Study Trip 2015

Edinburgh Scotland UK
Unite Student Conference
Employability Skills and Cultural Awareness
Introduction:
Basinet is a network of international higher education institutes (both private and public
universities and colleges) that share a common ethos regarding internationalization.
Basinet provides an environment that encourages the sharing of good practice and
encourages co-operation between like-minded individuals and link minded organisations.
Programme:

On Sunday 29th November

13:00-14:00
We have arrived to the Hotel New Waverly.
Then we checked in at the Hotel. Then we have met Mr David Taylor who is the General
Manager of Basinet and Head of International Partnership New Durham College UK.
At 14:30 guided coach tour exploring city of Edinburgh and coaches depart from the
waterloo place. At 16:30 we come back the Hotel. The we have invited to bring our cultural
foods. everyone brings their cultural foods such as: cheese, chocolates, win, Olives,
sausages, beer, biscuits.
Then every country sets up a table with the produce they have brought displaying signs
saying what they are. When everyone tasted different country foods then everyone gets to
the rooms. This as means of an ice breaker exercise.

Monday 30th November:

07:45 Breakfast
We have a great breakfast we eat Scottish meals. We sit two people on the table from
different countries. the aim of this cultural table to know more each other. I sit with Anna
Bienias she is from Poland she was very happy she gave me some information about their
culture and their country Poland she invited me to go on Erasmus to their country.
09:00
We leave Hotel for the conference venue Royal College of Physicians.
09:10
Then Mr David give us information about the whole day activates.
09:20
Lecture: Matching your skills
Speaker: David Allen (Director of Scotland, People 1st Head of Scotland UK skills Team)

First Part: Scottish Inventions and discoveries

He plays a game the game was about to aware us from the Scottish culture and history.
Second Part: The use of Assessment centres.
6 key steps to finding & securing the right job:

What are employers looking for

1. Effective Communication
o

Written communication
o reports
o business plans proposals
o e-mails/social media
o presentations
o CVs

Oral communication
o meetings
o phone calls/conference calls/skype
o presentations
o networking events
o interviews

2. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving

How do you put giraffe into a fridge?
You open the fridge put in the giraffe into a fridge and then close
the door

3. Influence through leadership

4 steps to becoming an Influential leader
o Understand what influence means
o
o
o

Learn to become Influential

Cross Influence your network
Master the 5 essential leadership traits

Partnership & Collaboration

What does Partnership & Collaboration mean to you?
It should be driven by a sensible and SHARED need
Only seek out individuals / organisations that complement your objectives
Join networks that can help support you in developing new links
Dont rush !!! -take time to build the relationship
Think both short-term and long-term
Think both laterally and strategically
Be visionary and think beyond the normal boundaries of limitation

Build up internal goodwill towards external partnership building

Never forget to listen carefully to those outside of the partnership too
Never underestimate the time and energy required to create and nurture a
partnership
4. Adaptability
Adaptability what does it mean in practical terms?
Being flexible and willing to adapt to changing conditions
Being open and supportive of new ideas / concepts but

challenge thinking if needed

Being prepared to think outside the box when implementing

new ideas
5. Entrepreneurship & Initiative
Refers to an individual's ability to turn ideas into action & action into
results
o Its driven at its core by creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as
well as the ability to plan and manage projects and situations
o

fully in order to achieve goals and objectives

In the workplace its about being constantly aware of the
context and opportunities around you and being able to seize

and maximise these where you can

Being effective impacts not just your working environment but
also many aspects of your everyday lives at home and in

society
Entrepreneurship & Initiative should also be guided by a strong
awareness of ethical values as well as promote and strengthen
positive organisational and personal governance

Curiosity and Imagination

o

CURIOSITY+ imagination= Creativity

1. Knowing where employers are looking

Social Recruiting?

Other sources

Make sure you stand out from the crowd

o

As a consumerwhat makes you engage with a particular company, product

or service?
What makes you go back and re-engage with that company, product or

o
o
o

service?
How many times have you gone back and used that company again?
How many people have you told about your experiences?
How does that company, product or service market itself and does this
continue to influence your spending choice?

Preparing for the interview

Be clear on what type of interview you are going for

o
o
o
o
o

Different interview styles include

Competence-based interviews
Panel interviews
1-2-1interview
Initial Telephone/Skype screening

o AssessmentCentres1.
Do more research
Make sure you know YOU inside out
Be prepared to ask questions
Making that all important first impression
Body Language
Dress for Success

Being effective at the interview

Dont make it any harder on yourself than it already is. Stick to the 7basic
rules below;
Plan your day carefully
Take your time to answer questionsdont jump in fee first
Be in control of you during the interviewbe in the room
Dont waffle or forget to answer the question fully
SELL, SELL, SELL!!!show passion &purpose
Remember to ask questions
Stay professional to the endthe very end
2. Feedback
You cannot live or work in a vacuum. You may take on larger, seemingly more
important roles or projects, but this does not exclude you from asking for and using
feedback along the way. In fact, you arguably need this more than anything else. Its
what helps you respond appropriately in the pursuit of your dreams and success.

Dont stop learning dont stop being better

At 10:40 Break
Lecture: Making the most of your opportunities
Lecturer: Stephen Manion(Head of Pacemaker consulting Ltd)
Stephen Manion Curriculum Vitae
Liverpool Museums,
Whitley Bay High School,
Beamish Museum,
Alnwick Castle,
The Northumberland Academy,
Drumlanrig Castle,
Woburn Abbey,
Placemaker Consulting Ltd,
Back to the topic of opportunities
It is you who can take advantage of the opportunities that come along. This can bring
benefits to you, both professionally and personally.

