Professional Skills Curriculum (PSC)
In this guest blog post, Cat Wilson, Director of CEED, explains what the PSC is and how you can benefit from getting involved.
What is the Professional Skills Curriculum (PSC)?
The university runs a co-curricular programme called the Professional Skills Curriculum (PSC) to help students develop and articulate a range of skills that employers value.
I am the Director of CEED and have been involved in the PSC since it was created, more than 10 years ago. In this time the PSC has expanded from a half a dozen workshops to a comprehensive student development programme that hundreds of students take part in each year.
What is the purpose of the PSC?
The PSC exists to help students to:
- Develop a range of professional skills that they might not develop through academic study alone, and
- Be confident in articulating the skills they gain at university.
Students who complete the PSC often report that they feel more confident in applying for internships and graduate jobs. They also say they can apply their learning here and now – in their part-time employment, in their academic studies and in their extra-curricular pursuits.
One of the best elements of the PSC is that it is open to all undergraduates, PGRs and PGTs and all disciplines. It’s one of the few places where you’ll find undergraduates and masters students and PhD students all learning together and sharing their experiences.
How does the PSC work?
The PSC takes place outside of the curriculum so most sessions take place in the early evening or late afternoon or can be accessed online at leisure.
There are over 100 workshops that form the PSC and there is a lot of flexibility built-in. Students can choose what workshops they engage with, can engage with as few or as many as they wish, can opt to study for a recognised award.
There are two kinds of awards that students can work towards:
- The PSC Award which gives a breadth of knowledge over a range of topics, or
- The PSC+ Award which gives a depth of knowledge in a single topic.
No matter which award students choose, the foundation of the PSC consists of three elements:
- To undertake a skills analysis to increase your self-awareness as to your current skill-set
- To engage in a series of workshops to develop your chosen skills. These are termed ‘graduate attributes’ and there are 20 in total.
- To reflect on your skill development and produce an assessment to earn your award, which is listed on your degree transcript.
To award or not to award…
You can choose simply to book onto any workshops that interest you and not take part in a formal PSC Award. However, if you did want to earn recognition on your degree transcript for completing an award, you can opt for the PSC Award or a PSC+ Award.
The PSC Award requires you to complete 8 workshops and submit a reflective essay about how your skills developed. The 8 workshops must comprise one from each of the five categories of the PSC (leadership, social responsibility, diversity, global outlook, entrepreneurial mind-set) plus three free choices. You can see which workshops correspond to which categories via the ‘graduate skill’ column on the PSC calendar of workshops.
The PSC+ Awards require you to complete five workshops and submit an assessed piece of work which depends on the particular PSC+ Award. It might be an essay or presentation or video or case study etc. The PSC+ Awards in semester one are Communication, Resilience, Investment Banking and Teaching. In semester two there will be Consultancy, Enterprise, Negotiation, and Organisational Psychology.
You don’t have to complete the PSC Award before you do a PSC+ Award. You can do simultaneous awards should you wish.
Is it all in person?
The PSC is a blend of in-person, online (live), online (pre-recorded) and online (static) workshops. It’s open to all students so students in distance-learning programmes, on a year abroad or commuter students all have the opportunity to take part too. The calendar of workshops has a ‘format’ column so you can choose the style of learning that best suits you.
How much work is involved?
Each PSC workshop takes about an hour, plus you need to set aside some time for your initial skills analysis and reflective essay at the end. The PSC Awards have been designed to be achievable in a single semester.
How do I get started?
The PSC is already up and running. You can register to join the PSC and then additionally register should you wish to join a PSC+ Award programme. You have to book onto individual in-person or live online workshops. You can do that via the university’s course booking system. You can find the pre-recordings or the online static workshops on the PSC’s Moodle page.
Don’t forget to do your skills analysis before you start to help you decide what skills you want to develop.
- If you are a returning student you must complete the PSC and submit your assessment by 1 June 2023.
- If you are a graduating student the date is 23 May.
Can I just wait until next year?
The PSC is changing! This is the last year in its current format before it is reconfigured for next academic year. If there is a workshop you’re particularly interested in, or a PSC+ Award that you are keen on it’s best to do it this year as there’s no guarantee they will be part of the new-look programme in 2023.
If you have any questions, send them through to [email protected] and the team will get back to you.
Enjoy your PSC experience. Taking the time to invest in your own skills development and employability will pay dividends down the line!