Developing graduate attributes through participation in undergraduate research conferences

Hill, Jennifer; Walkington, Helen

Abstract

© 2016 Taylor & Francis. Abstract: Graduate attributes are a framework of skills, attitudes, values and knowledge that graduates should develop by the end of their degree programmes. Adopting a largely qualitative approach and using semi-structured interviews, this paper outlines students’ experiences at a national undergraduate research conference over three years and evidences the graduate attributes developed. The students demonstrated intellectual autonomy, repurposing their work for presentation to a multidisciplinary audience through conversation with and benchmarking against peers. They gained confidence in expressing their identity as researchers and moved towards self-authorship, consciously balancing the contextual nature of their disciplinary knowledge with intra-personally grounded goals and values.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 10, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 2, 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Geography in Higher Education
• Print ISSN: 0309-8265
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-1845
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 222-237
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2016.1140128
• Keywords: undergraduate research, graduate attributes, employability, conferences, self-authorship, borderland space
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/919771
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2016.1140128
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Geography in Higher Education on 08 March 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03098265.2016.1140128
• Contract Date: Apr 20, 2016