Organisations encourages to measure up, National Council for work experience launches quality mark

The National Council for Work Experience (NCWE) will today launch its new quality mark, ëExcellence in Work Experienceí, designed to act as a standard by which employers in the UK can measure their work experience provision.

The quality mark is intended not only to set a common standard for work experience, but to give employers the direction they need to offer increased opportunities and take a more strategic view of their relationship with higher education.

The quality mark will be open to all UK employers who provide placements to students in higher education and will challenge them to evaluate their schemes against rigorous criteria. These criteria fall into five key areas and test individual employersí: commitment, recruitment procedures, placement process, learning and assessment, and evaluation and monitoring.

Codes of practice set within each area, range from the administrative - drawing up a job description and giving a contract of employment, or conforming to health and safety - to the more strategic, with, for example, organisations having to provide evidence that theyíve helped students integrate their learning into longer term career plans.

Participating organisations will be evaluated by an NCWE advisor and those that can demonstrate that their systems meet each of the codes of practice will be certified with the ëExcellence in Work Experienceí mark. Acting as a national symbol of best practice, the mark is expected to help successful organisations with recruitment and retention ñ making them attractive to students both in the first instance, and on graduation.

The length of the application and assessment process for the standard will depend on the employer and how well established their work placements are but preparation is expected to take around four to six months. Once accredited, the standard lasts for three years, after which time the employer must reapply to ensure standards are maintained.

Employers who arenít ready for the standard neednít be put off and can use its guidelines as a tool to raise the quality of work experience within their organisation and bring themselves up to a level where they can apply for it.

Liz Rhodes, director of the National Council for Work Experience, commented:

ìThe quality mark will act as an important indicator of those employers prepared to actively commit to the professional development of their students. And by adhering to this standard they will not just be benefiting students and graduates, but engendering the kind of worthwhile placement that can add value to the company, and broader economy.î

NCWE worked with occupational and academic professionals to ensure the codes of practice within the standard were robust and that they will contribute to the positive development of the workforce and raise the quality of work experience across the UK.

Costs depend on the size of the company but start at 2500-3000, which includes minimum advisor time, assessment and accreditation, and covers the three year duration of the standard.

For more information on the ëExcellence in Work Experienceí quality mark, visit www.work-experience.org or contact enquiries@work-experience.org.