Our Chemistry programmes adopt a hands-on approach to the development of key workplace skills: students apply their subject understanding to a range of different contexts inspired by the activities of professional chemists. Our skills team-projects begin in year one of our programmes and have been co-authored by lecturers, industry partners and recent chemistry graduates.
A structured approach to skills development
A team of award-winning lecturers are responsible for designing and delivering our skills courses. The courses have been designed to support the development of key employability skills and graduate attributes throughout our programmes. Our skills courses begin by focusing on key university study skills and the basics of science communication. We move on to focus on project management and professional research skills.
Our skills activities take the form of team-based activities using Context and Problem Based Learning (C/PBL) approaches. Our skills activities have been designed to mimic the kind of challenges that professional chemists are working on. The activities give students the opportunity to work on a diverse range of outputs including:
- designing and developing a product for a target audience
- organising a conference activity to communicate key findings in chemistry to specialist and non-specialist audiences
- developing a sustainable energy strategy that could be recommended to the government of a small nation