The School of Engineering and Materials Science's (SEMS) Industrial Advisory Board used their Spring meeting to discuss how to use the curriculum to enhance soft skills and employability of our students.

The SEMS Industrial Advisory Board includes senior engineers and scientists from a broad range of sectors representing large multinationals and SMEs, and meets twice a year to advise on our curriculum and delivery. This ensures that our students receive an up-to-date and relevant educational offering, and helps us to spot employer trends early. This meeting was chaired by Guy Newcombe of Archipelago Technology Ltd. and was attended by industry representatives, academics and members of the Student Voice Committee.

The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss Queen Mary's new Employability & Skills Framework which is being fully rolled out for September. The Employability & Skills Framework (ESF) will deliver skills training across the faculty and ensure both that our students are workplace-ready when they graduate and also that they are prepared for graduate job applications. The 2-hour meeting included two breakout sessions. The first was centered around identifying useful skills to focus on for the undergraduate cohort, whilst the second session focussed on the different requirements for international MSc students. The industry attendees and the students gave us some great input that will shape the our future delivery of employability skills in the curriculum.