Advancing employability and workforce skills at EKU
What is the EKU Graduate Profile? The profile represents the 10 essential employability skills associated with success in both the classroom and workplace today. These professional skills rank high by employers and are aligned with the goals set forth by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE). Read more about the 10 skills here.
What is the purpose of the project? This CPE-sponsored project aims to engage the broad community of faculty, staff, and students at EKU to:
Raise awareness of the 10 skills.
Increase student’s competency in the 10 skills.
Help students to recognize the long-term value of 10 skills in daily life.
Help students identify examples of their work that demonstrate their mastery of the skills.
Ensure all graduates receive a high quality, relevant, and equitable education.
What constitutes the project? This multi-year project involves the following three steps:
Assessment – Assess the presence and influence of the 10 skills as a baseline to support future programming.
Professional Development – Conduct professional development of faculty and staff aimed at both curricular and co-curricular requirements and expectations for students.
Meaningful Change – Implement meaningful changes and record evidence of continuous improvements on:
Academic requirements, including the alignment of skills with first-year courses, general education, and academic programs.
Institutional policies and procedures regarding work-based experiences.
Partnerships with student services, EKU alumni, and employers.
What does project success look like? In summary, we seek to:
Make the 10 skills more visible in curriculum, services, and extracurricular activities.
Improve communication with and make more transparent the 10 skills with students.
Help students recognize and demonstrate their competencies in the 10 skills for both an academic audience and potential employers.
10 Essential Employability Skills:
Communicate effectively
Think critically in order to solve problems and create new ideas and solutions
Apply quantitative reasoning skills to analyze and solve numerical problems
Interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds
Adapt to changing circumstances while leading and supporting others
Perform professionally within their chosen field of study or occupation
Engage in civic life to improve society
Collaborate and work in teams
Demonstrate evidence of applied and integrated learning
