Introduction of personal and professional development

The School provides an enhanced programme of embedded activities associated with the personal and professional development of both undergraduate and taught postgraduate students. These activities focus upon the employability skills and graduate attributes that are required to ensure students make a successful transition into their chosen career. They have a sound academic base that engages with practical issues; for example, consideration of different approaches to self-reflection, the deployment of cultural intelligence, effective communication and team working capabilities; along with specific career management skills such as CV-writing, interview preparation and assessment centre approaches.

Undergraduate

All of Stirling Management School's undergraduate students undertake a core credit-bearing module, Professional Development and Practice (PDP). This module aims to develop levels of self-awareness which will help students better articulate their academic and work-related skills and competencies to graduate recruiters, as well as make conscious decisions in relation to their future career progression.

The School’s portfolio of undergraduate courses offer students numerous opportunities to develop appropriate work-related skills at every stage of their studies. The Professional Development and Practice module builds on this by providing students with the opportunity to practice these skills as well as introducing students to the ‘softer skills’ sought by employers thereby better preparing them for entry into the workplace.

Postgraduate

The School's postgraduate students are introduced to aspects of personal and professional development at the beginning of their studies through the Flying Start Leadership Programme. At the end of this, students are ready to embark on the formal teaching course invigorated and committed to the journey ahead with newly developed intellectual, interactional and communication skills.

For students joining the MBA and MSc Business and Management (MBM) however, this is just the beginning of their personal and professional development journey. A key feature of both courses are the core credit-bearing PPD modules which run throughout the taught element of the course. These modules are designed to help students develop a greater sense of self-awareness which will help them discover and develop the individual attributes and characteristics that are much sought after by graduate employers.