Here is how I took advantage of an opportunity which brought benefits for me professionally
and personally.
The lecturer introduced different castle that he worked as manager and the roles he applied.

At 12:15
Lunch:
My lunch was at the local restaurant
13:15

Lecture: Communication in Action

Lecturer: Tony Delahuanty (Managing Director, Radio Mansfield 103.2
He asked different question from the students I was the first student to come to the front to
talk about immigration crisis in Europe. When He asked about the crisis of immigrants I was
keen to answer these kind of questions, it was a challenging questions and this was my first
time that I was talking in front of that much people.

Q: What do you want to be in the future?

Answer: Politician
Q: How to solve immigrants problem?
Answer: By making good foreign policies. Help each other. and come to a solution to Russia
about Syria. Washington, London, Paris, Moscow and other major economise who involve in
this political game have to change their foreign policies which is currently against innocent
people.
Q: What can you do for your country as a politician.

Answer: Understanding young people to go to school, work with government against

corruption, share foreign experience with people
Q: If you become a president of Afghanistan what will be your first action
Answer: Bring changes in our constitution, giving rights to the women, equal opportunities to
women, full security across the country, making good relations with the EU

At 14:45 Project work

Distribution of funds for Evening-Meeting our groups. We divided into 5 people group from
different country to work and share our experiences. do an assignment and explain it to the
rest of the students.

A brief introduction of our project:

We launch an application for the Basinet organization
In the smart phone application, we easily can find each other and contact everybody.
Communicate each other (chatting, sending picture) timetable, map, schedule, finding local
restaurants and other cheapest hotels.
We meet three times before completing this project, once in a Bar that we drink together (we
become more social) once in restaurant that we explain our local meal to the group beside of
this we worked on the project as well.
15:10
Lecture: Interview Strategies and reflecting on your work experiences
Lecturer: Clare Howarth (Business Development manager Europe New Durham College
Durham

We divided into five people group to interview each other in the group one of us would be the
interviewer and the rest were the HR Department people, when its finished we turned around
to interview other,

16:10
Lecture: The benefits of an international Experience-Enhancing employability skills.
Lecturer: Cassandra Fuge-Current Intern at New Durham College Durham
Cassandra is German girl, working in New Durham College Durham, she explains how she
succeeded, she shares her experiences how she improves her English skills, teaches some
grammar rules and pronunciation techniques
16:40
Lecture: An introduction to enterprises and entrepreneurship
Lecturer: Stuart Moss (senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and co-author of
employability skills book.
We divided to 3 people group.
Task 1
The lecturer asked some questions
Q: Consider the term employability what does it mean to you?
Q: How might you describe employability if you had to write a definition?
People answer the questions differently
His Definition:
Employability is about having the capability to gain initial employment, maintain employment
and obtain new employment if required.
For the individual, employability depends on:
their assets in terms of the knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess;
the way they use and deploy those assets;
the way they present them to employers;
and crucially, the context (E.g.: personal circumstances and labour market environment)
within which they seek work.
Employability skills
Ultimately skills that make you more employable

Personal Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Study Skills
Entrepreneurship
Management

Career Management Skills

Task 2
In your groups, think about how you might develop different skills in your university / college
environment.
Students share different skills to be improve in college or university
His answer
When are Your Skills Developed?

In class
Through assignments and assessments
Group projects
Work placements / internships
Sports teams
Clubs and societies
Part-time jobs
Mentoring
Volunteering
international exchanges

Task 3
Consider a standard written piece of work that you have carried out, such as an essay or a
report. Think of all the skills that you would utilise in order to successfully do this.

Some skills utilised when undertaking written assignments

Scheduling workplanningInformation gatheringResearchNote-takingReferencing
Writing / literacyTime managementReadingComputer skillsCritical thinkingWorking to
deadlinesand many more...
17: 00
Dinner
Dinner with working group-contribution towards the cost from the conference funding

Tuesday 1st December 2015

07:45 Breakfast
08:45
Meet in the new Waverly hotel coaches depart from waterloo place.
Visit to the Scottish Highlands including visits to Stirling castle, Callander and the Trassachs.
In the castle I have seen old Afghanistan map and other pots, sculpture, king and queen
bed, prisons, horses, weapons .

We spent the whole day in the castle and Scottish highland.

At 18:00 return to Hotel
Evening free.

Wednesday 2nd December

07:45 Breakfast
09:15
Lecture: Recognizing and developing employability skills
Lecturer: Stuart Moss (senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University and co-author of
employability skills book.
10:45 Break
Group work on our project and explaining what we have learnt from the project or team work
12:45 Lunc14:30 Visit to Edinburgh castle

In the castle we have seen historic things of Scotland the British imperialism signs prisons
heavy weapons, very old things describing more than 3000 years history.

It is well organized everything is putted into the safe box. Nice lights.

Thursday 3rd December

07:45 Breakfast
09:15
Lecture: Cross cultural communication
Lecturer: Johan Dedeyne (Wives university of Applied sciences, Bruges,

11:15
Lecture: Is working abroad no longer a choice but a necessity?
How does working abroad change you?
Lecturer: Gregory Degand (Head of international trade department-EPHEC University
College)
12:15
David Thanks to all conference participants. And close the conference