to measure the impact of social science research? The impact of social science research can be seen very clearly through the work undertaken by Loughborough University’s Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP).
The voluntary living wage adopted by thousands of employers throughout the UK is set at a level based on CRSP’s Minimum Income Standard.
The MIS research looks in detail at what households need in order to have a minimum acceptable standard of living. Decisions about what to include in this standard are made by groups comprising members of the public.
The Living Wage is therefore rooted in social consensus about what people need to make ends meet. Therefore, the minimum living wage paid by employers in the UK is directly influenced by the research at Loughborough University which impacts greatly on the lives of very many people.