QAA Student Transitions Project: A Benchmarking Exercise of Skills Award Frameworks ‘outwith’ Edinburgh Napier University

A skills award provides an awareness framework which captures extra-curricular student activity with the intention of advancing student learning enhancement, future career and employability prospects. Active learning approaches will be combined with academic challenge and appropriate assessment linked to skills development within a student’s chosen discipline. To achieve this, an initial exploration in the form of a benchmarking exercise examining skills awards within the top 100 universities will be undertaken to identify areas of good practice. Relevant learning from this exercise will be considered for adoption in a foundation credit bearing module to provide accredited experiences and aligned with 2020 Edinburgh Napier University strategy. This is expected to underpin student progression on a given programme and subsequent transition into employment and generating ongoing pathways for life-long learning. In adding skills awards interventions such as student exchange, enterprise and innovation, leadership and governance through existing vehicles at Edinburgh Napier University such as; Bright Red Triangle, VBASE and the Get on Board Programme, provides students with the opportunities to develop unique academic skills not necessarily part of a programme of study. This enhances student transition by opening up the range of options/possibilities that may not have been considered before and assists students to build social capital beyond the campus boundary and professional best practice